TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY 

   As always we do our best to perform all tests with the latest possible drivers (even beta ones), however due to time issues and also because some older models are no longer in our hands sometimes this will simply not be possible. This time over we did sit down to rebench every single card from the ones we've tested so far using the latest possible drivers however this will probably be a one-time thing (we will be doing this however each time we change our game selection). The drivers used to benchmark each of the cards are noted in the list beneath. Also take into account that all tests are performed with the default driver settings in both the Catalyst Control Panel and the NVIDIA Control Panel (power management modes are set to maximum performance) to keep things even for both camps.

Gainward GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 2GB GS - GeForce 320.49 Beta
HIS Radeon HD 7750 iCooler 1GB - Catalyst 13.6 Beta
Gainward GeForce GTX 670 Phantom 2GB - GeForce 320.49 Beta
HIS Radeon HD 7850 iCooler 2GB - Catalyst 13.6 Beta
HIS Radeon HD 7770 iCooler 1GB - Catalyst 13.6 Beta
Gainward GeForce GTX 590 3GB GS - GeForce 320.49 Beta

     Once again the screen used for all the benchmarks is our primary NEC 30" 3090WQXi LCD with a maximum resolution of 2560x1600. Unlike in the past and since quite a few of you asked instead of having multiple different settings and just 2 resolutions we decided to have a total of 3 resolutions (2560X1600, 1920X1200, 1680X105) to cover most readers with a single quality setting (4xAnti Aliasing / When possible through in-game settings) to make it easier to pinpoint the differences between cards (more FPS, easier to see). Once again we have changed our game lineup and so until something more demanding comes along we will be using Crysis 3, Battlefield 3, The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, Bioshock Infinite and Metro Last Light. For these benchmarks we maxed out the graphics settings of each game and also updated them to their latest versions. All tests were repeated 3 times and in a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1 64Bit installation on an OCZ RevoDrive 3 240GB SSD. As usual all tests took place in a room with a controlled ambient temperature of 23 degrees Celsius, the temperatures of the cards were recorded using AIDA64 (former Everest Ultimate by Lavalys) and GPU-Z while the noise levels were recorded using our ExTech HD600 dBA meter from a distance of no more than 5-10cm away.