{"id":27098,"date":"2011-09-30T09:23:01","date_gmt":"2011-09-30T08:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=27098"},"modified":"2011-10-01T23:28:04","modified_gmt":"2011-10-01T22:28:04","slug":"sli-vs-crossfire-part-2-high-end-multi-gpu-scaling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/sli-vs-crossfire-part-2-high-end-multi-gpu-scaling\/","title":{"rendered":"SLI vs. CrossFire, Part 2 &#8211; High-end multi-GPU scaling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n  google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\"><\/script><br \/>\nThe evaluation that we are presenting here today compares the performance of the very fastest AMD and Nvidia video cards in SLI or CrossFire.\u00a0 This is Part Two of a new series that continues where our<em> &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/sli-vs-crossfire-part-1\">SLI vs. CrossFire, Part 1 &#8211; mid-range multi-GPU scaling &amp; value<\/a>,&#8221;<\/em> left off.\u00a0 In fact, that article is a continuation of an older series where we benchmarked the Core i7-920 versus the Q9550s and Phenom II CPUs in \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=14309\">Core i7 vs. Penryn vs. Phenom II with HD 4870-X2 &amp; TriFire<\/a>,\u201d which we published in January, 2010.<\/p>\n<p>This second part of our evaluation only deals with CrossFire scaling versus SLI scaling on Core i7-920 as later parts of this series will expand to cover over- and under-clocked multi-GPU configurations.\u00a0 Besides overclocked video cards, we will include additional CPU platforms, including dual- versus quad-core and hopefully will include Bulldozer FX series &#8220;Zambezi&#8221; performance and later on, compare to Intel&#8217;s Ivy Bridge CPU platform.<\/p>\n<p>One thing to note is that all of our video cards were run at their stock speeds.\u00a0 For our next Part 3 evaluation, we will attempt to overclock our HD 6990 so that it approaches the stock speed of the HD 6970.\u00a0 This will give us a very good idea of further scaling of CrossFire-X3.\u00a0 And of course, we will over- and under-clock our CPUs to see if there is a &#8220;bottleneck&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>We are actually expanding on our SLI versus CrossFire series with three synthetic benches and 22 relatively new games &#8211; including 12 DX11 games, 5 DX10 games, 4 DX9 games and 1 OpenGL game.\u00a0 We are using the most powerful graphics cards available as we are now benchmarking with the two fastest single-GPU graphics cards from each vendor &#8211; the GTX 580 and the HD 6970.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/GeForce_GTX_590_3qtr.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/GeForce_GTX_590_3qtr.jpg?resize=360%2C277\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We also test with the two fastest dual-GPU cards; the HD 6990 and the GTX 590. \u00a0 We also include HD 6990 plus HD 6970 results for Tri-Fire X-3; unfortunately, the GTX 590 will not SLI with the GTX 580 for Tri-SLI as they are not supported together by Nvidia&#8217;s drivers.\u00a0 We also test HD 6970 CrossFire and GTX 580 SLI which perform faster than the stock HD 6990 or the GTX 590 respectively.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/6990_Blk_SML.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/6990_Blk_SML.jpg?resize=360%2C207\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After over a week of benchmarking runs \u2013 literally hundreds of individual benchmark runs which we have gathered, analyzed and charted for you \u2013 we now have some more solid evidence about multi-GPU scaling.\u00a0 We also want to see if perhaps our Core i7-920 at 3.8GHz (3.97GHz with Turbo) is beginning to &#8220;bottleneck&#8221; our graphics &#8211; especially at 1920&#215;1200 and below.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We are continuing to test at two of the most demanding wide-screen resolutions, 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600 and we will also look at the Super-widescreen resolution of 5760&#215;1080 when available using in-game settings. We generally use 2x\/4xAA or 8xAA plus 16xAF and with maximum (ultra) DX11\/10.1\/10\/9c details whenever it is available.<\/span><\/span> For all of our testing in this review, we are benching with Catalyst 11.8 and GeForce 280.26 drivers; each one a very solid and stable WHQL driver set.\u00a0\u00a0 GeForce 280.26 is still current at the time of publication and Catalyst 11.9 was released yesterday (expect a Performance Analysis this weekend).<\/p>\n<p>What about &#8220;micro-stutter&#8221; and how well do games generally scale by adding a second video card &#8211; or even a third?\u00a0 Please continue on to the next page for the complete hardware and software setup of our testing platform. We shall see what happens when high performance single-GPU video cards meets multi-GPU video cards in PC gaming for the Autumn of 2011.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Introduction--><!--nextpage--> <span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong>Test Configuration<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong>Test Configuration &#8211; Hardware <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Intel Core i7 920-reference 2.66 GHz and overclocked to 3.8 GHz; 21x multiplier for 3.97 GHz, Turbo is on. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Gigabyte <\/span>EX58-UD3R <span style=\"font-size: small;\">(Intel X58 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire\/SLI 16x+16x).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">6 GB OCZ DDR3 PC1800 Kingston RAM (3&#215;2 GB, tri-channel at PC1600 speeds; 2&#215;2 GB supplied by Kingston)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">GeForce GTX 590, 3GB reference clocks (607\/1707 MHz) supplied by Nvidia. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">GeForce GTX 580, 1.5 GB reference design and clocks (772\/1544 MHz), supplied by Nvidia<\/span><\/li>\n<li>GeForce GTX 580, 1.5 GB reference design and clocks (772\/1544 MHz), supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>ATI Radeon HD 6990 (2GB, reference clocks, 830\/1200 MHz) supplied by AMD<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>ATI Radeon HD 6970 (2GB, reference clocks, 880\/1370 MHz) supplied by AMD<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: small;\">ATI Radeon HD 6950 (2GB,\u00a0 flashed to stock HD 6970; 880\/1370 MHz) supplied by AMD<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Two identical 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hard drives configured and set up identically from drive image; one partition for Nvidia GeForce drivers and one for ATI Catalyst drivers<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">2 x Thermaltake ToughPower 775 W power supply units supplied by Thermaltake<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Thermaltake Element G Case supplied by Thermaltake<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU cooler, supplied by Noctua<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Philips DVD SATA writer<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">HP LP3065 2560&#215;1600 thirty inch LCD; 3 x ASUS 23&#8243; 1920&#215;1080 120Hz displays supplied by Nvidia\/ASUS. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Test Configuration &#8211; Software<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">ATi Catalyst 11.8 WHQL driver for all Radeons; highest quality mip-mapping set in the driver; surface performance optimizations are off; &#8220;use applications settings&#8221; are checked <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">NVIDIA GeForce WHQL 280.260; High Quality<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">DirectX July\/November 2010<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">All games are patched to their latest versions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">vsync is forced off in the control panel.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Varying AA enabled as noted in games<em style=\"font-size: small;\"><\/em>; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied if possible; 16xAF forced in control panel for <em>Crysis.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">All results show average with minimum and maximum frame rates as noted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">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.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">The Benchmarks<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vantage<\/li>\n<li>3DMark11<\/li>\n<li><em> Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Serious Sam, Second Encounter HD (2010)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Wolfenstein<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Left 4 Dead<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Mafia II<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Crysis<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>World in Conflict <\/em><em> <\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Far Cry 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Just Cause 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Resident Evil 5<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Alien vs. Predator<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Battleforge<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> STALKER, Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>F1 2010 <\/em><em> <\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Metro 2033<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> Lost Planet 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em> H.A.W.X. 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Civilization 5<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Total War: Shogun II<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Dirt 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Crysis 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Deus Ex: Human Revolution<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Heaven 2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We have got an interesting project going. Let&#8217;s check our results.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Test Configuration--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Vantage<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Vantage is Futuremark\u2019s DX10 test. It is really useful for tracking changes in a<em> single <\/em>system \u2013 especially driver changes. There are two mini-game tests, <em>Jane Nash<\/em> and <em>Calico<\/em> and also two CPU tests, but we are still focusing on the graphics performance. Here is a scene from Vantage\u2019s second mini-game.