{"id":33491,"date":"2013-01-23T17:52:13","date_gmt":"2013-01-23T17:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=33491"},"modified":"2013-08-02T16:31:27","modified_gmt":"2013-08-02T15:31:27","slug":"the-war-of-the-whqls-catalyst-13-1-vs-geforce-310-90-hd-7970-ghz-vs-gtx-680-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/the-war-of-the-whqls-catalyst-13-1-vs-geforce-310-90-hd-7970-ghz-vs-gtx-680-revisited\/","title":{"rendered":"The War of the WHQLs: Catalyst 13.1 vs. GeForce 310.90 &#8211; HD 7970 GHz vs GTX 680 revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\ngoogle_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><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As part of a feature for AlienBabelTech, this editor is comparing the performance of\u00a030 benchmarks with the last week&#8217;s\u00a013.1\u00a0WHQL Catalyst driver release versus the latest Geforce 310.90\u00a0WHQL divers which also promise good performance increases.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This driver performance evaluation will give a natural comparison between the performance improvements for the GTX 680 versus the HD 7970 at GHz speeds. Both sets of\u00a0WHQL drivers were recently released and we naturally ask ourselves if the performance improvements for the Radeon HD 7970 in games will\u00a0keep the GHz edition ahead of the GTX 680.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/HMA-dof.jpg?resize=387%2C218\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>ABT has recently begun to explore <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=33257\">frame time measurement<\/a> which charts the relative &#8220;smoothness&#8221; of our test video cards.\u00a0 In examining 11 benchmarks including nine games, we\u00a0generally found in those benches that stutter or &#8220;jitter&#8221; was\u00a0more noticeable on the HD 7970 compared to the GTX 680, and especially\u00a0in <em>Hitman: Absolution<\/em>.\u00a0 We&#8217;ll revisit that game in this evaluation to see if AMD has made any progress.<\/p>\n<p>We are going to test Catalyst\u00a013.1 and GeForce 310.90 using our current benchmark suite of 27 games plus 3 synthetic benchmarks, <em>Heaven 3.0<\/em>, 3DMark 11 and Vantage. Our testing platform is Windows 7 64-bit, using Intel Core i7-3770K at 4.50GHz, EVGA Z77FTW motherboard and 8GB DD3, and the settings and hardware are identical except for the video cards.<\/p>\n<p>The HD 7970 and the GTX 680 are tested at higher settings and resolutions generally than we test the midrange cards as noted on the chart. All of our games are tested at two resolutions: 2560&#215;1600 and 1920&#215;1080 at 60Hz, and we use DX11\/10\/10.1 whenever possible with an emphasis on DX11 games.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Changes to the benching <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We made changes with this evaluation to drop evaluating at 1920&#215;1200 resolution in favor of 1920&#215;1080 since all of our benching eventually will include frame time latency charts to support frame rate (fps) charts and will be unified.\u00a0 Some of our benches were updated including <em>Borderlands 2<\/em> (to a better benchmark) and <em>Crysis<\/em> is now run on the\u00a032-bit exe instead of 64-bit.\u00a0 Where the benchmark was changed, we went back and retested with the older drivers.\u00a0 We did not retest 1920&#215;1200 although our two newest games &#8211; <em>Sleeping Dogs <\/em>and<em> Hitman: Absolution<\/em> &#8211; were benched with both\u00a0the older and newer drivers at 1920&#215;1080.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s get right to the test configuration, the driver release notes and the tests.<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Introduction--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>Test Configuration &amp; Driver Release Notes<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><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>\n<li>Intel Core i7 3770K (overclocked to 4.5GHz); Turbo is on.<\/li>\n<li>EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard (Intel Z77 chipset, latest beta BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire\/SLI 16x+16x using Plex chip.)<\/li>\n<li>8GB Kingston DDR3 PC1866 Kingston RAM (4&#215;2 GB, dual-channel at 1866MHz; supplied by Kingston)<\/li>\n<li>Sapphire Vapor-X CPU cooler, on loan from Sapphire<\/li>\n<li>Power Color Radeon HD 7970 (3GB, overclocked to GHz speeds 1050\/6000MHz)<\/li>\n<li>Nvidia GTX 680 (2GB, 1006\/6008MHz, reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>Onboard Realtek Audio<\/li>\n<li>Genius SP-HF 800A speakers, two pairs in 4.0 Quadraphonic configuration, supplied by Genius<\/li>\n<li>Two identical 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drives configured and set up identically from drive image; one partition for Nvidia GeForce drivers and one for ATI Catalyst drivers<\/li>\n<li>Kingston 240GB HyperX SSD used for <em>Hitman: Absolution.