Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 Toxic

I admit that I’m not a huge fan of RTS titles, but World in Conflict intrigued me from the get go. After all, so many war-based games continue to follow the same story-lines we already know, and WiC was different. It counteracts the fall of the political and economic situation in the Soviet Union in the late 80’s, and instead provides a storyline that follows it as if the USSR had succeeded by proceeding with war in order to remain in power.

Many RTS games, with their advanced AI, tend to favor the CPU in order to deliver smooth gameplay, but WiC favors both the CPU and GPU, and the graphics prove it. Throughout the game’s missions, you’ll see gorgeous vistas and explore areas from deserts and snow-packed lands, to fields and cities. Overall, it’s a real visual treat for the eyes – especially since you’re able to zoom to the ground and see the action up-close.

Manual Run-through: The level we use for testing is the 7th campaign of the game, called Insurgents. Our saved game plants us towards the beginning of the mission with two squads of five, and two snipers. The run consists of bringing our men to action, and hovering the camera around throughout the duration. The entire run lasts between three and four minutes.

Finally, our results wind up just as they began, with the Toxic card pulling out ahead of the reference card by a comfortable margin.

I admit that with top settings, World in Conflict isn’t as smooth as butter (something common with most RTS titles that have a lot going on at once), but it’s not until you get past 60 FPS that the game becomes really smooth. But, while it might not be buttery-smooth at ~40 and a bit above, we’re going with the settings above (2560×1600) as being our best playable, as we have no doubt anyone on this configuration would be more than content with that choice.