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/3dmarkvantage-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: inline; border-width: 0px;\" title=\"3DMarkVantage\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/3dmarkvantage_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" alt=\"3DMarkVantage\" border=\"0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Let\u2019s go right to the graphs and first check the basic tests with the default benchmark scores:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Vantage-bt1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27172\" title=\"Vantage-bt\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Vantage-bt1.jpg?resize=482%2C601\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Vantage-bt1.jpg?resize=482%2C601 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Vantage-bt1-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We note the rankings. Unfortunately, scores are completely meaningless when they are presented this way.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Vantage-mg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27116\" title=\"Vantage-mg\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Vantage-mg.jpg?resize=482%2C600\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Vantage-mg.jpg?resize=482%2C600 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Vantage-mg-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>For our purposes here, Vantage is a meaningless test although they do attempt to compare one video card&#8217;s performance to another by using two short time demos. Let&#8217;s move on to the latest Futuremark benchmark, 3DMark11 which is DX11 only.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Vantage--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">3DMark11<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">3DMark11 is Futuremark&#8217;s brand new DX11-only benchmark. We are keeping track of the overall (for these tests, meaningless) scores and the framerates of the 4 graphics tests (which are more meaningful). First the basic tests results.<a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/3dmark-bt.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27111\" title=\"3dmark-bt\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/3dmark-bt.jpg?resize=482%2C376\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/3dmark-bt.jpg?resize=482%2C376 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/3dmark-bt-300x234.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We note the rankings and that the cards are ranked very similar to Vantage. Unfortunately, scores are completely meaningless when they are presented in this way. However, the next set of tests actually measures framerates of four short timedemos that focus on DX11 graphics performance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/3dmark-mg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27112\" title=\"3dmark-mg\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/3dmark-mg.jpg?resize=482%2C800\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/3dmark-mg.jpg?resize=482%2C800 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/3dmark-mg-180x300.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We see an interesting lineup. Unfortunately for our purposes, 3DMark11 scores are just as meaningless as Vantage in an attempt to compare one video card&#8217;s performance in games to another &#8211; even in the same system. These synthetic tests are, however, useful in tracking driver changes quickly and the expanded tests give interesting theoretical information about the video cards that are tested.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Let&#8217;s move on to PC games and to real world situations and we will create our snapshot of current performance of the two most-powerful single- and dual-GPU video cards from AMD and Nvidia to see how they scale in CrossFire or SLI.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: 3DMark 11--><br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Wolfenstein--><br \/>\n<strong>Wolfenstein<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Wolfenstein<\/em> is a science fiction first-person shooter video game mostly co-developed by Raven and id Software and published by Activision. It is the sequel to <em>Return to Castle Wolfenstein<\/em>, and uses the id Tech 4 engine. The game was released in 2009.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24248\" title=\"Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Wolf2MP-2011-02-25-11-19-45.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Our timedemo benchmark was created by BFG10K. It is very accurate and totally repeatable. First we test at 1920&#215;1200 and then at 2560&#215;1600 (on the same chart) with completely maxed out in-game settings.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wolf.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27118\" title=\"wolf\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wolf.jpg?resize=482%2C685\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wolf.jpg?resize=482%2C685 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wolf-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>It looks like driver issues are to blame for Nvidia&#8217;s poor relative performance in this OpenGL game compared to the competing Radeons. It needs to be optimized to run well on GeForce hardware although it surprisingly does scale with SLI. Our GTS 580 can barely manage this game at 2560&#215;1600 although scaling is nearly perfect with clockspeeds for the GTX 590 and GTX 580 SLI.<\/p>\n<p>The HD 6970 scaling is very good and the HD 6990 sits a bit lower than HD 6970 CrossFire due to its lower clocks.\u00a0 Adding a third HD 6990 to HD 6990 for CrossFire-X3 gives a nice &#8211; if meaningless &#8211; boost to the already high framerates.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Batman: Arkham Asylum--> <strong><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Batman: Arkham Asylum (Game of the Year Edition)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanaa_25x16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17938\" title=\"batmanAA_25x16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanaa_25x16.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"batmanAA_25x16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanaa_25x16.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/batmanaa_25x16-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/em> <em>Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em> is an action-adventure\/stealth video game based on DC Comics&#8217; Batman. Arkham Asylum is based directly on the long-running comic book&#8217;s Dark Knight character. The Joker devised an elaborate plot from inside Arkham Asylum that Batman is personally forced to end. The game&#8217;s primary characters are superbly voiced.<\/p>\n<p><em>Batman: Arkham Asylum <\/em>uses a modified version of the Unreal Engine 3. It does not support AA natively but must be added in and supported by the game&#8217;s developer. Unfortunately we cannot compare <em>Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em> using our GeForce <em>exactly<\/em> against the Radeon with PhysX on; so all of our testing is with it off. We are using the <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=20560\">Game of the Year Edition <\/a>of <em>Batman: Arkham Asylum<\/em> which supports in-game AA settings for both Radeon and GeForce cards.<\/p>\n<p>First we test at 1920&#215;1200 and we see that there are definite issues with CrossFire-X3 scaling.\u00a0 Of course, it doesn&#8217;t make the slightest bit of difference to actually playing the game.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-191.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27174\" title=\"batman-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-191.jpg?resize=482%2C678\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-191.jpg?resize=482%2C678 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-191-213x300.jpg 213w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Next we test at 2560&#215;1600 with the same details maxed and with the same AA applied noticing that CrossFire-X3 scales a bit over HD 6970 CrossFire-X2.\u00a0 Perhaps our CPU is holding us back a little bit, although we will see no practical difference with higher framerates.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27120\" title=\"batman-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-25.jpg?resize=482%2C684\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-25.jpg?resize=482%2C684 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-25-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\">No card is challenged by the Unreal 3 engine at 2560&#215;1600 and the minimums suggest you can play with vsync on.\u00a0 However, the framerates are not heavily impacted by going from 1920&#215;1200 to 2560&#215;1600 with our fastest graphics configurations which suggests they may be waiting on the CPU.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s see if 5960&#215;1080 can slow our cards down.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27121\" title=\"batman-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-57.jpg?resize=482%2C683\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-57.jpg?resize=482%2C683 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/batman-57-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Now we see very strange driver results which suggests this game is not optimized well for multi-GPU &#8211; nor does it need to be as the minimums are already very high<span style=\"font-size: small;\">. However, we no longer see our CPU waiting for our Graphics as we have managed to balance it at this high resolution.\u00a0 The Radeons are all grouped together while the GTX 580 SLI manages a reasonable performance boost over the two lower-clocked GTX 580 GPUs in the GTX 590.\u00a0<\/span><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Left 4 Dead--><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><em><strong>Left 4 Dead<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Left 4 Dead<\/em> <em>(L4D) <\/em>is a 2008 co-op first-person shooter that was developed by Turtle Rock Studios and purchased by Valve Corporation during its development. <em>Left 4 Dead<\/em> uses Valve&#8217;s proprietary Source engine<em>.\u00a0 <\/em><em>L4D<\/em> is set in the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic which pits its four protagonists against hordes of the infected zombies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">There are four game modes: a single-player mode in which your allies are controlled by AI; a four-player, co-op campaign mode; an eight-player online versus mode; and a four-player survival mode. In all modes, an artificial intelligence (AI), dubbed the &#8220;Director&#8221;, controls pacing and spawns, to create a more dynamic experience with increased replay value. It is best as a multiplayer game played against humans.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/left4dead.