\u00a0 <\/em>Supplied by Kingston<\/li>\n<li>Thermaltake ToughPower 775 W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake<\/li>\n<li>Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake<\/li>\n<li>Philips DVD SATA writer<\/li>\n<li>HP LP3065 2560&#215;1600 thirty inch LCD<\/li>\n<li>ASUS VG278 27&#8243; 3D Vision 2 Ready 120Hz display, supplied by ASUS and\u00a0used to test <em>Hitman: Absolution<\/em> frame times.<\/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>ATi Catalyst 13-1\u00a0WHQL drivers; highest quality mip-mapping set in the driver; use application settings; surface performance optimizations are off<\/li>\n<li>NVIDIA GeForce WHQL 310.90. High Quality; Single-display Performance mode; Prefer Maximum Performance<\/li>\n<li>Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates<\/li>\n<li>Latest DirectX<\/li>\n<li>All games are patched to their latest versions.<\/li>\n<li>vsync is forced off in the control panels.<\/li>\n<li>Varying AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for <em>Crysis<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>All results show average frame rates<\/li>\n<li>Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/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><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Synthetic<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Vantage<\/li>\n<li>3DMark 11<em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>Heaven 3.0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><strong>DX9 <\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Left 4 Dead 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Serious Sam 3 BFE<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Alan Wake: Ameican Nightmare<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><strong>DX10<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Crysis<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Far Cry 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>Just Cause 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>World-in-Conflict: Soviet Assault<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Resident Evil 5<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><strong>DX11<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>BattleForge<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Alien vs. Predator<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>STALKER, Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Metro 2033<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>F1 2010<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>H.A.W.X. 2<\/em><em><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>Lost Planet 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Total War: Shogun II<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Civilization V<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>Crysis 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>Dirt 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Deus Ex: Human Revolution<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>Batman: Arkham City<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Battlefield 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Max Payne 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>the Secret World<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Borderlands 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Sleeping Dogs<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Hitman: Absolution<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lets look at the release notes from AMD regarding the Catalyst 13.1 driver\u00a0as well as for the GeForce 310.90 before we head to performance testing. First up, the highlights of the new GeForce driver.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><\/strong><strong>Release Notes Highlights for GeForce 310.90<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Please see the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-310.90-whql-driver.html\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-310.90-whql-driver.html', 'GeForce 310.90 Release Highlights']);\" >GeForce 310.90 Release Highlights<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"tab1_content\">\n<p>This GeForce driver is recommended for the best experience in the blockbuster holiday games. GeForce R310 drivers add optimizations for <em>Far Cry 3<\/em>, providing up to 38% faster performance.