Must Tri Harder - TechRadar UK

What are we to make of a game that is too intensive for eventhe fastest graphics platforms on the planet? German website PC Games Hardwarehas managed to get its hands on an early sample of Nvidia's Tri-SLI.And, amazingly, even a trio of Nvidia Geforce 8800 Ultras isn't enough to playCrysis at maximum quality settings at HD resolution. Is Crysis too demandingfor any hardware currently available?

The Crysis of framerates

Before taking a look at PC Games Hardware's tests, I suggestgrabbing your German dictionary. Or better still take advantage of Google'stranslation services and enjoy a few laughs as it struggles with the highlytechnological prose. Then head for the Crysis graphs.

With Crysis at 1,920 x 1,200, very high detail settings andjust one increment of antialiasing and anisotropic filtering, a single Geforce8800 Ultra struggles to manage 15 frames per second. Dual-card SLI reaches 27frames per second, and adding a third GPU still doesn't quite achieve 38 framesper second.

That may seem like just about enough to play, but look atthe minimum score. Even with three Ultras slogging their guts out, and probablyconsuming north of 300W of power in the process, the Crysis frame rate is stilldropping to 14 per second on occasion.

That kind of performance will still give you difficulties inparts of the game where precise, rapid aiming is important, despite the decentoverall average. The usual rule of thumb for playability is a minimum of 25frames per second, with an average frame rate as far north of that as possible.Tri-SLI doesn't even come close.

More GPUs wanted

Now that 24in TFTs capable of 1,920 x 1,200 have dropped toa mere £300, with Acer's AL2416WB closing in on £200, the idea of gaming atthis resolution isn't such a crazy idea. Yet buying new graphics for Crysis at1,920 x 1,200 appears to be a losing battle - even Tri-SLI can't cope. Maybeonly four GPUs would have the necessary muscle.

Regular visitors to Mods and Clockers will know that weremain sceptical about SLI and CrossFire. Whilst we can see that multiple GPUsis the inexorable future of graphics,at least at the mid-range and high-end, we have also noted how few peopleactually run more than one graphics card for daily gaming.It doesn't look like you have much choice with Crysis, though.

Crysis isn't the first game to push the boundaries beyondwhat current hardware can cope with. In fact, it's a tried and tested formula,via which we are encouraged to upgrade our PCs. But it still makes you wonder whatCrytek was actually testing the game on when its developers coded their new title.Professional graphics accelerators are no faster than consumer-oriented oneswhen it comes to rendering Direct3D.

There's no denying the lushness of the Crysis visuals. Therustling and swaying of the undergrowth as you move through it is about themost realistic I've seen, and the water behaves in the fluid way you wouldexpect. Whatever you think of the gameplay, the Crysis engine is a technicalachievement. It's just a shame we will be waiting for quad SLI or Crossfire, oreven Nvidia's and ATI's next generation of graphics to enjoy the gob-smackinggraphics in all their glory.