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24244\" title=\"left4dead\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/left4dead.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/left4dead.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/left4dead-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>There is no built-in benchmark, so we created our own custom time demo which is very repeatable. The game is updated regularly by Steam and we chose the highest detail settings and 8xAA. We will save our comments until after we present both charts. First we test at 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600 resolutions:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/l4d-19.25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27127\" title=\"l4d-19.25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/l4d-19.25.jpg?resize=481%2C685\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/l4d-19.25.jpg?resize=481%2C685 481w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/l4d-19.25-210x300.jpg 210w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Again, we see significant improvement in framerates from dropping from 2560&#215;1600 to 1920&#215;1200 with our single-GPU cards but relatively less gain with multi-GPU which might indicate that our i7-920 might benefit from further overclocking &#8211; although it is unnecessary. We do see good scaling with both CrossFire and SLI.<\/p>\n<p>On to our next chart at 5760\u00d71080:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/l4d-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27128\" title=\"l4d-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/l4d-57.jpg?resize=482%2C360\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/l4d-57.jpg?resize=482%2C360 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/l4d-57-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>All of our video cards can play this game fully maxed out plus 8xAA and left 4 Dead would be an excellent candidate for playing in 3D Vision Surround fully maxed out.\u00a0 And this time scaling returns to normal in relation to our CPU as our graphics system is more challenged by the increased resolution.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Serious Sam SE HD--> <strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Serious Sam Second Encounter HD (2010)<\/span><\/span><\/strong> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SamHD_SS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20448\" title=\"SamHD_SS\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SamHD_SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"SamHD_SS\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SamHD_SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/SamHD_SS-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span> Serious Sam is the title of a series of first-person shooters created by the Croatian development team Croteam. It follows the adventures of its hero Sam &#8220;Serious&#8221; Stone and his fight against the forces of the extraterrestrial overlord Mental who seeks to destroy humanity. Its gameplay is a throwback to early first-person shooters like Quake and Doom with the twist of being set in wide-open environments with large groups of enemies attacking at any time, and there are many hidden areas and treasures to find and puzzles to solve. Serious Sam features cooperative gameplay and allows for split screen action supporting up to 4 players. <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Serious Sam: The Second Encounter<\/em> was remade as &#8220;HD&#8221; using Serious Engine 3. It was released on April, 2010 for PC. Besides updated visuals, new game modes including &#8220;Co-op Tournament&#8221; and &#8220;Survival&#8221; for single player, were introduced in the remake. <em>Serious Sam 3<\/em> is currently in development by and is expected to release this year. <span style=\"font-size: small;\">We use the basic 3 &#8220;ultra&#8221; presets for benching <\/span><em>Serious Sam: The Second Encounter HD.<\/em><span style=\"font-size: small;\"> There is possible further fine-tuning which will make the game even more demanding, but we chose the &#8220;ultra&#8221; presets with only one higher GPU setting, to allow for testing beyond 1920&#215;1080. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We test first at 1920&#215;1200<\/span> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"> resolution:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27124\" title=\"ss-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-19.jpg?resize=482%2C502\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-19.jpg?resize=482%2C502 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-19-288x300.jpg 288w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We see good scaling with the Radeons beating their GeForce counterparts.\u00a0 And now at 2560&#215;160<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">0 with the same ultra presets:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27125\" title=\"ss-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-25.jpg?resize=482%2C503\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-25.jpg?resize=482%2C503 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-25-287x300.jpg 287w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The Radeons pull even further ahead.\u00a0 Finally at 5760&#215;1080:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27126\" title=\"ss-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-57.jpg?resize=482%2C422\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-57.jpg?resize=482%2C422 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ss-57-300x262.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><em>Serious Sam: The Second Encounter HD<\/em> <span style=\"font-size: small;\">on the Serious 3 engine is quite demanding and yet all of our top configurations play it satisfactorily using the game&#8217;s built-in &#8220;ultra&#8221; presets except for<\/span> the HD 6970 at super-widescreen resolution<span style=\"font-size: small;\">.\u00a0 Of course, we cannot test the GTX 580 at 5760&#215;1080 as SLI (or a GTX 590) is required to run Surround.\u00a0 The Radeons are similarly benefited by running them in CrossFire and although they do not scale particularly well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Mafia II--><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Mafia II<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><strong> <\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mafiaScreenCS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20445\" title=\"mafiaScreenCS\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mafiaScreenCS.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"mafiaScreenCS\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mafiaScreenCS.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mafiaScreenCS-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/mafiaScreenCS.jpg 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Mafia II<\/em> is a third-person action-adventure video game which is the sequel to <em>Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven<\/em>. It is developed by 2K Czech and is published by 2K Games and was released last year. Mafia II is set from 1943 to 1951 in Empire Bay which is a fictional city based mostly on San Francisco and New York City along with some influences from Chicago and also Detroit. <em><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Mafia II<\/em> is a gritty drama which chronicles the rise of World War II veteran Vito Scaletta who joins the Falcone Crime Family and becomes a \u2018made\u2019 man. There are 15 chapters in the game and over two hours of game engine generated cutscenes. <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Mafia II<\/em> makes extensive use of Nvidia\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/physx_new.html\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/physx_new.html', 'PhysX']);\" >PhysX<\/a> whose full effects are seen smoothly only by playing on a PhysX-enabled GeForce and preferably with a second video card dedicated to it. For this article, we used the full retail game with <em>Mafia II&#8217;s<\/em> built-in benchmark with the highest settings for 5780&#215;1080, 2560&#215;1600 and 1920&#215;1200 &#8211; without PhysX &#8211; and this time we will reserve comment until after both charts. First we test at 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/mafia-19.25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27123\" title=\"mafia-19.25\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/mafia-19.25.jpg?resize=481%2C684\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/mafia-19.25.jpg?resize=481%2C684 481w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/mafia-19.25-210x300.jpg 210w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\">We see some pretty good multi-GPU scaling overall. Now at 5760&#215;1080:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/mafia-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27122\" title=\"mafia-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/mafia-57.jpg?resize=482%2C345\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/mafia-57.jpg?resize=482%2C345 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/mafia-57-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The GTX 590 is faster than HD 6970+HD 6990 CrossFire-X3 although both configurations are sufficient for 5760&#215;1080.\u00a0 Our HD 6970 is insufficient to play at this resolution and it would be wise to turn some details down with HD 6990.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This covers our DX9 games and we note some variability with SLI and CrossFire Scaling. Let&#8217;s move on to DX10 and DX11 games to see if anything changes.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Crysis--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">Crysis<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/crysis64_1-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: inline; border-width: 0px;\" title=\"crysis64_1\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/crysis64_1_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" alt=\"crysis64_1\" border=\"0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Next we move on to <em>Crysis<\/em>, a science fiction first person shooter by Crytek. It remains one of the most demanding games for any PC and it is also still one of the most beautiful games released to date. <em>Crysis<\/em> is based in a fictional near-future where an alien spacecraft is discovered buried on an island near the coast of Korea. The single-player campaign has you assume the role of USA Delta Force, \u2018Nomad\u2019 who is armed with futuristic weapons and equipment.