Benchmarks: System and Gaming
Of course, it's in the 3D department that the Vulcan 440's GeForce GTX 980 begins to shine through. Although the fabled GTX 980 Ti is rumoured to be coming soon, the standard GTX 980 remains one of the best single-GPU solutions available today and offers bags of gaming potential.
1080p Gaming Performance (Average FPS) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Quality Settings | PC Specialist Vulcan 440 |
|||||
(Asus GeForce GTX 970 Strix) |
(MSI GeForce GTX 960) |
(Zotac GeForce GTX 980) |
EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti SC ACX) |
(EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SC ACX) |
(MSI GeForce GTX 960 Gaming) |
||
| BioShock Infinite | Medium | 204.3 |
140.1 |
230.2 |
230.3 |
209.5 |
135.2 |
| High | 180.0 |
120.4 |
206.9 |
208.5 |
183.6 |
115.1 |
|
| Max | 113.1 |
74.7 |
125.5 |
126.4 |
114.6 |
72.0 |
|
| Total War: Rome II | Medium | 253.6 |
174.1 |
281.0 |
271.7 |
254.9 |
161.8 |
| Very High | 135.2 |
90.9 |
148.2 |
137.9 |
135.8 |
86.7 |
|
| Extreme | 71.1 |
46.2 |
78.2 |
73.7 |
71.9 |
46.2 |
|
How much potential, exactly? We've run a couple of games at a full-HD 1080p resolution and as a general rule of thumb, you can safely crank quality settings right up to maximum and maintain well in excess of 60 frames per second. Then again, if you're playing at 1080p, it's worth noting that the GTX 970-based systems are plenty powerful in their own right.
4K Gaming Performance (Average FPS) |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Image Preset | PC Specialist Vulcan 440 |
||
(Zotac GeForce GTX 980) |
EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti SC ACX) |
(EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SC ACX) |
||
| BioShock Infinite | Medium Quality | 71.8 |
78.6 |
59.4 |
| High Quality | 62.4 |
71.2 |
52.7 |
|
| Max Quality | 42.4 |
43.1 |
37.1 |
|
| Total War: Rome II | Medium Quality | 97.5 |
94.6 |
89.5 |
| Very High Quality | 51.0 |
47.7 |
45.9 |
|
| Extreme Quality | 24.5 |
23.4 |
21.8 |
|
The performance gap should in theory widen at a demanding 4K resolution, but that isn't necessarily the case. Remember that the Vulcan 440 is using a stock-clocked GTX 980, and when compared to a heavily overclocked GTX 970, or indeed a GTX 780 Ti, the performance gain isn't huge.
