Performance summary charts & graphs

Here are the summary charts of 22 modern PC games and 3 synthetic tests. The highest settings are always chosen and it is DX11 when there is a choice; DX10 is picked above DX9, and the settings are ultra or maxed. Specific settings are listed on the Main Performance chart at the beginning of this page. The benches are run at 1920×1200 and 2560×1600 with separate charts devoted to  dividing games up into easy to read charts by their DX pathway and by resolution.

Main Overall Summary chart

In the first three columns of the main performance summary chart, the GTX 660 Ti Superclocked is tested at EVGA factory clocks and also overclocked further with a single stock GTX 670 in-between for comparison; next is a single HD 7970 and then the GTX 680 is next.  In the sixth column, the last generation GTX 580 is featured.  In the last two columns, the GTX 560 Ti and the GTX 280 are tested mostly at 1680×1050 instead of 2560×1600 and it is noted on the chart by an asterisk (*).  The GTX 280 is an older generation video card that cannot run DX11 and it is limited to DX10 which is far less demanding and it is noted by a double asterisk (**).

(Left 4 Dead 2 has a typo in the GTX 560 Ti column; at 1920×1200, the correct fps is 94, not 194)

This is the master chart and although it has not been made into a graph as there is too much information to put onto a single graph, there are many other charts and sub-graphs that are based on it.

All results, except for Vantage and 3DMark11, show average framerates and higher is always better. In-game settings are fully maxed out and they are identically high or ultra across all platforms. As usual, we begin with the synthetics.

Futuremark & Heaven synthetic tests

3DMark11 is Futuremark’s latest DX11-only benchmark and Vantage is DX10. Unfortunately, scores are completely meaningless when they are presented in this way but they do offer supporting data to accompany our game benches. Here is the chart with Vantage and 3D Mark11:

The EVGA GTX 660 Ti comes close to the GTX 670 – especially in 3DMark11 - and the HD 7970 and pulls way ahead of the other older cards; and when it is overclocked +70/+190MHz, it is a beast!  The GTX 280 cannot run 3DMark11 as it is DX11 only.

Heaven 3.0 is a very demanding benchmark and here it is expressed in a chart.

Again, synthetic tests are interesting but they are not necessarily indicative of real world gaming performance. In all three cases, the overclocked GTX 680 “wins” over everything else except by a fair margin. The GTX 280 cannot run DX11 at all.  Next up, let’s look at DX9 games.

DX9 Games

We test the popular Source Engine represented by Left 4 Dead 2 and also a demanding DX9 game, Serious Sam 3, BFE with both at completely maxed out settings.   It was pointless to run the GTX 280 at 2560×1600 in Serious Sam 3 as it is a slideshow.

Both Left 4 Dead 2 and Serious Sam 3 BFE are faster on the overclocked GTX 680 than any of the other cards. The GTX 660 Ti improves strongly over the GTX 580 and especially over the GTX 560 Ti. The further overclocked Superclocked EVGA GTX 660 Ti gets fairly close to the HD 7970 in Serious Sam 3 at 1920×1200 but falls further behind at 2560×1600.  Let’s check out DX10 games

DX10 Games

We test four DX10 games – Just Cause 3, Far Cry 2, Crysis and World in Conflict, Soviet Assault. Here are 2560×1600 and 1920×1200 resolutions on a single chart.  For most games it was pointless to run the GTX 280 and the GTX 560 Ti at 2560×1600.  Refer to the main performance summary charts above for performance of these older video cards at 1680×1050.

Out of these four DX10 games, the GTX 660 Ti actually goes toe to toe with the HD 7970, beating it in Far Cry 2 and coming close in Resident Evil 5 and in Just Cause 2, depending on the resolution.

DX11 Games

Most of our testing emphasizes DX11 games and we bench 12. Since the charts would get too long, we break them up into charts of 6 games each.

First up are the older DX11 games at 2560×1600

In most of these games, the overclocked GTX 660 Ti loses to the far more expensive stock HD 7970 although the GeForce is faster in Lost Planet 2 and comes close in HAWX 2. Now those same games at 1920×1200:

The gap narrows a bit at the lower resolution and now the EVGA GTX 660 Ti beats the HD 7970 in HAWX 2.  Now the newer DX11 games at 2560×1600:

Although the gap narrows at lower resolution, the HD 7970 is faster when clocks are stock. This time, the GTX 660 Ti at EVGA Superclocked speeds clocks is now trading blows with the HD 7970, depending on game  The Radeon puts in a dismal showing in the Secret World.  Now the same newer DX11 games at 1920×1200:

Again, at the lower resolution, the GTX 660 Ti is beating the HD 7970, depending on the game.  We were very surprised by these results as Nvidia hit their target for the GTX 660 Ti at 1920×1200 resolution, taking on a much more expensive card with good results.

The EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked performs very close to its big brother the GTX 670, somewhat closer than 15%; and it comes very close in some games in performance to the stock HD 7970, matching or beating it in some games but losing to it in a few more in our benching suite.

We would not be surprised to see the EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked run away from the HD 7870 and also generally outclass the HD 7950 which is in a higher price bracket. Let’s head for our conclusion.