Test system

Before we start testing or even reveal what our test computer is composed of, it is imperative that you understand that this was not a direct comparison of the HD2400 and HD2600 cards. It is quite obvious that the HD2600’s are a lot faster and more game oriented. In line with our nVidia roundup we decided however to test the cards at the same settings, offering users a clear view of how the two price ranges compare. And because testing games at 1280x1024+ on the HD2400 was hardly fair, we also aimed to find the optimal resolution and settings at which the card was capable of rendering the various games.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 @ 2.66Ghz
Motherboard: Asus P5N-E SLI
Audio: Onboard audio chip – Realtek High Definition Audio
Memory: 2 x 1 GB OCZ Gold 800Mhz DDR2 memory
Graphics cards: VisionTek HD2400 Pro, HIS HD2600XT Zalman edition, HIS HD2600XT IceQ
Drivers: ATI Catalyst 7.9
Operating system used: Windows Vista Ultimate, fully updated

Bioshock
Oblivion
Supreme Commander
F.E.A.R: Extraction Point
Counter Strike: Source
Call of Juarez
Lost Planet

The test system was built from scratch, a format of the hard drive was performed (NTFS) and then Windows Vista was installed. Following the completion of the installations, the ATI drivers were installed. All windows updates were then installed as were the latest builds of the benchmarking tools. Finally, the hard drive was de-fragmented. For each test, the ATI  drivers were set to default quality/optimizations (unless otherwise stated).

Good Benchmarking Practice:
Where possible, each benchmark was performed 3 times and the median result for each resolution/setting is shown in the tables that will follow. All applications had their latest patches applied and all hardware features the latest BIOS/Firmware.