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 and Training demos were run.

Crytek FarCry 1.33:
UQ Regulator 1600x1200:	FPS	Ranking
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (2x AA)	57.39
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (4x AA)	45.29
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8x AA)	40.74
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8xQ AA)	28.9
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16x AA)	39.3
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16xQ AA)	24.31
UQ Training 1600x1200:	FPS	Ranking
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (2x AF)	70.93
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (4x AF)	70.4
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8x AF)	69.92
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16x AF)	68.76
UQ Training 1600x1200:	FPS	Ranking
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (4x AA, 4x AF)	36.1
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8xQ AA, 8x AF)	24.11
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16xQ AA, 16x AF)	19.12

The MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC performs alright with light AA/AF, but framerates slow down quite a bit when higher levels of AA are enabled. This shouldn't be a surprise though, the GeForce 8600GTS GPU is starved of memory bandwidth.

ID Software Quake 4 1.3	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.

ID Software Quake 4 1.3 Custom Demo:
UQ 1600x1200:	FPS	Ranking
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (2x AA)	105
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (4x AA)	86.2
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8x AA)	74.9
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8xQ AA)	53.3
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16x AA)	74.2
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16xQ AA)	32.3
UQ 1600x1200:	FPS	Ranking
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (2x AF)	135.4
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (4x AF)	134.9
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8x AF)	134.7
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16x AF)	134.6
UQ 1600x1200:	FPS	Ranking
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (4x AA, 4x AF)	86.3
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8xQ AA, 8x AF)	53.2
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16xQ AA, 16x AF)	32.2

The MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC performs quite well here in Quake 4, if you're going to be gaming at high resolutions with ultra details you're going to be very pleased with its performance.

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
1600x1200:	FPS	Ranking
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (2x AA)	37
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (4x AA)	27
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8x AA)	25
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8xQ AA)	14
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16x AA)	25
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16xQ AA)	12
1600x1200:	FPS	Ranking
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (2x AF)	51
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (4x AF)	51
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8x AF)	51
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16x AF)	51
1600x1200:	FPS	Ranking
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (4x AA, 4x AF)	25
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (8xQ AA, 8x AF)	13
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC (16xQ AA, 16x AF)	10

FEAR is tough on all videocards and realistically if you want to game with AA/AF enabled you'll want to use a lower resolution when using the MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC videocard. There just isn't enough bandwidth to go around.