The first load of DirectX9 games has now started to show up at the market. The very first DirectX9 tests were synthetic (Shadermark, 3DMark03 and others) and showed us a picture of where nVidia’s DX9 performance was relatively poor compared to ATi’s. The only DX9 class test we’ve seen hitherto were ATi hasn’t been superior was Doom II, which on the other hand was tests from a rough beta phase.
Now, more tests have emerged; Halo, Tomb Raider and Aquanox II. And if the results from the tests should be interpreted as an indication of future performance, it surely does look dark for nVidia.
Gamers Depot has tested Tomb Raider and Halo here.
Beyond3D has taken a look at the performance in Tomb Raider here.
Regarding the upcoming monster title Half-Life 2, it looks like ATi is going to pull off the prize even here, as developers have insinuated that the differences in performance will be similar to those found in Tomb Raider; this despite the fact that most of mentioned games actually are a part of nVidia’s “The way it’s meant to be played” program.
By the time of Christmas, the market should be abounded with DirectX9 games, and we will by then know which company of nVidia and ATi that is the creator of the best graphics processor. To this point, it’s most likely the latter.
