X2 - The Threat GPU Showdown

When it comes to the visual demands of X2 The Threat under Linux, from our tests it seems the NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT 128MB is playable at 1280 x 1024 with all of the visual options enabled. On the red side, even the X1300PRO had choked in many of the benchmarks. The GeForce 6800GT and GeForce 7800GTX had possessed nothing in the way of performance problems. Fortunately, the Radeon X800XL and X1800XL were largely playable in nearly all of the benchmarks. The budget-ended X1300PRO 256MB on the other hand, was not able to surpass all of the excruciating tests. The actual frame-rate performance on the part of ATI continues to suffer under Linux with the fglrx drivers, but the Radeon X1000 series does have the competitive edge when it comes to the image quality as well as the innovative features already in the ATI drivers, and those to come in the near future. As a general synopsis, most NVIDIA GeForce mid-range and high-end GPUs should be capable of coping with the load presented by X2 The Threat, while the higher-end ATI Radeon cards would be the equivalent match with their Linux fglrx drivers. X2 The Threat should begin shipping around May 19 to the various Linux gaming stores, and the demo of the game is available freely for download from Linux Game Publishing. Also coming up shortly from Linux Game Publishing is Cold War, for which Phoronix will also be examining its performance and covering the various Beta happenings. The anticipated release of Cold War for Linux is June of 2006.