Testing methodology
Gigabyte GV-N970IX-4GD 4GB |
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GPU Comparisons |
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| Graphics Card | GPU Cores | Base Clock (MHz) |
Boost Clock (MHz) |
Memory (MB) |
Memory Clock (MHz) |
Memory Bus (bits) |
Driver | HEXUS Review | |
| Palit GeForce GTX 980 Super JetStream | 2,048 | 1,203 | 1,304 | 4,096 | 7,200 | 256 | 347.25 | November 2014 | |
| Palit GeForce GTX 970 JetStream | 1,664 | 1,152 | 1,304 | 4,096 | 7,012 | 256 | 347.25 | October 2014 | |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC | 1,664 | 1,190 | 1,342 | 4,096 | 7,012 | 256 | 347.84 | April 2015 | |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 Mini ITX OC | 1,664 | 1,076 | 1,216 | 4,096 | 7,012 | 128 | 350.12 | ||
| Palit GeForce GTX 960 Super JetStream | 1,024 | 1,279 | 1,342 | 2,048 | 7,200 | 128 | 347.25 | January 2015 | |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 WindForce | 1,152 | 1,085 | 1,150 | 2,048 | 6,008 | 256 | 347.25 | June 2013 | |
| Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X WindForce OC | 2,816 | - | 1,040 | 4,096 | 5,000 | 512 | 15.3 beta | January 2014 | |
| PowerColor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC | 2,560 | - | 1,040 | 4,096 | 5,400 | 512 | 14.12 | February 2015 | |
| Asus Radeon R9 280X DirectCU II | 2,048 | - | 1,000 | 3,072 | 6,000 | 384 | 14.12 | October 2013 | |
| XFX Radeon R9 280 Double Dissipation | 1,792 | - | 933 | 3,072 | 5,000 | 384 | 14.12 | - | |
Graphics Test Bench |
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| Hardware Components | HEXUS Review | Product Page | |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-4770K (quad-core, overclocked up to 4.40GHz) | June 2013 | Intel.com |
| CPU Cooler | Noctua NH-D15 | April 2014 | Noctua.at |
| Motherboard | Asus Z97-A | May 2014 | Asus.com |
| Memory | 16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro (2x8GB) DDR3 @ 1,866MHz | - | Corsair.com |
| Power Supply | Corsair AX760i | - | Corsair.com |
| Storage Device | Crucial M500 240GB SSD | July 2013 | Crucial.com |
| Chassis | Corsair Graphite Series 600T | October 2010 | Corsair.com |
| Monitor | Philips Brilliance 4K Ultra HD LED (288P6LJEB/00) | - | Philips.co.uk |
| Operating system | Windows 8.1 (64-bit) | October 2012 | Microsoft.com |
Benchmark Suite |
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| Synthetic Benchmarks | |||
| 3DMark | Fire Strike, Fire Strike Extreme and Fire Strike Ultra | ||
| Gaming Benchmarks | |||
| Title | Settings at 1,920x1,080 (FHD) |
Settings at 2,560x1,440 (QHD) |
Settings at 3,840x2,160 (4K UHD) |
| Alien: Isolation | SMAA-T2x, Maximum Quality | SMAA-T2x, Maximum Quality | FXAA, Maximum Quality |
| BioShock Infinite | AA Enabled, Ultra Preset inc. Depth of Field | AA Enabled, Ultra Preset inc. Depth of Field | AA Enabled, Ultra Preset inc. Depth of Field |
| Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor | Ultra Quality Preset | Ultra Quality Preset | Very High Quality Preset |
| General Benchmarks | |||
| Power Consumption | To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record system-wide mains power draw both when idle and while playing Grid Autosport. | ||
| Temperature | To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record GPU core temperature both when idle and while playing Grid Autosport. | ||
| Noise | A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and while playing Grid Autosport. | ||
| Overclocking | Maintaining out-the-box voltage, we increase the card's power target and aim for an optimal balance of core and memory overclock. With the heightened frequencies in place, the 3DMark and Total War: Rome II tests are re-run. | ||
Notes
To minimise the impact of any CPU bottlenecks, our test platform is configured with a quad-core Intel Core i7-4770K overclocked at up to 4.4GHz. 16GB of Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 is set to run at 1,866MHz using the built-in XMP profile.
For our high-end benchmark suite, we have an array of games tested at FHD (1,920x1,080), QHD (2,560x1,440) and 4K UHD (3,840x2,160) resolutions. In an effort to maintain playable framerates in the latter modes, the level of image quality may be reduced and any such changes are highlighted using bold in the table above. Readers should note that, despite running with lowered settings, games often look superior at QHD and 4K UHD as a result of the increase in on-screen pixels.
Where applicable, any vendor-specific enhancements such as PhysX and TressFX are disabled to help even the playing field. In-game benchmark results are recorded as minimum and average frames per second.
We're using a cut-down version of the benchmarking suite because it makes sense to spend the extra time looking at the card in a Mini-ITX environment.
