This is a continuation, of sorts, of a lot of threads. (over 200 across the past two years or so)

The two that haven't been deleted are the previous versions of the thread as posted by myself
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=736245, and an older one http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=650879.

As the title suggests, this is a list ranking video cards, in their capability (performance) for playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This was originally a major part of a thread titled "(how) will my computer run Oblivion?" The thread ran for nearly 200 topics, or some 40,000 posts.

Please feel free to make comments, suggestions, etc.

Oblivion benchmarks, regarding video cards:
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/oblivion_high-end_performance/page3.asp
http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2006/03/31/elder_scrolls_oblivion/5.html
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6147127/p-6.html
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/oblivion_mainstream_performance/
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2746&p=4
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/10/can_your_rig_run_oblivion/
http://www.vr-zone.com/index.php?i=3885&s=5
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphics/charts.html?modelx=33&model1=519&model2=547&chart=204

When reading the ranking list, italicized names mean that aren't benchmarked reliably, and hence their rating isn't as certain; they may shift about. underlined cards support SM 3.0, and hence Oblivion's own HDR setting. red cards are ATi Radeons, green cards are nVidia GeForce; other colors are for third-party cards or integrated graphics. Cards listed on the same line are actually identical, just with separate names.

Oblivion Ranking List

Rock Bottom - these cards do NOT support pixel shaders, and as such, won't run Oblivion, no matter WHAT. Never, ever, ever!
• (Any integrated graphics that's NOT listed elsewhere on here, save for any integrated Radeon or GeForce chips I forgot)
  
• Any Intel Extreme or older chipset (denoted by a chipset number such as "Intel 845" or lower)
  
• Radeon 7000 & Radeon VE
  
• GeForce 4 MX 4000
  
• GeForce 256
  
• GeForce 2 MX
  
• Radeon 7200 & ATi Radeon
  
• GeForce 2 GTS
  
• GeForce 4 MX 420
  
• Radeon 7500
  
• GeForce 2 Pro
  
• GeForce 4 MX 440
  
• GeForce 2 Ti
  
• GeForce 2 Ultra
Outdated - SM 1.x or lacks hardware T&L; (a.k.a vertex shaders) Without a program such as http://www.oldblivion.com/ to help, all you'll get when playing is a white screen.
• Intel GMA 900 & Intel GMA 950 Integrated graphics (game will crash if you try to load without OldBlivion, you will not get a white screen)
  
• Radeon 9000 IGP & Mobility Radeon 9000
  
• Radeon 9100 IGP & Mobility Radeon 9100
  
• Radeon 9200SE
  
• Volari V3
  
• Radeon 9250
  
• Radeon 9000
  
• Radeon 9100
  
• Radeon 9200
  
• Matrox Parahelia 128
  
• GeForce 3 Ti 200
  
• GeForce 3
  
• Radoen 9100pro
  
• GeForce 3 Ti 500
  
• GeForce 4 Ti 4200
  
• Radeon 8500 & Radeon 9000pro
  
• GeForce 4 Ti 4400 (and higher)
Very Low-end - Techically, these cards meet all the requirements for the game. However, it's likely advised to not only use the lowest settings, but for cards marked with an asterisk (*), perhaps to use a program such as http://www.oldblivion.com/ to decrease performance drain further. Don't expect either decent looks or decent smoothness.
• GeForce 6100 IGP (integrated graphics) *
  
• GeForce 6150 IGP (integrated graphics) *
  
• GeForce FX 5200 & GeForce FX 5200 Ultra * (different models have wildly varying performance)
  
• S3 S8 256
  
• GeForce PCX 5300 *
  
• GeForce FX 5700 LE *
  
• GeForce FX 5500 *
  
• GeForce FX 5600 *
  
• GeForce FX 5700 *
  
• GeForce PCX 5750 *
  
• GeForce FX 5600 Ultra *
  
• GeForce FX 5700 Ultra *
  
• GeForce FX 5900 XT *
  
• GeForce FX 5800 *
  
• GeForce FX 5900 *
  
• Radeon Xpress 200 (integrated graphics)
  
