HANDS ON GUIDE

GPU Test 2 - New Calico

The second GPU test is New Calico, which is quite a different beast from the Jane Nash test. Instead of containing mostly static objects, this test features hundreds of moving asteroids, most of which are created using geometry instancing. There are no skinned objects in this test, and it also uses variance shadow mapping.

As well as this, the test also contains lots of what Futuremark calls ‘global ray-tracing effects.’ These are a combination of parallax occlusion mapping, which reduces the need for complicated geometry by embedding information about the contours of a surface in a texture, volumetric fog and true impostors. The latter is basically a way of adding a huge number of models to a scene, without having to render a massive amount of polygons.

Technical information aside, these is an absolutely stunning-looking test. There are hundreds of asteroids, a huge spaceship that the fighters dive in and out of and some great explosion effects and lighting too. If you’ve got a GeForce 9800 GX2 and want to show your mates what it can do, then this test will do the job nicely.

Click on 'Launch this guide' above to see more screenshots.

Latest Hands on guides

These are the most popular features articles over the past three months.

Broadband Dongles

Compare prices

Fastest, cheapest 3G mobile broadband dongles from 3, Vodafone, T-Mobile and Orange
from just £10/month