<\/p>\n<p><em>Crysis<\/em> uses DirectX10 for graphics rendering. <em><\/em> As well as supporting Shader Model 2.0, 3.0, and DirectX10\u2019s 4.0, CryEngine2 is also multi-threaded to take advantage of dual core SMP-aware systems and Crytek has developed their own proprietary physics system, called CryPhysics. However, it is noted that actually playing this game is a bit slower than the demo implies. All of our settings are set to the in-game maximum&#8217;s &#8220;very high&#8221; including 2xAA for all tested resolutions and we force 16xAF in the control panels.<\/p>\n<p>Here is <em>Crysis\u2019<\/em> Island Demo benchmark, first at 1920&#215;1200 resolution:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27155\" title=\"crysis-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-19.jpg?resize=482%2C705\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-19.jpg?resize=482%2C705 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-19-205x300.jpg 205w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Interesting.\u00a0 All of our cards can play Crysis at 1920&#215;1200 with maxed out details and 2xAA\/16AF.\u00a0 Unfortunately, CrossFire does not scale as well as with previous drivers and HD 6990, HD 6970 CrossFire and TriFire-X2 all suffer the same minimums and averages.\u00a0 It is not the CPU being too slow as we see decent scaling with the GTX 580, GTX 590 and GTX 580 SLI<\/p>\n<p>Next we test at 2560&#215;1600.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27156\" title=\"crysis-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-25.jpg?resize=482%2C704\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-25.jpg?resize=482%2C704 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-25-205x300.jpg 205w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>With a higher resolution, we again see CrossFire differentiate itself from the single GPU and its scaling improve.\u00a0 To play Crysis at 2560&#215;1600, you definitely need a multi-GPU solution.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27157\" title=\"crysis-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-57.jpg?resize=482%2C695\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-57.jpg?resize=482%2C695 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis-57-208x300.jpg 208w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Our single HD 6970 simply cannot manage <em>Crysis <\/em>at these settings and adding a second one or third one is still not sufficient for smooth game play. On the other hand, GTX 590 is still too weak to play <em>Crysis<\/em>, but GTX 580 SLI may be close if we compromise a bit with settings.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Far Cry 2--><\/p>\n<h2>FarCry 2<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/farcry2-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: inline; border-width: 0px;\" title=\"farcry2\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/farcry2_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" alt=\"farcry2\" border=\"0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Far Cry 2<\/em> uses the name of the original <em>Far Cry<\/em> but it is not connected to the first game as it brings you a new setting and a new story. Ubisoft created it based on their Dunia Engine. The game setting takes place in an unnamed African country, during an uprising between two rival warring factions. Your mission is to kill \u201cThe Jackal\u201d; the Nietzsche-quoting mercenary that arms both sides of the conflict that you are dropped into.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Far Cry 2<\/em> game world is loaded in the background and on the fly to create a completely seamless open world. The Dunia game engine provides good visuals that scale well. The <em>Far Cry 2<\/em> design team actually went to Africa to give added realism to this game. One thing to especially note is <em>Far Cry 2\u2019s<\/em> very realistic fire propagation by their engine that is a far cry from the scripted fire and explosions that we are used to seeing.<\/p>\n<p>First we test <em>Far Cry 2<\/em> benchmark at 1920&#215;1200 with AI enabled and we use the Ranch Long benchmark with ultra settings plus 4xAA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27148\" title=\"fc-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-19.jpg?resize=482%2C599\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-19.jpg?resize=482%2C599 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-19-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The GTX 580 is solidly faster than the HD 6970 but good CrossFire scaling lets the Radeon almost catch the GTX 580 SLI.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s move on up to 2560&#215;1600 resolution.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27149\" title=\"fc-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-25.jpg?resize=482%2C594\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-25.jpg?resize=482%2C594 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-25-243x300.jpg 243w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>At the higher resolution, the GeForce solutions pull further away from their Radeon counterparts.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s up the resolution to 5760&#215;1080.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27150\" title=\"fc-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-57.jpg?resize=482%2C601\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-57.jpg?resize=482%2C601 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/fc-57-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Here we see a clean sweep by the GTXes in <em>Far Cry 2<\/em> although the Radeons get close at 1920&#215;1200 and CrossFire-X3 definitely leads over the GTX 580 SLI configuration.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: World in Conflict--><\/p>\n<h2>World in Conflict Soviet Assault<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/wic-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: inline; border-width: 0px;\" title=\"wic\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/wic_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" alt=\"wic\" border=\"0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>World In Conflict<\/em> is set in an alternate history Earth where the Cold War did not end and Russia invaded the USA in 1989 and the remaining Americans decided to strike back. <em>World in Conflict (WiC)<\/em> is a real-time tactical\/strategy video game developed by Massive Entertainment and released in 2007. The expansion, <em>Soviet Assault<\/em>, was released in 2009. Although it is generally considered a real-time strategy (RTS) game, <em>World in Conflict <\/em>includes gameplay typical of real-time tactical (RTT) games. <em>WiC<\/em> is filled with real vehicles from both the Russian and the American military. There are also tactical aids, including calling in massive bombing raids, access to chemical warfare, nuclear weapons, and far more.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Here is yet another amazing and very customizable and detailed DX10 benchmark that is available in-game or as a stand-alone. We use the full retail game&#8217;s in-game benchmark as it offers more settings than the demo and is updated by patches. The particle effects and explosions in <em>World in Conflict Soviet Assault<\/em> are truly spectacular! Every setting is fully maxed out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We start our benching at 2560&#215;1600 and also cover 1920&#215;1200 on the same chart:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27129\" title=\"wic\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wic.jpg?resize=482%2C683\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wic.jpg?resize=482%2C683 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wic-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The GTX 580 is a bit stronger in this game than the HD 6970 but the multi-GPU combinations are almost too close to call.\u00a0 Naturally, we are seeing a pattern of better multi-GPU scaling at a higher resolution.\u00a0 What difference will a faster or a slower CPU make and what happens when we further overclock our video cards?\u00a0 Part III will cover this in detail.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Just Cause 2--><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">Just Cause 2<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/justcause2_25x16.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17937\" title=\"JustCause2_25x16\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/justcause2_25x16.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"JustCause2_25x16\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/justcause2_25x16.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/justcause2_25x16-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> <em>Just Cause 2<\/em> is a 2010 sandbox-style action video game by Swedish developer Avalanche Studios and Eidos Interactive and is the sequel to the 2006 video game, J<em>ust Cause. Just Cause 2<\/em> employs the Avalanche Engine 2.0 which an updated version of the engine used in the original and there are impressive visuals as it is made just for DX10. It is set on the fictional tropical island of Panau in Southeast Asia. Rico Rodriguez returns as the protagonist who aims to overthrow the evil dictator &#8220;Baby&#8221; Panay and also to confront his former boss, rogue agent Tom Sheldon.<\/p>\n<p>The game play is similar to that of its predecessor in that the player is free to roam the huge open world without a need to focus on the storyline. <em>\u00a0<\/em> <em>Just Cause 2<\/em> even includes dual-grappling hooks which give players the ability to tether unlimited objects to each other including the tethering of enemies to vehicles and to each other which works very well as one of your goals is to cause maximum chaos. It is a lot of fun!\u00a0 And it is spectacular looking in Surround or Eyefinity, not to mention it is exceptional with 3D Vision and 3D Vision Surround.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the maximum settings available to a GeForce card; the bottom two, the Bokeh Filter and GPU water simulation, are unavailable to Radeons and they are left off on all runs to give solid apples-to-apples comparisons for all of our tested video cards and we used the Dark Tower benchmark built into the retail game. <a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/JustCause2_GeForce2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17926\" title=\"JustCause2_GeForce\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/JustCause2_GeForce2.jpg?resize=330%2C346\" alt=\"JustCause2_GeForce\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/JustCause2_GeForce2.jpg?resize=330%2C346 550w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/JustCause2_GeForce2-285x300.jpg 285w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 330px) 100vw, 330px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>First the benches at 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600 with 8xAA and maxed out settings:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/jc2-19.25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27130\" title=\"jc2-19.25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/jc2-19.25.jpg?resize=482%2C685\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/jc2-19.25.jpg?resize=482%2C685 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/jc2-19.25-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We see almost perfect scaling from HD 6970 to HD 6970 CrossFire and Tri-Fire-X3 also gets a solid performance boost.