Selecting the right games to benchmark is a challenge for hardware reviewers. The Gearbox port of Halo is in unique position as it is one of the first major releases out that supports DX9 as well as being a demanding game that looks and runs best on new hardware.

Halo is one of the first shooters to use PS 2.0 effects meaning that it will take full advantage of the Geforce FX and ATi 9500/9600/9700/9800 line of cards. Because Halo is an AAA title that chipset vendors have not had a lot of time to fully optimize for, it gives a good overview of how other DX9 shooters may run on the respective cards. Smaller developers usually do not get the same level of attention from vendors and subsequently do not get as much benefit in terms of optimizations when newer drivers come out. Halo has been a Xbox exclusive for the last couple years now, a system that is powered by nVidia hardware. Gearbox claims to have made major architectural changes to the game to make it run on the PC. Seeing as how the general trend has been for the ATi DX9 based cards to run better than GF FX series, it will be insightful to see how a game originally optimized for nVidia hardware will run on the PC side where the high end is currently dominated by ATi.