• GeForce PCX 5900 *
  
• GeForce 6200 TurboCache *
  
• GeForce FX 5800 Ultra *
  
• Volari V8 Duo *
  
• GeForce FX 5900 Ultra *
  
• Volari V5 Ultra *
  
• GeForce FX 5950 Ultra *
  
• GeForce 7300SE
  
• GeForce 7100GS
  
• GeForce 7300 TurboCache & GeForce 7300LE
  
• Radeon X300 HyperMemory
  
• Radeon X550 HyperMemory
  
• Radeon 9600SE & Radeon X300SE
  
• Radeon X600 HyperMemory
  
• Volari V8 Ultra *
  
• Volari V8 Duo Ultra *
Low-end (generally weak, but given the right tweaks and settings, should run Oblivion without looking ugly)
• Radeon 9550 & Radeon X1050
  
• Radeon X550SE
  
• GeForce 6200
  
• Radeon X300 & Radeon 9600
  
• Radeon X550
  
• GeForce 6600LE
  
• Radeon X550pro
  
• Radeon X550XT
  
• GeForce 7300GS
  
• GeForce Go 7400 (Notebook card)
  
• Radeon X1300HyperMemory
  
• Radeon 9500 & Mobility Radeon 9700
  
• GeForce 6500
  
• GeForce 8300GS
  
• Radeon 9600pro & Radeon X600pro
  
• Radeon 9600XT & Radeon X600XT
  
• Radeon 9500pro
Mid-Range (Mostly cards from years past, they've still got some power in them, and will be able to truly enjoy Oblivion)
• Radeon HD2400pro
  
• Intel GMA 3000 & Intel GMA X3000 & Intel GMA X3100 Integrated graphics (performance varies by individual chipset)
  
• Radeon X1300 & All-in-Wonder 2006
  
• S3 Chrome 25
  
• S3 Chrome 27
  
• GeForce 6600
  
• Radeon 9700
  
• Radeon 9800
  
• GeForce 7300GT
  
• Radeon HD3100 & Radeon HD3200 (Integrated graphics)
  
• GeForce 6800LE
  
• GeForce 6800XT
  
• Radeon X700
  
• Radeon X1550
  
• GeForce 6800 (PCI-express version)
  
• Radeon HD3450
  
• Radeon 9700pro
  
• Radeon X1300pro
  
• GeForce 6600GT
  
• GeForce 8400GS
  
• Radeon HD2400XT
  
• GeForce 7300GT Xtreme GDDR3 (modified card)
  
• Radeon X1300XT
  
• Radeon 9800pro
  
• Radeon X700pro
  
• Radeon X700XT
  
• Radeon X800SE
  
• Radeon 9800XT
  
• Radeon X800GT & Radeon X800RX
High-End (some of these cards may be "outdated," but are all rather good, and will definitely be able to play Oblivion and look nice at the same time)
• GeForce 6800 (AGP version)
  
• Radeon X1600pro & Radeon X1300XT
  
• Radeon X800 & Radeon X800GTO 128MB
  
• Gigabyte 3D1 (two 6600GTs on one board)
  
• GeForce 6800GS (AGP version)
  
• GeForce 6800GS (PCI-express version)
  
• GeForce 7600GS
  
• Radeon X1600XT & Radeon X1650pro
  
• GeForce 6800GT
  
• Radeon X800GTO & Radeon X800GTO? (256MB version for either)
  
• GeForce 7800GS (stock clock; 375MHz core)
  
• GeForce 6800ultra
  
• Radeon X800pro
  
• GeForce 7800GS (overclocked version; 400-430MHz core)
  
• GeForce 7600GT
  
• GeForce 7800GS (superclock version; 460MHz core, 1350MHz memory)
  
• Radeon X1650XT
  
• GeForce 7800GT
  
• Radeon HD2600pro
  
• Radeon X800XL & Radeon X800GTO 16
  
• GeForce 7800GS (Gainward "bliss" version)
  
• Xbox 360 & Playstation 3 (rough placement for Oblivion comparison)
  
• Radeon X850pro
  
• Geforce 7900GS (Notebook version)
  
• GeForce 8600GS
  
• Radeon HD2600XT
  
• GeForce 8600GT & GeForce 9500GT
Very High (rather powerful cards; any of them will max out most games, but Oblivion can make them cry)
• Radeon X1800GTO
  
• GeForce 7900GS & GeForce 7800GS+ (former is the desktop version, latter is the CURRENT new version of the Europe-only AGP card. Older ones are listed separately)
  
• GeForce 7800GTX
  
• GeForce 7900GT & GeForce 7800GS+ (latter is an AGP Europe-only card that is no longer made, replaced by different cards with an identical name.)
  
