Feature: OS Shootout 2007

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Test Results - Simulation Titles
(continued)

GTR2 was tested with a custom recording of a crowded grand prix track. The title’s configuration tool was used to enable its DX9 profile and to set anti-aliasing at Level 3. Interestingly enough, GTR2 refused to run on Vista once the v1.1 patch had been installed; the title would repeatedly launch its configuration tool instead of loading. Out of the box, however, GTR2 worked fine with Vista and was tested as such (XP scores were still derived from v1.1).

Vista again lags considerably behind XP’s scores at 1024x768, with a 45fps gap showing for GTR2’s testing. That gap predictably narrows at the highest resolution tested but still remains almost 10% behind XP’s results.

DIRT, successor to the Colin McRae Rally titles, is both new to SimHQ’s benchmark suite and a graphical tour de force, sporting high resolution textures, bloom, and high geometry models. The title is so graphically demanding that certain features — such as particle effects and shadows — were configured at medium rather than high settings. Performance testing was conducted using a rally time track to help maintain consistency between test runs.

Vista’s scores trail behind those of XP by roughly 10% across the three resolutions, a pattern more similar to FSX’s results than most of the other titles tested for this article. And at resolutions higher than 1600x1200 the variance between the two OSes would virtually disappear.

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