\u00a0 The same can be said for the GTX 580 and SLI although the HD 6990 and the GTX 590 trade blows depending on the resolution.<\/p>\n<p>Now let&#8217;s look at the performance at 5760&#215;1080:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/jc2-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27131\" title=\"jc2-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/jc2-57.jpg?resize=482%2C333\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/jc2-57.jpg?resize=482%2C333 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/jc2-57-300x207.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>This time the HD 6990 is stronger than the GTX 590 at the highest Super-Widescreen resolution although the GTX 580 SLI edges out the\u00a0 HD 6970-X2 CrossFire and nearly catches TriFire-X3.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Resident Evil 5--><\/p>\n<h3>Resident Evil 5<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/re5dx10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"RE5DX10\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/re5dx10.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"RE5DX10\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Resident Evil 5<\/em> is a survival horror third-person shooter developed and published by Capcom that has become the best selling single title in the series. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil series and it was released for Windows in September 2009. Resident Evil 5 revolves around two investigators pulled into a bio-terrorist threat in a fictional town in Africa. <em>Resident Evil 5<\/em> features online co-op play over the internet.<\/p>\n<p>The developer&#8217;s emphasis is in optimizing high frame rates but they have implemented HDR, tone mapping, depth of field and motion blur into the game. Re5&#8217;s custom game engine, \u2018MT Framework&#8217;, already supports DX10 to benefit from less memory usage and faster loading. <em>Resident Evil 5<\/em> gives you choice as to DX10 or Dx 9 and we naturally ran the DX10 pathway.<\/p>\n<p>There are two benchmarks built-into <em>Resident Evil 5<\/em>. We chose the variable benchmark as it is best suited for testing video cards. Here it is at 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600 resolution with maxed out in-game setting plus 8xAA; 5760&#215;1080 gives a strange in-game menu that is hard to set so we skipped it:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/re5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27132\" title=\"re5\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/re5.jpg?resize=480%2C677\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/re5.jpg?resize=480%2C677 480w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/re5-212x300.jpg 212w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This game is played easily at 2560&#215;1600 with either a top single-GPU Radeon or GeForce with the GTX 580 winning out.\u00a0 However, CrossFire scaling is better than SLI scaling and attempts to close the distance.\u00a0 TriFire-X3 gives a small performance boost at 2560&#215;1600 but gives negative scaling at 1920&#215;1200; probably a driver issue.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Call of Pripyat--><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/stalker_cs-jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: inline; border-width: 0px;\" title=\"STALKER_CS\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/stalker_cs_thumb-jpg.jpg?resize=244%2C154\" alt=\"STALKER_CS\" border=\"0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/em> is the third game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. All of these games have non-linear storylines which feature role-playing game elements. In both games, the player assumes the identity of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R.; an illegal artifact scavenger in \u201cThe Zone\u201d which encompasses about 30 square kilometers. It is the location of an alternate reality story surrounding the Chernobyl Power Plant after another (fictitious) explosion.<\/p>\n<p><em>Call of Pripyat <\/em>is compatible with DirectX 8, 9, 10 and 10.1. It uses the X-ray 1.6 Engine<strong> <\/strong>with dX 11, one outstanding feature being the inclusion of real-time GPU tesselation\u2013 a Shader model 3.0 &amp; 4.0 graphics engine featuring HDR, parallax and normal mapping, soft shadows, motion blur, weather effects and day-to-night cycles. As with other engines using deferred shading, the original DX9c X-ray Engine does not support anti-aliasing with dynamic lighting enabled, although the DX10 and DX 11 versions do.<\/p>\n<p>We are using the stand-alone \u201cofficial\u201d benchmark by <em>Clear Sky\u2019<\/em>s creators. We picked the most stressful test out of the four, \u201cSun shafts\u201d. It brings the heaviest penalty due to its extreme use of shaders to create DX10\/DX10.1 and DX11 effects. We ran this benchmark fully maxed out in DX11.0 with \u201cultra\u201d settings plus 2xAA, including applying edge-detect MSAA which chokes performance even further. Here we present our maxed out DX11 settings for <em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Call of Pripyat<\/em> DX11 benchmark with 2xAA at 1920&#215;1200:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27144\" title=\"COP-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-19.jpg?resize=482%2C700\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-19.jpg?resize=482%2C700 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-19-206x300.jpg 206w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We see nearly perfect scaling for both SLI and CrossFire and the GeForce GPUs are faster in this benchmark than their Radeon counterparts.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27145\" title=\"COP-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-25.jpg?resize=482%2C686\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-25.jpg?resize=482%2C686 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-25-210x300.jpg 210w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Again we see great multi-GPU scaling and the relative positioning of the video cards are unchanged.\u00a0 Now we move on to 5670&#215;1080:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27146\" title=\"COP-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-57.jpg?resize=482%2C643\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-57.jpg?resize=482%2C643 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COP-57-224x300.jpg 224w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>None of our configurations can handle this game at 5760&#215;1080 nor do the GPUs scale as well as they do at lower resolutions.\u00a0 If you play this game at super widescreen resolutions, you will need to lower details or perhaps use Tri-SLI or Quad-Fire &#8211; if they scale.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: BattleForge--> <strong>BattleForge<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/battleforge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"battleforge\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/battleforge.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"battleforge\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>BattleForge<\/em> is an online PC game developed by EA Phenomic and published by Electronic Arts. The full game was released in March 2009. <em>BattleForge <\/em>is a card-based RTS that revolves around acquiring and winning by means of micro-transactions for buying new cards. By May, 2009, BattleForge became a Play 4 Free game with fewer cards than the retail version.<\/p>\n<p><em>BattleForge<\/em> supports Directx 11 with full support for hardware tesselation. It is very impressive visually and quite demanding on any system. First we test with our cards at 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600 using the <em>BattleForge<\/em> built-in benchmark with all of its settings completely maxed out and with 8xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bf-19.25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27133\" title=\"bf-19.25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bf-19.25.jpg?resize=481%2C681\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bf-19.25.jpg?resize=481%2C681 481w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bf-19.25-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We see excellent GPU scaling with both CrossFire and SLI with the Nvidia cards being faster than their AMD counterparts.\u00a0 Now we test at 5760&#215;1080 and also with 8xAA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bf-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27134\" title=\"bf-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bf-57.jpg?resize=482%2C367\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bf-57.jpg?resize=482%2C367 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bf-57-300x228.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 590 is the faster video card compared to the HD 6990 in <em>BattleForge <\/em>and the GTX 580 is considerably faster than HD 6970 Crossfire.\u00a0 Even though AMD cards scale very well, HD 69&#215;0 TriFire-X3 cannot catch the pair of GTX 580s in SLI.<!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Aliens Vs Predator--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Aliens vs Predator<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span> <strong> <\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_SS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20450\" title=\"AvP_SS\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"AvP_SS\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_SS-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/AvP_SS.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><em>Aliens vs. Predator<\/em>, known to fans as Aliens versus Predator 3 or AVP3 is a video game developed by Rebellion Developments, and published by Sega in February 2010. It is the sixth game of the Aliens versus Predator game series. There are three campaigns in the game, one for each race or faction (the Predators, the Aliens and the Colonial Marines), that form one main storyline although they differ in objectives depending on your choice of campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Alien vs Predators DX11 benchmark is a stand alone bench that as the name says is only for DX11 cards. It is more demanding than actually playing the game generally. First we bench at 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600 with maxed out settings plus 4xAA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/avp-19.25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27135\" title=\"avp-19.25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/avp-19.25.jpg?resize=481%2C681\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/avp-19.25.jpg?resize=481%2C681 481w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/avp-19.25-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong>The GTX 580 is the faster single-GPU card while the HD 6990 is faster than the GTX 590.