Testing methodology
Gigabyte GTX 680 OC specifications |
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GPU comparisons |
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| Graphics card | GPU clock (MHz) |
Stream processors |
Shader clock (MHz) |
Memory clock (MHz) |
Memory bus (bits) |
Graphics driver | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (4,096MB) | 915+ | 3,072 | 915+ | 6,008 | 256 x 2 | ForceWare 301.33 | |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 680 Direct CU II TOP (2,048MB | 1,137+ | 1,536 | 1,137+ | 6,008 | 256 | ForceWare 301.33 | |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 OC (2,048MB) | 1,072+ | 1,536 | 1,072+ | 6,008 | 256 | ForceWare 301.42 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 (2,048MB) | 1,006+ | 1,536 | 1,006+ | 6,008 | 256 | ForceWare 301.33 | |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP (2,048MB) | 1,057+ | 1,344 | 1,057+ | 6,008 | 256 | ForceWare 301.42 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (2,048MB) | 915+ | 1,344 | 915+ | 6,008 | 256 | ForceWare 301.33 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 (3,072MB) | 607 | 1,024 | 1,215 | 3,414 | 384 x 2 | ForceWare 296.10 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (1,536MB) | 772 | 512 | 1,544 | 4,008 | 384 | ForceWare 296.10 | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (1,280MB) | 772 | 512 | 1,544 | 4,008 | 384 | ForceWare 296.10 | |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Direct CU II TOP (1,024MB) in SLI | 925 | 336 x 2 | 1,850 | 4,200 | 256 x 2 | ForceWare 301.42 | |
| Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 OC (3,072MB) | 1,000 | 2,048 | 1,000 | 5,500 | 384 | Catalyst 12.4 | |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 (3,072MB) | 925 | 2,048 | 925 | 5,500 | 384 | Catalyst 12.4 | |
| AMD Radeon HD 7950 (3,072MB) | 800 | 1,792 | 800 | 5,000 | 384 | Catalyst 12.4 | |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 (2,048MB) | 1,000 | 1,280 | 1,000 | 4,800 | 256 | Catalyst 12.4 | |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 (4,096MB) | 830 | 3,072 | 830 | 5,000 | 256 x 2 | Catalyst 12.2 | |
HEXUS high-end test bench |
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| Processor | Intel Core i5-2500K (3.30GHz, 6MB smart cache, quad-core, LGA1155) | |||||||||||
| Motherboard | Intel Desktop Board DP67BG | |||||||||||
| Memory | 8GB Corsair Vengeance (9-9-9-24 @ 1,600MHz) | |||||||||||
| Power Supply | Corsair AX750W | |||||||||||
| Monitor | Dell 30in 3007WFP | |||||||||||
| Disk drive(s) | Crucial RealSSD C300 (256GB) | |||||||||||
| Chassis | Corsair Graphite Series 600T | |||||||||||
| Operating system | Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit, SP1) | |||||||||||
HEXUS high-end benchmark suite |
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| Aliens vs. Predator | DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, very high quality | |||||||||||
| Battlefield 3 | DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xMSAA, 16xAF, ultra quality | |||||||||||
| Batman: Arkham City | DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 8xMSAA, extreme quality | |||||||||||
| Crysis 2 | DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, ultra quality | |||||||||||
| Just Cause 2 | DX10, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xAA, 16xAF, very high quality | |||||||||||
| Total War: Shogun 2 | DX11, 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,600 resolutions, 4xMSAA, 16xAF, high quality | |||||||||||
| Power Consumption | To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record mains power draw both when idle and whilst playing Batman: Arkham City | |||||||||||
| Temperature | To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record GPU core temperature both when idle and whilst playing Batman: AC | |||||||||||
| Noise | A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and whilst playing Batman: AC | |||||||||||
| Overclocking | Pushing the graphics card as far as it will go, we increase speeds and re-run the Crysis 2 benchmark | |||||||||||
Notes
Pretty much all high-end graphics cards are represented here. We've also rebenchmarked the Gigabyte HD 7970 OC on the latest drivers and have reference and overclocked GeForce GTX 670 and 680s in the mix. For folk that like to know how last-generation GPUs, in SLI, compare against the very best of today, take note of the performance for two pre-overclocked GTX 560s from ASUS.
