FarCry	Source: Ubisoft

Real-time editing, bump mapping, static lights, network system, integrated physics system, shaders, shadows, and a dynamic music system are just some of the state of-the-art features that the CryENGINE offers. The game was set to Ultra quality and the Ubisoft's Regulator demo was run.

FarCry
Regulator LQ 640x480	FPS	Ranking
MSI P4N Diamond (NF4 SLI 200/800)	171.25
Foxconn 975X7AA-8EKRS2H (975X 200/667)	149.91
Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe (P965 200/800)	84.69
ASRock AM2V890-VSTA (K8T890 200/800)	185.2
Albatron KM51PV-AM2 (GF6150 200/800)	170.27
MSI K9N SLI Platinum (NF 570 SLI 200/800)	171.25
Epox MF570 SLI (NF 570 SLI 200/800)	172.61
Foxconn C51XEM2AA (NF 590 SLI 200/800)	169.19
Asus M2-CROSSHAIR (NF 590 SLI 200/800)	175.26
ECS KA3 MVP Extreme (RD580 200/800)	170.45

FarCry framerates are slightly lower than expected but are within the margin of error. Both nVIDIA and ATi chipset based motherboards perform slower than VIA's K8T890, which is surprising.

Doom 3	Source: id Software

Doom 3 takes advantage of the latest videocard technology and pushes the processing power of the CPU to its absolute limit. At its highest setting, Ultra quality, texture sizes pass the 500MB mark which means even tomorrow's videocards will have a hard time running everything. The frame rates in the game itself are locked at 60 fps so anything above that point is wasted. Each test is run three times with the third run being recorded.

Doom 3:
LQ 640x480:	FPS	Ranking
MSI P4N Diamond (NF4 SLI 200/800)	144.3
Foxconn 975X7AA-8EKRS2H (975X 200/667)	138.4
Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe (P965 200/800)	96.6
ASRock AM2V890-VSTA (K8T890 200/800)	148.4
Albatron KM51PV-AM2 (GF6150 200/800)	144.5
MSI K9N SLI Platinum (NF 570 SLI 200/800)	144.3
Epox MF570 SLI (NF 570 SLI 200/800)	145.2
Foxconn C51XEM2AA (NF 590 SLI 200/800)	146.7
Asus M2-CROSSHAIR (NF 590 SLI 200/800)	141.1
ECS KA3 MVP Extreme (RD580 200/800)	143.9

Doom 3 framerates are nice and equal with the remaining K8 boards. The ECS KA3 MVP Extreme slots itself right in between the nForce 590 SLI motherboards.

Quake 4	Source: id Software

Quake 4 is the latest shooter from ID and is based on the Doom 3 engine. Tweaked to for more eye candy, Quake 4 promises to be tougher on videocards and systems than its predecessor was. Quake 4 also does not have a 60 fps limiter like Doom 3, with the Ultra setting, graphic textures can surpass the 500MB mark! Each test is run three times and with the third run being recorded.

Quake 4
LQ 640x480:	FPS	Ranking
MSI P4N Diamond (NF4 SLI 200/800)	150.5
Foxconn 975X7AA-8EKRS2H (975X 200/667)	142.8
Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe (P965 200/800)	113.8
ASRock AM2V890-VSTA (K8T890 200/800)	154.4
Albatron KM51PV-AM2 (GF6150 200/800)	152.9
MSI K9N SLI Platinum (NF 570 SLI 200/800)	150.5
Epox MF570 SLI (NF 570 SLI 200/800)	150.6
Foxconn C51XEM2AA (NF 590 SLI 200/800)	154.8
Asus M2-CROSSHAIR (NF 590 SLI 200/800)	146.4
ECS KA3 MVP Extreme (RD580 200/800)	148.7

In the final test of the day, the ECS KA3 MVP Extreme performs very well compared to the Socket AM2 competition and is worthy of taking on the nForce 590 SLI.