• Radeon X1800XL & Radeon X1800GTO?
  
• Radeon X1950GT
  
• Radeon X800XT
  
• Radeon X850XT
  
• GeForce 7950GT
  
• GeForce 7800GTX 512
  
• GeForce 7900GTO
  
• GeForce 8600GTS
  
• Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition
  
• Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition
  
• GeForce 7900GTX
  
• Radeon X1900 All-in-Wonder
  
• Radeon X1900GT
  
• Radeon X1950pro
  
• Radeon X1800XT
  
• GeForce 7800GT Dual (two GPUs on one board)
  
• Radeon X1800XT Platinum Edition
  
• Radeon X1900XT & Radeon X1900
  
• Radeon X1900XTX
  
• Radeon X1950XT
  
• Radeon X1950XTX or GeForce 7950GX2 (data inconclusive; 7950GX2 performs worse in Oblivion than in any other game)
Extreme (these can finally achieve a rather "maxed out" Oblivion and run like you expect games to run with a high-end card. quality-enhancing mods will still bring these down, though)
• Radeon HD 2900GT
  
• Radeon HD 3850
  
• GeForce 9600GSO & GeForce 8800GS
  
• Radeon HD 2900pro
  
• GeForce 8800GTS (640MB & 320MB versions)
  
• Radeon HD 2900XT
  
• Radeon HD 3870
  
• Radeon HD 4670
  
• GeForce 9600GT
  
• GeForce 8800GT
  
• GeForce 8800GTS (512MB version)
  
• GeForce 8800GTX
  
• GeForce 8800ultra
  
• GeForce 9800GTX
  
• GeForce 9800GTX+
Egad! (I'm uncertain if it's possible to load these cards down to the point where you WOULDN'T get smooth performance in Oblivion. Of course, your milage may vary, ESPECIALLY if you load down the CPU...)
• Radeon HD 4850
  
• Radeon HD 4870
  
• GeForce GTX 260
  
• Radeon HD 3870X2
  
• GeForce GTX 280
  
• GeForce 9800GX2
  
• Radeon HD 4870X2

For CPU rankings please see HonourableTyr's thread http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=507557

(These are posts carried over from the previous topic; I'll take care of revising the list as well)

Technically, in the case of Oblivion, The 2600XT does best the GeForce 8600GT... And actually tends to be favored over it in most games, though they are really perhaps too close to differentiate much outside of Oblivion

As far as which is better, I'd note that the GeForce will likely actually be better here, given that it's an XFX "XXX" card, which means that it's overclocked to be about 14-15% faster. HOWEVER, I'd warn that it appears that the XXX editions are only available with 256MB, not 512MB: if you want to use texture enhancement mods to further improve Oblivion's appearance, you'll definitely want 512MB. Likewise, the higher quantity of memory would, in my opinion, serve you better for making the card last longer than a 14.2% overclock.


It definitely won't look anywhere near what it will look like on the Xbox 360; note that I do list the consoles in there for purpose of comparison: if you have a card that's close to it (generally in the "high end" section) then you could roughly expect similar visuals...

In your case, it may be possible to get it to run smoothly and look tolerable at the same time, though this might be unlikely, since you've already got your expectations set due to having played it on the Xbox 360, though if you were not playing on an HDTV, the PC version might not look quite as bad.


I don't recall how much they said previously, though if they mentioned their motherboard, I'd point out that all Intel 945 chipsets support PCI-express, not AGP.


Plus, AGP cards tend to be more expensive than their PCI-express counterparts. And yes, all modern graphics cards are made "PCI-express native," which means that to work on AGP they use a "bridge chip" that effectively translates them.