\u00a0 GTX 580 SLI trades blows with HD 6970 CrossFire.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s move on the 5760&#215;1080:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/avp-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27136\" title=\"avp-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/avp-57.jpg?resize=482%2C353\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/avp-57.jpg?resize=482%2C353 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/avp-57-300x219.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\">No real change except that this benchmark is impossible for the HD 6970, and HD 6990 and the GTX 590 also struggle at 5760&#215;1080<\/span>.\u00a0 Fortunately, the benchmark represents the worst case in actually playing the game; it is more demanding than over 95% of the game.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Metro 2033--><strong> <\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Metro 2033<\/span><\/span><br class=\"spacer_\" \/><\/strong> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2033-SS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20446\" title=\"metro2033-SS\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2033-SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"metro2033-SS\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2033-SS.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2033-SS-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/metro2033-SS.jpg 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span> <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><em>Metro 2033<\/em> is the &#8220;Crysis&#8221; of 2010. It is a very demanding game on any PC with the very latest DX11 visuals. <\/span><em>Metro 2033<\/em> is an action-oriented video game with a combination of survival horror, and first-person shooter elements. The game utilizes multi-platform 4A Engine and there is some doubt if the games engine is related to the original XRay engine used in <em>S.T.A.L.K.E.R.<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Metro 2033 <\/em>story takes place mostly in post-apocalyptic Moscow&#8217;s metro system but occasionally the player has to go above ground on some missions and to search for valuables. <em>Metro 2033<\/em>&#8216;s locations reflect the dark atmosphere of real metro tunnels but in a much more dangerous and lethal manner. Strange phenomena and noises are frequent, and mostly the player has to rely only on their flashlight to find their way around in otherwise total darkness.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">THQ has released an official benchmark for <\/span><em>Metro 2033<\/em> which provides minimum\/maximum\/average framerates, and you can adjust many graphics settings including PhysX, AA, DOF and tessellation, and the number of runs.<span style=\"font-size: small;\"> Our presets are set to maximum (very high) with 4xAA and DOF enabled &#8211; but no PhysX.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Here is our first chart at 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600.\u00a0 For single-GPU video cards, it proves too demanding without turning off most of the visuals that make this game really impressive. However, actually playing the game, one can tolerate minimums down into the 20s without noticing severe lag.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/METRO2033.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27137\" title=\"METRO2033\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/METRO2033.jpg?resize=481%2C675\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/METRO2033.jpg?resize=481%2C675 481w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/METRO2033-213x300.jpg 213w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\">All of our configurations struggle with <em>Metro 2033<\/em> with the aggressive settings that we used except at 1920&#215;1200.\u00a0 Our fastest graphics, HD 69x0Tri-Fire-X3 barely keeps its average framerates in the 30s at 2560&#215;1600 and it is a slideshow at 5760&#215;1080.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: F1 2010--><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><strong>F1 2010<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><em>F1 2010<\/em> is a racing game<\/span> based on the 2010 season of the Formula One world championship. It was released in September 2010 by Codemasters. The EGO 1.5 engine powers it.<span style=\"font-size: small;\"> The weather system requires the player to adjust to changing track conditions.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">\u00a0 <em>F1 2011<\/em> has just been released and it is even less demanding than <em>DiRT 3<\/em> which shares the same EGO 3.0 engine so we will continue to bench with this game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Watch out for bad <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">AI <\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">drivers!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/F1_2010.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24251\" title=\"F1_2010\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/F1_2010.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/F1_2010.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/F1_2010-1024x640.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\">First we test at 1920&#215;1200 using ultra settings with the built-in benchmark and 8xAA.<\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27138\" title=\"f1-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-19.jpg?resize=482%2C564\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-19.jpg?resize=482%2C564 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-19-256x300.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\">AMD has mostly fixed their &#8220;negative scaling&#8221; which plagued this game for months &#8211; where CrossFired cards are actually slower in the minimums than their single card counterparts &#8211; but still we see no scaling beyond HD 6990.\u00a0\u00a0 In contrast, the GTXes scale better allowing GTX 580 SLI to beat HD 69&#215;0-X3 although the Radeons are otherwise faster.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s look at 2560&#215;1600:<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27139\" title=\"f1-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-25.jpg?resize=482%2C564\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-25.jpg?resize=482%2C564 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-25-256x300.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Now we see negative scaling with TriFire-X3 but not to make any noticeable performance difference. \u00a0 This time the Radeons pass all of the comparable GeForce cards and combinations.\u00a0 And now we test at 5760&#215;1080.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27140\" title=\"f1-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-57.jpg?resize=482%2C564\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-57.jpg?resize=482%2C564 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/f1-57-256x300.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Here the Radeons have the advantage.\u00a0 Even with negative scaling of Tri-Fire, the Radeons take the checkered flag.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Lost Planet 2--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Lost Planet 2<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/LP2DX11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21705\" title=\"LP2DX11\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/LP2DX11.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/LP2DX11.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/LP2DX11-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/LP2DX11.jpg 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/strong> <em>Lost Planet 2 <\/em>is the sequel to <em>Lost Planet: Extreme Condition<\/em> and is also made by Capcom. The events take place ten years after the first game and on the same, now thawed, EDN III. The PC version was released on October 12, 2010 and it runs on the MT-Framework 2.0 engine; an updated version of the engine used in several Capcom games.<\/p>\n<p>Campaign mode can have up to 4 players working together over the Internet. <em>Lost Planet 2<\/em> allows players to create and customize their own characters which will allow them to unlock more things after leveling up and downloading content.\u00a0 We are using the retail game&#8217;s built-in benchmark in DX11 with maximum settings. As the game is quite demanding, we first test at 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600 resolutions with 4xAA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/LP2-19.25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27141\" title=\"LP2-19.25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/LP2-19.25.jpg?resize=479%2C683\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/LP2-19.25.jpg?resize=479%2C683 479w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/LP2-19.25-210x300.jpg 210w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 479px) 100vw, 479px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Just as in the original game, none of our single-GPU cards can play easily play <em>Lost Planet 2<\/em> at 2560&#215;1600 at the highest settings although the GTX 580 comes closest. However, we see the GeForce cards easily faster than the Radeons in this game and although CrossFire scaling is decent, they never come close.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/LP2-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27143\" title=\"LP2-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/LP2-57.jpg?resize=482%2C342\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/LP2-57.jpg?resize=482%2C342 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/LP2-57-300x212.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In this more tessellation-heavy DX11 game, the GeForce cards have the advantage and GTX 580 SLI is quite playable at 5760&#215;1080; TriFire-X3 and the GTX 590 a bit less so and we might cut the AA.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: H.A.W.X. 2--><\/p>\n<h3>Tom Clancy&#8217;s H.A.W.X. 2<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/HAWX2_DX11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-22559\" title=\"HAWX2_DX11\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/HAWX2_DX11.