Sapphire’s Overclocked to the Max HD 7770 GHz Edition

Our test system

Test Configuration

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7 920 (reference 2.66 GHz and overclocked to 4,2GHz using the 21x multiplier); Turbo is off.
• Gigabyte EX58-UD3R (Intel X58 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 16x+16x).
• 6 GB OCZ DDR3 PC 18000 Kingston RAM (3×2 GB, tri-channel at 1200MHz; 2×2 GB supplied was by Kingston)
• Sapphire HD 7770 GHz OC Edition (1 GB, 1150/1250MHz; also underclocked to reference speeds and overclocked), supplied by Sapphire
• Gigabyte HD 6770 (1GB, Reference Clocks 850/1200MHz) Supplied by AMD
• AMD HD 6870 (1GB, reference clocks, 900/1050MHz), supplied by AMD
• Galaxy GTX 560-MDT (1 GB, Galaxy reference clocks 830/2004MHz) loaned by Galaxy
• Galaxy GTX 560 Ti (1 GB, Galaxy reference clocks 835/2000MHz) supplied by Galaxy
• EVGA GTX 550 Ti (1GB EVGA factory overclocked to 951/2178MHz), supplied by EVGA
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hard drive
• Thermaltake ToughPower 775 W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake
• Thermaltake Element G Case supplied by Thermaltake
• Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler
• Philips DVD SATA writer
• HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD

Test Configuration – Software

• NVIDIA GeForce WHQL 295.73 for the GTX 550 Ti and the the GTX 560 Ti.  WHQL 285.62 used for the GTX 560.  High Quality
• AMD Catalyst 11-2 used for all cards.
• Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
• DirectX July/November 2010
• All games are patched to their latest versions.
• vsync is forced off in the control panel.
• Varying AA enabled as noted on the charts; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied if possible; 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

As with all of our other games, in-game settings are maxed except where noted and levels of AA are noted on the performance summary charts.   Resolutions used are 1920×1200 and 1680×1050.

• Vantage
• 3DMark 11
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Batman: Arkham City
• Serious Sam, Second Encounter HD (2010)
• Wolfenstein
• Left 4 Dead
• Crysis
• World in Conflict
• Far Cry 2
• Just Cause 2
• Resident Evil 5
• Alien vs. Predator
• Battleforge
• STALKER, Call of Pripyat
• F1 2010
• Metro 2033
• Lost Planet 2
• H.A.W.X. 2
• Civilization 5
• Total War: Shogun II
• DiRT 3
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• Heaven 2.5

Let’s head to our benchmarks.