<\/p>\n<p>These drivers also include optimizations for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.geforce.com\/games-applications\/pc-games\/call-of-duty-black-ops-2\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.geforce.com\/games-applications\/pc-games\/call-of-duty-black-ops-2', 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 2']);\" title=\"Call of Duty: Black Ops 2\" onclick=\"s_objectID=&quot;http:\/\/www.geforce.com\/games-applications\/pc-games\/call-of-duty-black-ops-2_1&quot;;return this.s_oc?this.s_oc(e):true\"  target=\"_blank\">Call of Duty: Black Ops 2<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.geforce.com\/games-applications\/pc-games\/assassins-creed-3\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.geforce.com\/games-applications\/pc-games\/assassins-creed-3', 'Assassin&#8217;s Creed III']);\" title=\"Assassin's Creed III\" onclick=\"s_objectID=&quot;http:\/\/www.geforce.com\/games-applications\/pc-games\/assassins-creed-3_1&quot;;return this.s_oc?this.s_oc(e):true\"  target=\"_blank\">Assassin&#8217;s Creed III<\/a>, providing up to 26% faster performance in\u00a0<em>Call of Duty: Black Ops 2<\/em>\u00a0and up to 18% faster performance in\u00a0<em>Assassin\u2019s Creed III<\/em>, as well as smooth, shimmer-free graphics with TXAA antialiasing in both games.<\/p>\n<p><strong>New in GeForce 310.90:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Adds a security update for the NVIDIA Display Driver service (nvvsvc.exe).<\/li>\n<li>Improves performance for GeForce GTX 690:\n<ul>\n<li>Up to 19% faster performance in Autodesk 3ds Max when interacting with large models compared to GeForce GTX 480.<\/li>\n<li>Up to 60% faster performance in ray tracing applications such as NVIDIA iray and Chaos V-Ray (subject to the scene fitting into graphics memory) compared to GeForce GTX 480.<\/li>\n<li>Up to 76% faster performance in the 3D extruded ray tracing capability in Adobe After Effects compared to GeForce GTX 480.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Updates SLI profiles for <em>Far Cry 3<\/em> and <em>NBA2k13<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Adds new 3D Vision profiles for the following games:\n<ul>\n<li><em>Aliens: Colonial Marines<\/em> \u2013 rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>GT Legends<\/em> \u2013 rated 3D Vision Ready<\/li>\n<li><em>LEGO: Lord of the Rings<\/em> \u2013 rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Miasmata<\/em> \u2013 rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Pirate101<\/em> \u2013 rated 3D Vision Ready<\/li>\n<li><em>Viking: Battle for Asgard<\/em> \u2013 rated Excellent<\/li>\n<li><em>Warframe<\/em> \u2013 rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Wizard101<\/em> \u2013 rated 3D Vision Ready<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>New in GeForce R310 Drivers:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Performance Boost \u2013 <\/strong>Increases performance for GeForce 400\/500\/600 Series GPUs in several PC games vs. GeForce 306.97 WHQL drivers. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">GeForce GTX 680:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Up to 38% in <em>Far Cry 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 26% in <em>Call of Duty: Black Ops 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 16% in <em>Battlefield 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 18% in <em>Assassin&#8217;s Creed III<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 9% in <em>The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 6% in <em>Medal of Honor: Warfighter<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 6% in <em>StarCraft II<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 6% in <em>Dragon Age II<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 6% in <em>Batman: Arkham City<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 5% in<em> S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">GeForce GTX 660:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Up to 24% in <em>Call of Duty: Black Ops 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 10% in <em>Battlefield 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 7% in <em>The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 6% in <em>Far Cry 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 5% in <em>Dragon Age II<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 5% in <em>Assassin&#8217;s Creed III<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 4% in <em>Batman: Arkham City<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Up to 4% in <em>Medal of Honor: Warfighter<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>NVIDIA SLI Technology<\/strong> <em>\u2013 <\/em>Adds or updates the following SLI profiles:<strong><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Far Cry 3 \u2013 <\/em>updated SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 \u2013 <\/em>updated SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>Dirt: Showdown \u2013 <\/em>updated SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>Dota 2 &#8211; <\/em>updated SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>Dou Zhan Shen \u2013 <\/em>updated SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>F1 2012 &#8211; <\/em>added SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>FIFA 13 \u2013 <\/em>added SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad \u2013 <\/em>updated SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>Hawken \u2013 <\/em>added SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>Hitman: Absolution \u2013 <\/em>added SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>Natural Selection 2 \u2013 <\/em>added SLI profile<\/li>\n<li><em>Primal Carnage \u2013 <\/em>added SLI profile<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>NVIDIA 3D Vision<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Adds or updates the following 3D Vision profiles:\n<ul>\n<li><em>007 Legends<\/em> &#8211; rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Assassin&#8217;s Creed III<\/em> &#8211; rated Not Recommended<\/li>\n<li><em>Bloody Good Time<\/em> &#8211; rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Bullet Run<\/em> &#8211; rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Bunch of Heroes<\/em> &#8211; rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>CABAL2<\/em> &#8211; rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Call of Duty Black Ops 2<\/em> &#8211; rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Carrier Command: Gaea Mission<\/em> &#8211; rated 3D Vision Ready<\/li>\n<li><em>Dark Souls<\/em> &#8211; rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Dishonored <\/em>&#8211; rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Euro Truck Simulator 2 &#8211; <\/em>rated Excellent<\/li>\n<li><em>FIFA 13 &#8211; <\/em>rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Hawken &#8211; <\/em>rated 3D Vision Ready<\/li>\n<li><em>Hitman: Absolution &#8211; <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>I Am Alive &#8211; <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Lucius &#8211; <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Mabinogi Heroes &#8211; <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Medal of Honor: Warfighter &#8211; <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Metro: Last Light &#8211; <\/em>rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>MLB 2K12 &#8211; <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>NBA 2K12 &#8211; <\/em>rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>NBA 2K13 &#8211; <\/em>rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Need for Speed: Most Wanted &#8211; <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Of Orcs and Men &#8211; <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Painkiller: Hell &amp; Damnation &#8211; <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Planetside 2 &#8211; <\/em>rated Not Recommended<\/li>\n<li><em>Prepar3D &#8211; <\/em>rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Sniper Elite V2 &#8211; <\/em>rated Poor<\/li>\n<li><em>Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 &#8211; <\/em>rated Poor<\/li>\n<li><em>The Amazing Spider-Man &#8211; <\/em>rated Not Recommended<\/li>\n<li><em>Tiny Troopers &#8211; <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>Tony Hawk&#8217;s Pro Skater HD &#8211; <\/em>rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Total War Battles: SHOGUN &#8211; <\/em>rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>Unmechanical &#8211; <\/em>rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>War of the Roses <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<li><em>World Rally Championship 3 <\/em>rated Good<\/li>\n<li><em>XCOM: Enemy Unknown <\/em>rated Fair<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Other Profile Updates<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Updated NVIDIA Control Panel ambient occlusion support for <em>Counter-strike: Global Offensive <\/em><\/li>\n<li>Added NVIDIA Control Panel ambient occlusion support for <em>Cross Fire<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Updated NVIDIA Control Panel ambient occlusion support for <em>Darksides 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Added NVIDIA Control Panel ambient occlusion support for <em>Dragon Nest<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Updated NVIDIA Control Panel ambient occlusion support for <em>Guild Wars 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Updated NVIDIA Control Panel ambient occlusion support for <em>Mechwarrrior Online<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Added NVIDIA Control Panel ambient occlusion support for <em>Meng San Guo<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>NVIDIA CUDA<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Includes support for applications built using CUDA 5 or earlier version of the CUDA Toolkit. More information at <a href=\"http:\/\/developer.nvidia.com\/cuda-toolkit\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/developer.nvidia.com\/cuda-toolkit', 'http:\/\/developer.nvidia.com\/cuda-toolkit']);\" title=\"DeveloperZone\" onclick=\"s_objectID=&quot;http:\/\/developer.nvidia.com\/cuda-toolkit_1&quot;;return this.s_oc?this.s_oc(e):true\"  target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/developer.nvidia.com\/cuda-toolkit<\/a> <strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>NVIDIA SSAA<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Added negative LOD adjustments for NVIDIA\u2019s full-screen sparse grid supersampling mode to improve image sharpness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Additional Details<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Installs PhysX System Software 9.12.1031. This version fixes a bug that caused some applications including Unreal Tournament III, Trine, and Metro 2033 not to launch.