SimHQ.com - Technology Zone

As a web site focused exclusively on PC gaming simulations, SimHQ’s hardware reviews will reflect that focus by placing a heavy emphasis of our in-house testing on simulation titles. SimHQ’s Benchmark Suite will therefore be comprised of an evolving list of games that represent what our community is currently playing in the hopes that our articles and reviews help inform and assist our readers in their system and hardware component purchases.

Test System Setup

Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2.
Drive formatted to NTFS.
Classic desktop.
Automatic Updates and System Restore disabled.
Extraneous startup services disabled.
DirectX v9.0c.
Latest multimedia, system and BIOS updates.

Test Standards

All software used for testing will be patched with the most recent update.
Games will be configured to their highest, most demanding settings unless noted otherwise.
VSync will be disabled.
32-bit color and trilinear texture filtering will be the baseline, with all IHV-specific optimizations disabled when possible.
WHQL graphics drivers will be used, unless specified otherwise.
Executables will be renamed.
Performance will be measured using the latest version of FRAPS; the exact version used will be specified in each article.
Sound disabled when possible.

SimHQ Technology Zone Benchmark Suite

Click on a link below to download.

Air Combat

FSX

Lock On: Modern Air Combat v1.02

Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight

Pacific Fighters

Falcon 4: Allied Force

Land Combat

GRAW

Motorsports

GTR2

rFactor

If you have comments, questions, or suggestions, please feel free to discuss them in our Hardware / Software Forums or by email.

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