nVidia mid-range match-up, what should you buy?

1. Nvidias Challenge2. The Competition3. Test set up and specs4. 3DMark 20115. 3DMark Vantage6. Unigine Heaven 2.07. Far Cry 28. Just Cause 29. DiRT 210. Technical Assessment & Conclusion11. View All Pages

Colin McRae: Dirt 2 (known as Dirt 2 outside Europe and stylised, DiRT) is a racing game released in September 2009, and is the sequel to Colin McRae: Dirt. This is the first game in the McRae series since McRae’s death in 2007. It was announced on 19 November 2008 and features Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, Tanner Foust, and Dave Mirra. The game includes many new race-events, including stadium events. Along with the player, an RV travels from one event to another, and serves as ‘headquarters’ for the player. It features a roster of contemporary off-road events, taking players to diverse and challenging real-world environments. The game takes place across four continents: Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. The game includes five different event types: Rally, Rallycross, ‘Trailblazer,’ ‘Land Rush’ and ‘Raid.’ The World Tour mode sees players competing in multi-car and solo races at new locations, and also includes a new multiplayer mode.

Settings: 1920×1200 Raid (Croatia) Filtering (16xmsaa) Detail Settings (Ultra)

Leaving the GTS450 off this chart shows a very clear stepping between the cards. For some reason, the GTS450 stubbornly refused to engage DiRT 2 at the required resolution. We did some runs at different resolutions and there was no issue at all, but not at the 1920 setting required here – so we left it off.

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