HEXUS.bang4buck and temps
In a rough-and-ready assessment of the cards' bang per buck, we've aggregated the 1,920x1,200 frame-rates for five games, normalised them* and taken account of the cards' prices.
But there are more provisos than we'd care to shake a stick at. We could have chosen five different games, the cards' prices could have been derived from other sources and pricing tends to fluctuate daily.
Consequently, the table and graph below highlight a metric that should only be used as a yardstick for evaluating comparative performance with price factored in. Other architectural benefits are not covered, obviously.
| Graphics cards | BFG GeForce 295 H2O 1,792MB |
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 295 1,792MB | Inno3D
GeForce GTX 285 OVERCLOCK 1,024MB |
Sapphire
Radeon HD 4870 X2 2,048MB ATOMIC |
Sapphire
Radeon HD 4850 X2 2,048MB |
Sapphire
Radeon HD 4870 1,024MB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual aggregate marks at 1,920x1,200 | 571.34 | 553.77 | 428.7 | 518.6 | 442.03 | 314.6 |
| Aggregate marks, normalised*, at 1,920x1,200 | 435.68 | 426.75 | 364.37 | 409.32 | 371.02 |
287.44 |
| Current pricing, including VAT | £599
(estimated) |
£389.99 | £340 (estimated) | £620 |
£266.99 | £179.57 |
| HEXUS.bang4buck score at 1,920x1,200 | 0.727 | 1.094 | 1.072 | 0.660 | 1.39 | 1.60 |
| Acceptable frame rate (av. 60fps) at 1,920x1,200 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Yes |
* the normalisation refers to taking playable frame rate into account. Should a card benchmark at over 60 frames per second in any one game, the extra fps count as half. Similarly, should a card benchmark lower, say at 40fps, we deduct half the difference from its average frame rate and the desired 60fps, giving it a HEXUS.bang4buck score of 30 marks. The minimum allowable frame rate is 20fps but that scores zero.
The HEXUS.bang4buck score only takes the performance and price into account. The BFG's improvements over the ZOTAC card are down to a driver only, and the extra 50 per cent asking price is reflected in a suitably poor score. At 1,920x1,200 the best bang4buck comes with the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1GB - a relative snip at £180.Temperatures
We perform our testing on an open test-bed with a 120mm fan simulating case airflow.
| Graphics cards | BFG GeForce 295 H2O 1,792MB |
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 295 1,792MB | Inno3D
GeForce GTX 285 OVERCLOCK 1,024MB |
Sapphire
Radeon HD 4870 X2 2,048MB ATOMIC |
Sapphire
Radeon HD 4850 X2 2,048MB |
Sapphire
Radeon HD 4870 1,024MB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambient temperature | 22.9°C | 20.5°C | 21.3°C | 24°C |
22°C | 22.4°C |
| Idle temperature | 42°C | 47°C | 44°C | 37°C |
42.5°C | 78°C |
| Load temperature | 53°C | 72°C | 79°C | 64°C | 62.5°C | 90°C |
| Ambient-to-load delta | 30°C | 51.5°C | 57.7°C | 42°C | 41°C | 67.6°C |
BFG claims an under-load temperature reduction of up to 44°C. Strapped on to a Corsair Nautilus we see a 19°C improvement over the air-cooled card, beating out the watercooling on the ATOMIC. Here's one aspect not covered by the HEXUS.bang4buck score.
So, cooler temperatures and a waterblock as standard. It would be rude not to overclock it, right? Head on to the next page to find out.