In your case, the game will run fine for the most part, though particularly in outdoor battles, towns, (and in-town battles worst of all) your framerate will drop as your CPU is over-loaded. As I'd note Oblivion doesn't really take advantage of multi-core CPUs all that much. Rather, it's that your CPU is simply weak: a 2.66GHz Penium D is equal to a Core 2 Duo at around 1.33GHz... Which is a speed FAR slower than any C2Ds sold today.

As for other games, it'll vary; some FPS titles are heavy on the CPU (particularly Unreal Tournament games with plenty of bots) and some are actually pretty light on it. (like Half-Life²) And even others (like Quake IV) are actually WELL-optimized for dual-core CPUs, so you shouldn't have any worries for those.


It would be able to run Oblivion, though not as particularly well as some might think; current benchmarks I'm seeing would put it in the "mid-range" section.

1) How will Oblivion run on Ati Mobility Radeon HD 2600 (512 + 768). (Core 2 Duo 2200 + 2 Gb) - will it be possible to run it maxed?

2) Will it run on GeForce 8600M GT (also for notebooks) better then on Ati Mobility Radeon HD 2600. The same configuration (2,2 Core 2 Duo + 2 Gb)?

Please, I very need your comments, because I am to choose between them - I'm buying a laptop..
Thanks in advance!!!

The 8600M GT is the better card to have across most games...especially if it's the GDDR3 version. If the HD 2600 is the XT model, then that would be better. However, since you only listed it as Mobility Radeon HD 2600, that card is weaker than a 8600M GT.

MAxed out is dependent on the resolution being played at and settings. The 2600 won't do it. The 8600M GT GDDR3 can pull Ultra-High settings at a 1440x900 resolution.

Thanks for so quick response!!!

Will 2600 capable to pull maxed settings in 1024*768? What fps outdoors can I expect? (At least approximate)
What type of cards Obolvion likes most: Ati or nVidia?

I had an ATI 1650Pro card, and just replaced it with an ATI HD 2600 XT card. (I have 2GB of Patriot 6400 RAM)

The HD 2600 card plays The max resolution my LCD monitor has (1400x1050) with no issues, and FULL graphics and options selected. And with QT3 texture pack installed.

The 1650Pro card squealed on resolutions of (1152x864) or higher. It would play at the (1024x768) resolution fine. This is with the same FULL graphics and options with QT3 installed.

So, I wonder about its placement in the listing in this post. Both cards are in the 'High End' list. For me, the HD2600 card is a much better card...

Maxed? This will depend on your fps tolerance. The fps in this game is not consistent. If you're expecting ultra smooth first person shooter-like fps, this game is not it. It'll be high at some, then dip like no other at others. I feel 25fps or more is reasonable for ME. Others will play in the teens. Just know that these cards are capable of playing the game decently, but also know that the 8600M GT is the better card over the plain 2600. I read your other thread and there's much more involved here than just the amount of VRAM (video memory). Never shop for a card solely based on the amount of VRAM.

And you're making the assumption that the plain MOBILE HD 2600 is the same as the 2600XT. There is a separate Mobile 2600 XT as well and mobile cards are in general a little weaker than their desktop counterparts. Garantus listed the card as the plain MOBILE HD 2600, which puts the card around 2600pro performance...probably slightly less. And there's a big difference between the 2600pro and the 2600XT.

30 fps are quite decent for me )) So if I get it with Radeon 2600 it will be great!!!
I have already realized that there are lots of reefs in selecting a laptop! I would be most grateful for any advise in this topic you could give me: I'm choosing between two Asus (as you could read in other thread).

I don't know what you are saying.

I said nothing about 'MOBILE'. I was not replying to Garantus or his question, I was posing my own question.
The difference I have with my 1650Pro and my HD2600XT. Both are desktop. The HD2600XT way out-performs my 1650Pro. (Both are 512MB cards)

Oh...well..your post came right after his, so can you really blame me for getting confused? No offense really.

I just want to get a few things straight with you. The 8600M GT will perform better than the HD 2600. I'm not promising you maxed out anything. Will the cards give you a decent playing experience? Yes.

None taken. I was just a bit confused by the reply...

IMHO, 30 FPS overall in Oblivion would be wish-ful thinking on a laptop.

