Exploring “Frame time” measurement – Part 3 – the GTX 680 versus the HD 7970 GHz Edition
Conclusion
This has been quite an enjoyable look at the alternate ways to benchmark PC games for smoothness. We have learned that Fraps is a very useful tool for both framerate and frame time measurement and they can easily be charted using Excel or Frafs Benchmark Viewer. We have seen few real differences between playing our PC games on a SSD or on a PC regarding smoothness although certainly game levels and saves generally load more quickly on the SSD, and the SSD will be quicker when the disk is accessed. We also note variences and spikes that randomly appear that can be disregarded after comparing many runs of the same benchmark.
From just looking at eleven benchmarks including nine games, we see that the HD 7970 at GHz edition clocks has more difficulty providing even frame rates. The GTX 680 does a better job of delivering a smoother experience in our benchmarks despite the HD 7970 generally having higher fps (framerates). So far, it appears that Scott Wasson of the Tech Report was correct that the Radeon’s GCN Catalyst drivers have difficulty with smoothness, especially with some newer games.
We are certainly not finished with our frame time measurements. Stay tuned, there is a lot more coming up from us as we continue comparing our HD 7970 at GE clocks to the stock GTX 680 with the rest of our 30-game benchmark suite. Afterward, we shall present side-by-side video – including slow motion – for your examination. Evidently there are new WHQL drivers from AMD that are due tomorrow and we shall also test them thoroughly.
Happy Gaming!
Mark Poppin
ABT Senior Editor
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Nice Test. Next one will be in Crossfire/SLi ?
Btw. You’re gonna redo this whole test parcour when AMD releases this new anti Microstutter driver ? http://techreport.com/news/24136/driver-software-blamed-for-radeon-frame-latency-troubles-to-be-fixed-with-updates
Thank-you. The next planned evaluation is a continuation of the GTX 680 vs HD 7970 GHz benching using the rest of our 30 game suite. We are also going to revisit these same tests after AMD releases new drivers.
this was pretty great. I love the ranking. While there a a few extreme cases where AMD is obviously having issues, looking at older games we see that not all hope is lost. AMD obviously is capable of smoothness and we do see several cases where they do better than nvidia. These may be older titles but its a great sign that this is very fixable. The troubling issue is how bad AMD performs in some of these newer games. Its off the chart!
Its especially dramatic when you look back at the games AMD was smoother in and look at the major ugly instances.
This review shows that AMD is capable of producing smooth gaming. I think we will see them address this and perhaps the tables might turn in AMDs favor. Now wouldnt that be fun! I am getting ahead of myself here. We should wait to see how it all pans out first before i start dreaming, lol.
Great work!!!