by Rob Williams on February 25, 2010 in Graphics & Displays
In what might be a record, AMD managed to release both the first and final normal model from its HD 5000-series in a mere five months. The final card is of course the HD 5830, which falls comfortably between the HD 5770 and HD 5850, and has the $240 price tag to prove it. So regardless of your given budget today, AMD has a card for you.
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.
For some reason, the HD 5830 didn’t quite handle WiC as well as I pictured it would, and that can be seen above with it falling just behind the GTX 260. Again, there’s barely a difference, but it’s there.
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NVIDIA GTX 295 1792MB (Reference)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 8xAA, 16xAF
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40
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55.819
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ATI HD 5770 1GB CrossFireX
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 4xAA, 16xAF
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38
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49.335
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ATI HD 5870 1GB (Reference)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 4xAA, 16xAF
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35
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47.195
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ATI HD 5850 1GB (ASUS)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 4xAA, 16xAF
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29
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40.581
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NVIDIA GTX 285 1GB (EVGA)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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34
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49.514
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NVIDIA GTX 275 896MB (Reference)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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36
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46.186
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ATI HD 5830 1GB (Reference)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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31
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42.543
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NVIDIA GTX 260 896MB (XFX)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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23
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39.365
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ATI HD 5770 1GB (Reference)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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28
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37.389
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NVIDIA GTX 250 1GB (EVGA)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 4xAF
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24
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32.453
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ATI HD 5750 1GB (Sapphire)
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2560×1600 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 4xAF
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23
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31.769
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NVIDIA GT 240 512MB (ASUS)
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1920×1080 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 4xAF
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22
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33.788
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ATI HD 5670 512MB (Reference)
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1920×1080 – Max Detail, 0xAA, 16xAF
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21
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31.872
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ATI HD 5570 1GB (Sapphire)
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1920×1080 – Medium Detail, 0xAA, 4xAF
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51
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79.790
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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, sans anti-aliasing, as we have no doubt anyone on this configuration would be more than content with that choice.