Myself and Spudscooking both have Dell XPS 1710's he has a faster CPU but both are fitted with Go7950GTX cards, I know I run well over 30 FPS and I am certain Spuds does too so it's quite possible.

I'm only referring to vanilla though.

Thanks for help...
Seems that I will choose that one with nVidia...

Just a note:

I have windows Vista, and it has a 'rating' tool, that rates your computers performance.

My 1650Pro got a rating of 4.5
My HD2600XT got a rating of 5.9

A rating of 5.9 is the max rating the tool gives, so the HD2600XT card may even be better than the 5.9 it got.
A base score of 5 was from the highest performing computers available when Windows Vista was released.

I've got a laptop with ATI Mobilty Radeon HD 2400. Will the game work on it? Thanks in advance

Work? Yes

Run well? No, not really. Low settings, maybe medium at a low resolution (800x600). Depends on your fps tolerance.

I personally take Vista's ratings with a tad of salt. At the time Vista was released, the GeForce 8800 series was already out... Or if you give them slight leeway and consider that they shipped to OEMs at around the same time, that would make the likes of the X1950XTX or the GeForce 7950GX2 the best video cards... And those are far and away beyond the 2600XT. Though it could be that Vista, perhaps, rates the cards entirely upon their shader throughput, for which the HD 2600XT, with 120 stream processors @800MHz, would indeed be above the X1950XTX, which has the equivalent of 96 @648MHz. (48 pixel shader units with 2 ALUs per)

I agree, no tool is perfect. The web site said they would update the tool as better hardware comes along. I don't think this has been done. It did say that if you got a score of 2.5, the criteria would stay the same in the tool, and you would always get a 2.5 with new versions of the tool.

This is what I have:
5.1 - Processor (Intel Dual Core 6400)
5.6 - Memory (2GB Patriot 6400)
5.9 - Graphics (HD 2600XT)
5.5 - Gaming Graphics
5.9 - Primary Hard Disk (500GB WD SATA-II)

Yes, the 2600xt is definitely a better card than the 1650pro. That's why the 2600xt is a good deal higher in the list. I don't understand your problem. The cards in each category aren't meant to be equal, the difference in power is reflected not only in the category, but also their placement in relation to the other cards.

JMO... but this thread sooo deserves to be pinned!

When it gets long, it'd be unpinned and the new one pinned instead.

It's got valuable information.

I agree I especially signed up to recommend it to be a stickied.

I'm looking for a new PC and I'm not really a gamer but I played Morrowind and loved it. So now I want to play Oblivion. Since I'm not really a gamer I don't need a heavy power consuming GFX card. So my question was indeed: what do I need to run Oblivion nicely?After consulting this thread, I think the 2600XT or 8600GT will do nicely for my purposes (no need for higher power consuming cards like 3850/8800 GT)

Also note:

Visitors to this forum can't use the search function -they have to register- which makes it all the more important to sticky important info like this

Now I had to browse through many old threads to find it, which is annoying and time consuming.

Big thanks to the OP for creating this thread

8800gt uses the same amp as 8600gts, as Panther could confirm it since he jumped from 8600 gts to 8800gt. I also strongly suggest you to take 8800 against 8600, since the price isnt that much more, and you got a better gpu that will be good for the next games to be released. My 8600 gts starts to be not enough in terms of new games like crysis.

Hey all,
this threat has been most useful this far.

I'm looking around for a new graphics card, and was wondering if you could assist me.
My current rig includes:

Mainboard: S775 / i915 / ASUS P5GD1 Pro
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 641 3.2GHz
Memory: 2x DDR / 400 MHz / 0512 MB / Kingston
Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce 7300 GS/ 512 MB/
Harddisk: Maxtor SATA II / 250 GB / 7200 RPM / 8 MB Cache
Cooling: CPU-cooler / Zalman 9500-Cu / S775 / ASUS
OS: MS Windows XP Home NL
Monitor: Samsung TFT 19INCH 940BW Broad-screen

I'd like another Gforce.
The Asus GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB seams like a nice step forward, but I'm not sure if I'll get a boost worth it's price.

So, any recommendations or tips would be very welcome.