Nvidia’s GTX 760 arrives to take direct aim at the HD 7950

Hardware

• Intel Core i7 3770K (overclocked to 4.5GHz); Turbo is on.
• EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard (Intel Z77 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 16x+16x using Plex chip.)
• 16GB Kingston DDR3 2133MHz Kingston HyperX “Beast” RAM (8×2 GB, dual-channel at 2133MHz; supplied by Kingston)
• Noctua NH-DH14 CPU cooler and 7 case fans, supplied by Noctua
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 (2GB reference design and clocks 980/6008MHz; and also overclocked) supplied under NDA by Nvidia
• Nvidia GTX 770 (2GB; 1046/7010MHz, reference clocks and overclocked) supplied by Nvidia
• Nvidia GTX 780 (3GB; 863/6008MHz, reference clocks and overclocked) supplied by Nvidia
• Nvidia GTX Titan (6GB, 836/6008MHz, reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• Nvidia GTX 680 (2GB, 1006/6008MHz, reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• GTX 670 (2GB, 1006/6008MHz, reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• EVGA GTX 660 Ti (2GB; at reference clocks), supplied by evgA
• Nvidia GTX 690 (4GB, 1006/6008MHz, reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• Nvidia GTX 590 (4GB, 1607/1707MHz, reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• Nvidia GTX 580 (reference clocks) supplied by Nvidia
• Nvidia GTX 570 (reference clocks) supplied by Nvidia
• Nvidia GTX 560 Ti (1GB, reference clocks) supplied by Nvidia
• Power Color Radeon HD 7970 (3GB, stock and overclocked to GHz edition boost speeds 1050/6000MHz)
• AMD HD 6990, reference clocks, supplied by AMD
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• Genius SP-HF 800A speakers, two pairs in 4.0 Quadraphonic configuration, supplied by Genius
• Two identical 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drives configured and set up identically from drive image; one partition for Nvidia GeForce drivers and one for ATI Catalyst drivers
• Cooler Master Platinum Pro 1000W PSU
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake
• Philips DVD SATA writer
• HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD.

Test Configuration – Software

• ATi Catalyst 13-6 Beta 2 drivers; highest quality mip-mapping set in the driver; use application settings; surface performance optimizations are off. 13-5 CAP 1. The 13.6 Beta drivers were released May 29, 2013
• NVIDIA GeForce 320.30 launch drivers for the GTX 760, GTX 660 Ti and the GTX 560 Ti.  The same family of drivers, 320.18 were used for the GTX 570/580/590/670/680/690/TITAN as well as for the GTX 770 and the GTX 780. High Quality; Single-display Performance mode; Prefer Maximum Performance
• Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
• Latest DirectX
• All games are patched to their latest versions.
• vsync is forced off in the control panels.
• Varying AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for Crysis.
• All results show average frame rates
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 7 64, all DX9 titles were run under DX9 render paths, DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths and DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.

The Benchmarks

• Synthetic
  • Vantage
  • 3DMark 11
  • 3D Mark 2013 Firestrike/Firestrike Extreme
  • Heaven 4.0
  • Valley 1.0
  DX9
  • Serious Sam 3 BFE
  • Alan Wake: Ameican Nightmare
  • The Witcher 2
  • Borderlands 2
  • Aliens: Colonial Marines
  DX10
  • Crysis
  DX11
  • BattleForge
  • Alien vs. Predator
  • STALKER, Call of Pripyat
  • Metro 2033
  • Lost Planet 2
  • Total War: Shogun II
  • Crysis 2
  • Dirt 3
  • Batman: Arkham City
  • Battlefield 3
  • Max Payne 3
  • Sleeping Dogs
  • Sniper Elite V2
  • Hitman: Absolution
  • Assassin’s Creed III
  • Crysis 3
  • Tomb Raider 2013
  • BioShock: Infinite
  • Metro: Last Light

The above is our test bench. Let’s check out overclocking next.

Before we get to the GTX 760’s performance in gaming, let’s look at overclocking, power draw and temperatures.