S!
After testing some more..I set on the Vertex Array options in conf.ini and got following results...There is an impact for sure. Hoping ATI will issue this un upcoming drivers.
Black Death track, both VertexArray option enabled
Minimum: 28fps
Maximum: 284fps
Average: 93fps
+ Increase of fps in smoke and flame intense scenes of the track and average boosted a bit.
+ No artifacts or anomalies, either no console errors.
- The "blue hue" is there with these on.
Black Death track, only VertexArrayEXT enabled
Minimum: 24fps
Maximum: 285fps
Average: 93fps
+ Perfromance still good
+ No "blue hue" noticed nor artifacting, console clean.
- Would perform better with both options on.
So ATI has some homework to do with their drivers. I post the results I got without the vertex arrays enabled below. Figure the rest
Black Death track, no vertex arrays
Minimum: 23fps
Maximum: 286fps
Average: 93fps
+ No artifacts or errors, no blue hue
- Slightly lesser overall performance in dense places of the track.
If you look at the numbers there is no big difference. The difference was in overall performance of the track playing. With both Vertex Arrays ON, the track ran at a higher consistent FPS than without them in many places so definitely has an impact on performance of IL2. This can explain the difference between nVidia and ATI in IL2 as nVidia can use Vertex Array option without problems thus giving more FPS in certain situations. If ATI and/or MG/TD can fix this issue then there is none or very small difference in performance of either card brand.
Back to testing...