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Lost Planet DX9 vs DX10

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We’re back with a more thorough analysis of the Lost Planet demo just released today. This time around, we’re comparing screenshots and framerates between maxed out DX10 and DX9 settings. We’re also throwing in screens and numbers for more playable DX10 settings.

Again, the game is being played on a system powered by a FX60 dual-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, an 8800GTX, and running Windows Vista.

In scenario 1, we’ve run the game benchmark with all video options maxed out, running at 1920x1200 with 8xAA and 16xAF. These settings give an average 10 frames per second in the outdoor portion of the demo, and 14FPS in the second “cave” portion.

With effects set to medium when avaiable, resolution scaled down to 1280x720 (the resolution X-Box 360’s run the game in HD), and AA/AF turned off, the game chuned out a much more playable average of 70FPS outdoors and 33FPS indoors.

The numbers for the DX9 benchmark dropped down to 22 outdoors and 30 indoors, with settings again maxed out at 1920x1200.

The screenshots below illustrate various scenes from the demo in each of the three test scenarios. Keep in mind that the screens from the game at higher settings look a little fuzzy because of motion blur. This doesn't accomodate great screenshots, but makes a big difference when you see the game in action.

DX10 1920x1200

DX9 1920x1200

DX10 1280x720

DX10 1920x1200

DX9 1920x1200

DX10 1280x720

DX10 1920x1200

DX9 1920x1200

DX10 1280x720

DX10 1920x1200 settings

DX10 1280x720 settings

DX10 1920x1200

DX10 1280x720

A couple take-aways from the demo and benchmark:

- The demo is the same single-player sample that X-Box 360 owners got a year ago over X-Box Live Marketplace.

- The benchmark isn’t completely scripted. The bugs spawn and act a little differently each time you run the demo. The benchmark is more of a scripted flyby of the level with invincibility and “noclip” turned on, with the bugs relying on game AI to direct their reactions. This means the benchmark won’t make a perfect comparison between different hardware setups, even with identical game settings.

- The DX 9 version doesn’t look that much different from the DX10 game, especially in motion. You can pick out more shader effects in screenshots, but these aren’t particularly noticable when you’re in game and in combat.

COMMENTS
avatarGuys, don't forget xbox 360

Guys, don't forget xbox 360 just has a lowly g70 which doesn't support DX10. This port to DX10 is basically taking a DX9 compatible game and running it on a different platform.

It's like playing a PSX games on a PS2. Putting the PSX game into the PS2 isn't going to magically make the graphics better.

The time has already come when PS3 and 360 are outdated. This is old tech, so you can't really judge DX10 from a DX9 port.

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avatarYeah I think sdlvx is right.

Yeah I think sdlvx is right. This is a DX9 port so it wasnt built from the ground up with DX10 in mind like Crysis. However I do think new forceware and game patches will help the problem in the near future.

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avatarthey look nearly identical

they look nearly identical

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avatarHow do you get the game into DX10

I can't get the game to run in DX10 Mode. It always says DX9.0c

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avatari downloaded it and the demo

i downloaded it and the demo is really fun and really cool. I'm gonna buy this game when it comes out for PC.

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avatarNice job

Thanks for the more informative bench this time around! It looks like anything less than an 8800GTX just wouldn't cut it.

I'm going to wait for the next gen of cards before I sink my dollars. They sure make good DX9 cards, but that's not what I'm looking for. It's looking like current 8800 owners will want to upgrade once the next gen comes or run SLI. I wonder if this game just isn't optimized or this is what we can expect from upcoming DX10 releases.

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