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/HAWX2_DX11.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/HAWX2_DX11-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/HAWX2_DX11.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tom Clancy&#8217;s <em>H.A.W.X. 2<\/em> is an air combat video game developed by Ubisoft for PC. We are using the built-in benchmark from the full retail game.<em>\u00a0 H.A.W.X. 2<\/em> runs on DX11 faster and with more detail than on the DX10 pathway. Here the emphasis is on terrain tessellation which looks outstanding in DX11 and &#8220;flat&#8221; in DX10.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s check out <em>H.A.W.X. 2<\/em> with our video cards at 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600 with fully maxed out in-game settings and with 8xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/hawx2-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27152\" title=\"hawx2-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/hawx2-19.jpg?resize=481%2C672\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/hawx2-19.jpg?resize=481%2C672 481w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/hawx2-19-214x300.jpg 214w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We see great CrossFire scaling but it isn&#8217;t enough to catch the comparable GeForce cards.\u00a0 And now we test at 5760&#215;1080 resolution:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/hawx2-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27153\" title=\"hawx2-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/hawx2-57.jpg?resize=482%2C364\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/hawx2-57.jpg?resize=482%2C364 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/hawx2-57-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A single HD 6970 can play this game at 5760&#215;1080 but we would recommend setting the AA a bit lower.\u00a0 A single GeForce card cannot play at this resolution at all but the GTX 590 also flys away from even HD 69&#215;0 Tri-Fire-X3.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Civilization 5--><\/p>\n<h3>Civilization V<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/CivilizationV_DX11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25588\" title=\"CivilizationV_DX11\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/CivilizationV_DX11.jpg?resize=300%2C187\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/CivilizationV_DX11.jpg?resize=300%2C187 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/CivilizationV_DX11-1024x640.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/CivilizationV_DX11.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Sid Meier&#8217;s Civilization V<\/em> is a beautiful game that takes advantage of DX11&#8217;s tessellation to produce some amazing character models. There are three benchmarks that can be run from a command line and we chose the &#8220;lateGameView&#8221; Benchmark as it looks to be a good test. You stare out over a vast area completely covered by your forces as they await your commands.<\/p>\n<p>First we test at 1920&#215;1200 and 2560&#215;1600 with the highest details and 2xAA.<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/civ.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27158\" title=\"civ\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/civ.jpg?resize=482%2C678\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/civ.jpg?resize=482%2C678 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/civ-213x300.jpg 213w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nSurround didn&#8217;t work properly in Super Widescreen resolutions and this must be a driver issue.\u00a0 However, there really isn&#8217;t a lot of performance difference between the two resolutions once you get to multi-GPU.\u00a0 That indicates that this game might well benefit from a faster CPU.\u00a0 We will test this out in Part III.\u00a0 In the meantime, the Nvidia cards are solidly faster than their Radeon counterparts.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Shogun 2--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Total War: Shogun II<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><em>Total War: Shogun II<\/em> is one of ABT&#8217;s newest DX11 benchmarks. This is a very demanding game as all settings are at their maximum ultra settings and with 2xAA added. We use the built-in benchmark in the Steam version of the retail game and bench at 1920&#215;1200 and at 2560&#215;1600.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/shogun19.25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27159\" title=\"shogun19.25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/shogun19.25.jpg?resize=482%2C676\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/shogun19.25.jpg?resize=482%2C676 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/shogun19.25-213x300.jpg 213w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 is faster than the HD 6970 although the HD 6990 is faster than the GTX 590.\u00a0 GTX 580 SLI is faster than HD 6970 CrossFire and the TriFire-X3 solution is the fastest.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/shogun57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27160\" title=\"shogun57\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/shogun57.jpg?resize=482%2C344\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/shogun57.jpg?resize=482%2C344 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/shogun57-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We still see good multi-GPU scaling although the game has become too demanding at 5760&#215;1080 for all but TriFire-X3.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: DiRT 3--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Dirt 3<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><em>DiRT 3<\/em> is a nicer looking game than <em>DiRT 2<\/em> as it is build on the latest Ego 3.0 engine.\u00a0 It is very impressive-looking in DX11 and it runs well on midrange cards at 1080p.\u00a0 Of course, we want to test it at the highest resolutions also and with fully maxed-out settings.<\/p>\n<p>We test first at 1920&#215;1200 then at 2560&#215;1600 with ultra details and 8xAA:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27165\" title=\"dirt-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-19.jpg?resize=482%2C593\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-19.jpg?resize=482%2C593 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-19-243x300.jpg 243w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 580 and 580 SLI beat HD 6970 and HD 6970 CrossFire although the HD 6990 is quicker than the GTX 590.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s try 2560&#215;1600 next.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27166\" title=\"dirt-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-25.jpg?resize=482%2C593\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-25.jpg?resize=482%2C593 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-25-243x300.jpg 243w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Much the same results as with 1920&#215;1200.\u00a0 Decent scaling from our multi-GPU setups.\u00a0 What about 5760&#215;1080? (which looks spectacular, by the way)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27167\" title=\"dirt-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-57.jpg?resize=482%2C540\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-57.jpg?resize=482%2C540 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/dirt-57-267x300.jpg 267w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nAt the highest resolution, the GTX 590 still falls behind the HD 6990 although GTX 580 SLI beats HD 6970 CrossFire.<\/p>\n<h2><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Crysis 2--><br \/>\n<strong>Crysis 2 DX11<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><em>Crysis 2<\/em> is a beautiful game and a worthy successor to C<em>rysis<\/em> &#8211; especially once the DX11 patch and high resolution textures were released.\u00a0 We are picking one of the most demanding parts of the game for our benchmark &#8211; so most of the game should be faster than our benchmark.\u00a0 First we start with 1920&#215;1200.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27162\" title=\"crysis2-19\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-19.jpg?resize=482%2C702\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-19.jpg?resize=482%2C702 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-19-205x300.jpg 205w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We see a clean sweep by the Nvidia cards.\u00a0 Negative scaling for TriFire-X3 certainly doesn&#8217;t help the AMD cards.\u00a0 HD 6970 is just sufficient to play <em>Crysis 2<\/em> at 1920&#215;1200 while the GTX 580 stays well above 30 fps as a minimum for fluid play.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s up the resolution to 2560&#215;1600:<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27163\" title=\"crysis2-25\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C699\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-25.jpg?resize=482%2C699 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-25-206x300.jpg 206w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here it takes a GTX 590 or HD 6990 to run <em>Crysis 2<\/em> at 2560&#215;1600 and the GeForce cards have the advantage here.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s see if any combination can run it at 5760&#215;1080.<a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27164\" title=\"crysis2-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-57.jpg?resize=482%2C644\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-57.jpg?resize=482%2C644 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/crysis2-57-224x300.jpg 224w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Although the Nvidia cards are faster, no combination can play <em>Crysis 2<\/em> at this resolution.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Deus Ex: Human Revolution--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Deus Ex: Human Revolution<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><em>Deus Ex Human Revolution<\/em> is our latest benchmark.\u00a0 It uses the Unreal 3.5 engine with DX11 features including tessellation.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s test it at 1920&#215;1200 and then at 2560&#215;1600 with maxed details and with FXAA on high.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/de3-19.25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27168\" title=\"de3-19.25\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/de3-19.25.jpg?resize=481%2C676\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/de3-19.25.jpg?resize=481%2C676 481w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/de3-19.25-213x300.jpg 213w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We see only fair CrossFire scaling and negative TriFire-X3 numbers.