"If there is one critique I can make about the Heaven benchmark, it is the heavy use of tessellation. By heavy, I really mean excessive, because the difference between elements with the tessellation on and off can be staggering. The most extreme examples of this are the dragon statue and the stairs. Without tessellation, the stairs are actually simple ramps without any step-geometry. With tessellation enabled, they become actual stairs. The dragon on the other hand shifts from something that you could also see as being a pet, with its relatively smooth body, into a viciously spiked nightmare."



Link: OCC