Sierra FEAR 1.08	Source: Sierra

FEAR is Sierra's latest first person shooter which relies heavily on DirectX 9 features. With its "Soft Shadows" feature enabled, even the fastest videocards run at a crawl, FEAR is definitely the new benchmark for future FPS games to follow.

Sierra FEAR 1.08
1024x768:	FPS	Ranking
Asus EAX1900XTX 2DHTV/512M/A	188
Asus EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A	109
MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E	157
Foxconn FV-N88SMCD2-ONOC	150
MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE	143
MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E	138
Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH	78
Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS	68
PowerColor X1550 512MB	14
1600x1200:	FPS	Ranking
Asus EAX1900XTX 2DHTV/512M/A	114
Asus EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A	59
MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E	132
Foxconn FV-N88SMCD2-ONOC	108
MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE	110
MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E	79
Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH	39
Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS	34
PowerColor X1550 512MB	11
1024x768 w/Soft Shadows Enabled:	FPS	Ranking
Asus EAX1900XTX 2DHTV/512M/A	91
Asus EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A	66
MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E	134
Foxconn FV-N88SMCD2-ONOC	113
MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE	114
MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E	85
Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH	40
Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS	31
PowerColor X1550 512MB	13
1600x1200 w/Soft Shadows Enabled:	FPS	Ranking
Asus EAX1900XTX 2DHTV/512M/A	42
Asus EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M/A	30
MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E	74
Foxconn FV-N88SMCD2-ONOC	55
MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE	59
MSI NX7900GTX-T2D512E	39
Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH	18
Biostar Sigma-Gate GeForce 7600GS	14
PowerColor X1550 512MB	5

FEAR framerates shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, the PowerColor X1550 512MB does not have enough power to play this game at any setting above minimum.

An inexpensive Windows Vista compatible videocard

Microsoft Windows Vista makes a lot of bold promises, from better security to awesome visual effects, unfortunately most of you will have to upgrade your computer in one way or another to handle the operating system. The device that will stump most Vista converts will be the videocard, it needs to be DirectX 9.0C compatible with at least with 128MB of graphics memory to run Vista's AeroGlass feature.

You do not have to blow a lot of money on a new videocard if you don't play games. PowerColor has put together a package that allows you to fully take advantage of all the visual goodies Microsoft Windows Vista has to offer at a fair price. The PowerColor X1550 512MB retails for $116 CDN ($99 USD, £51 GBP) and has a decent feature set too. The videocard supports dual digital monitors as well as TV and component HDTV output.

Just a few things to note about the PowerColor X1550 512NB package, it only comes with one DVI to analog converter so you will need a second if you plan on connecting two analog monitors. A component output cable is not included so you will have to find one of those too if you want to connect the videocard to your high definition TV. Of course for the price of the package, you can't complain that much.

The PowerColor X1550 512MB videocard performed exactly as expected. If you play the occasional game at lower resolutions with minimal to medium details, framerates are half decent. Higher gaming resolutions are too much for this small videocard. PowerColor does a decent job with the X1550 512MB videocard if you remember to keep in mind its intended audience. It's not a super duper gaming videocard but then again it's not meant to be, rather it's designed for someone who wants to bring their machine up to Windows Vista capabilities without spending a lot of money. PowerColor offers just that.

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