\u00a0 Nvidia has the advantage in this benchmark.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s check 5760&#215;1080.<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/de3-57.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27169\" title=\"de3-57\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/de3-57.jpg?resize=482%2C362\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/de3-57.jpg?resize=482%2C362 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/de3-57-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Again we see only fair scaling from CrossFire although TriFire finally gets marginally better frames than CrossFire.\u00a0 Again, the GTX 580 and GTX 580 SLI are the fastest solutions and they can easily play this game at 5760&#215;1080 although the multi-GPU Radeons may have to have some details lowered.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Heaven--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Heaven 2.0 Unigine<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/unigine-1-0.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"unigine-1.0\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/unigine-1-0.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"unigine-1.0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Finally we come to our last benchmark, Heaven 2.1, on the Unigine engine. It uses DX11 and heavy tessellation which will strain any graphics card. At least two DX11 games based on Unigine are expected to be released next year. We use the setting for &#8220;extreme tessellation&#8221; and high shaders and we also set AA to 4x and AF to 16x.<a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27113\" title=\"heaven--1\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/heaven-1.jpg?resize=479%2C679\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/heaven-1.jpg?resize=479%2C679 479w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/heaven-1-211x300.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 479px) 100vw, 479px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We see decent scaling overall but the GeForce video cards have the advantage although TriFire is fastest. In this case, we see that the Cypress architecture is bottlenecked by its tessellator, however, this is a synthetic benchmark and we will withhold judgment until we play PC games using the Unigine engine.<br \/>\n<!--nextpage--><br \/>\n<!--pagetitle: Performance Summary Charts--><\/p>\n<h2>Performance Summary Charts<\/h2>\n<p>Here are the results of our 25 benchmarks at a glance:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27106\" title=\"Untitled-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-14.jpg?resize=540%2C421\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-14.jpg?resize=540%2C421 540w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-14-300x233.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27171\" title=\"Untitled-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-25.jpg?resize=540%2C434\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-25.jpg?resize=540%2C434 540w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-25-300x241.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-34.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-27108\" title=\"Untitled-3\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-34.jpg?resize=540%2C415\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-34.jpg?resize=540%2C415 540w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Untitled-34-300x230.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Please head on over to our conclusion.\u00a0 As this is only Part two, our conclusion is &#8220;in progress&#8221; and we have probably raised as many questions as we have answered that will be covered in future evaluations.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Conclusion--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This has been quite an enjoyable hands on experience with these top video cards evaluating SLI and CrossFire video card combinations. Although there is much left to cover, we have generally observed good multi-GPU scaling that was generally more noticeable at higher resolutions; and of course, we want to see what over- and under-clocking our CPU and GPUs may do.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, this is part 2 of our ongoing <em>CrossFire versus SLI<\/em> series. There are going to be at least two or three more parts that will delve into CPU and GPU overclocking and the effects of difference CPU platforms and architectures on performance. Eventually we want to set up testing of &#8220;micro stutter&#8221; as observed in multi-GPU setups which is easy to see for yourself but very difficult to demonstrate in an evaluation.\u00a0 We have a digital camera capable of 240 fields per second and will attempt to make videos for you.<\/p>\n<h3>Micro Stutter and Greater than 100% Scaling<\/h3>\n<p>Micro stutter bothers some gamers so much so that they cannot ignore it and they return to using a single powerful card while others never notice it at all and will swear that it does not exist. Micro stutter does exist as it is inherent to Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR), but drivers minimize its effects so that <em>generally<\/em> the performance gained by the second card outweighs any disadvantages.<\/p>\n<p>We also note that in many situations where micro stuttering is evident, the CPU or Graphics are straining and often it may be minimized somewhat by lowering settings.\u00a0 If you would like to weigh on our future testing methods or to specifically discuss micro stutter testing methods, feel free to comment below, ask questions, make requests, or have a detailed discussion in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/\">ABT forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We have also occasionally noted CrossFire and SLI scaling greater than 100%. Often this can be attributed to &#8220;benchmark noise&#8221;, the way averages are rounded off, or the nature of Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) where multi-GPU scaling may be slightly better than 100% due to the frames that are read ahead by the CPU.<\/p>\n<p>If frames for a multi-GPU system are only pre-rendered as for a single card there would be less than optimal scaling. The AFR dual-GPU system likely has to render ahead further than a single-GPU system does because there are now two GPUs to feed. In this scenario, the framerate may possibly have higher than 100% scaling during some GPU-bound situations.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, a GPU can render only one frame at a time. If there were no pre-rendering at all, the CPU has to wait before constructing a new frame, while pre-rendering allows the CPU to keep on preparing frames while the GPU is busy. Since the prepared frames are stored in an offline buffer, the GPU ideally never has to wait for the CPU to construct them. Now since the pre-render value is likely higher for a multi-GPU system than it is for a single GPU system, it is possible to achieve greater than 100% scaling. The multi-GPU system&#8217;s higher pre-render values makes it probable that the CPU can continue working on frames instead of stopping for a single video card with a lower pre-render value. Of course, this would cause more input lag but that is beyond the scope of this discussion.<\/p>\n<p>Other factors can also contribute to greater than 100% scaling which include &#8220;benchmarking noise&#8221; &#8211; the margin of error built into benching is generally accepted as 1-3% &#8211; and also driver bugs that might hold back a single GPU but which don\u2019t show up in multi-GPU situations. Usually you will not encounter this; ideally scaling approaches 100% if your SLI or CrossFire drivers are working perfectly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Continued Investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, the benefits and disadvantages of CrossFire or SLI will become even clearer as we continue on in our investigation of SLI versus CrossFire. The top cards from both AMD and Nvidia scale very well in newer games and in most of our 22 games that we use as our regular benchmark suite.<\/p>\n<p>One thing to note is that all of our video cards were run at their stock speeds.\u00a0 For our next Part 3 evaluation, we will attempt to overclock our HD 6990 so that it approaches or matches the stock speed of the HD 6970.\u00a0 We will also overclock our GTX 590 to see how it scales as its two cores are basically underclocked GTX 580s much the same as the HD 6990 has two 6970 cores on a single PCB.\u00a0 Changing the clock speeds will give us a very good idea of further scaling of CrossFire-X3.\u00a0 And of course, we will over- and under-clock our CPUs to see if there is a &#8220;bottleneck&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>We will not give any final judgments now but will withhold them until after we are done with this series. We hope to have a new powerful flagship FX series CPU coming from AMD and we hope to give you a hands on full evaluation as soon as it is available. Of course, it will fit in very well with this series. We are in the middle of one of the most interesting times in the recent history of gaming as AMD and Nvidia are locked into a battle to win your hearts and money.<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at ABT including a Catalyst 11.9 Performance evaluation this weekend &#8211; and of course, the next part in our ongoing series &#8211; CrossFire vs. SLI &#8211; Part III.\u00a0 Stay tuned!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Mark Poppin<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">ABT Senior Editor<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; text-align: left;\">Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 60px;\">\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 164304<\/li>\n<li>SETI@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 138705<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1', 'World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech']);\" target=\"_blank\">World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=27098\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: Mark Poppin\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Article-Image1.png\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,7],"tags":[392,4845,1575,4847,4259,4584,4412,4846,4253,4413,4848,488,4502,1577],"class_list":["post-27098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-technology","tag-cpu-scaling","tag-crosfire-x3","tag-crossfire","tag-gpu-scaling","tag-gtx-580","tag-gtx-580-sli","tag-gtx-590","tag-hd-6870-crossfire","tag-hd-6970","tag-hd-6990","tag-microstutter","tag-sli","tag-sli-vs-crossfire","tag-trifire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}