<\/li>\n<li>Installs HD Audio v1.3.18.0.<\/li>\n<li>Supports OpenGL 4.3 for GeForce 400-series and later GPUs.<\/li>\n<li>Supports DisplayPort 1.2 for GeForce GTX 600 series GPUs.<\/li>\n<li>Supports multiple languages and APIs for GPU computing: CUDA C, CUDA C++, CUDA Fortran, OpenCL, DirectCompute, and Microsoft C++ AMP.<\/li>\n<li>Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel and AMD motherboards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Now lets look at the release notes from AMD regarding Catalyst 12.11 Beta drivers.\u00a0 Please note that the Catalyst Control Center has been changed and we rather like it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/ccc.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-33495\" title=\"ccc\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/ccc.jpg?resize=480%2C580\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/ccc.jpg?resize=480%2C580 600w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/ccc-248x300.jpg 248w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Always start <a href=\"http:\/\/support.amd.com\/us\/gpudownload\/Pages\/index.aspx\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/support.amd.com\/us\/gpudownload\/Pages\/index.aspx', 'here']);\" >here<\/a> to download AMD graphics drivers.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/support.amd.com\/us\/kbarticles\/Pages\/AMDCatalystSoftwareSuiteVersion131.aspx\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/support.amd.com\/us\/kbarticles\/Pages\/AMDCatalystSoftwareSuiteVersion131.aspx', 'FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS ']);\" >FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS <\/a>OF THE AMD CATALYST 13.1 WHQL\u00a0DRIVER:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>AMD Catalyst Control Center:\u00a0 New 3D settings and profile management user interface:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>AMD Catalyst 13.1 features a newly designed 3D application settings page, designed to allow users to more easily adjust and control their 3D settings on a per application basis.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Performance Highlights of AMD Catalyst 13.1 (vs. AMD Catalyst 12.10):\u00a0 Includes all of the performance improvements found in AMD Catalyst 12.11 Beta 11<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Performance gains seen on the entire AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series:<\/li>\n<li>All game were tested at high \/ extreme\u00a0\/ ultra levels\n<ul>\n<li>Enhanced performance in Far Cry 3 (up to 25% with 8xMSAA, SSAO enabled @ 1600p, and up to 15% with 8xMSAA, HDAO enabled @1600p) (AMD Catalyst 12.11 CAP2 must also be installed)<\/li>\n<li>Enhanced AMD CrossFire\u2122 scaling performance in Call of Duty Black Ops 2<\/li>\n<li>Up to 10%-15% more performance in Battlefield 3 in most cases<\/li>\n<li>\u2022\u00a0More than 20% in certain missions and sequences (Comrades)<\/li>\n<li>Up to 7% more performance in Metro 2033<\/li>\n<li>Up to 10% more performance in DiRT Showdown<\/li>\n<li>Up to 8% more performance in Sleeping Dogs<\/li>\n<li>Up to 12% more performance in Civilization V<\/li>\n<li>Up to 10% more performance in StarCraft II<\/li>\n<li>Up to 8% more performance in Sniper Elite: V2<\/li>\n<li>Up to 5% more performance in Max Payne 3<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>AMD Catalyst Mobility 7970M performance for AMD Enduro\u2122 technology supported platforms has been\u00a0 improved for DirectX\u00ae 9, DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications:\n<ul>\n<li>3DMark\u00ae 06 \u2013 Up to 6%<\/li>\n<li>3DMark Vantage \u2013 Up to 15%<\/li>\n<li>3DMark 11 \u2013 Up to 12%<\/li>\n<li>AvP \u2013 Up to 11%<\/li>\n<li>Battlefield 3 \u2013 Up to 25%<\/li>\n<li>Call of Duty: Black Ops \u2013 Up to 13%<\/li>\n<li>Crysis 2: Up to 45%<\/li>\n<li>DiRT Showdown \u2013 Up to 62%<\/li>\n<li>ETQW \u2013 Up to 8%<\/li>\n<li>Hard Reset \u2013 Up to 8%<\/li>\n<li>Just Cause 2 \u2013 Up to 90%<\/li>\n<li>Mafia 2 \u2013 Up to 40%<\/li>\n<li>The Chronicles of Riddick \u2013 Up to 4%<\/li>\n<li>Shogun 2 \u2013 Up to 56%<\/li>\n<li>StarCraft 2 \u2013 Up to 25%<\/li>\n<li>Skyrim \u2013 Up to 45%<\/li>\n<li>Sniper Elite V2 \u2013 Up to 60%<\/li>\n<li>Tom Clancy\u2019s HAWX \u2013 Up to 56%<\/li>\n<li>Unigine Heaven \u2013 Up to 33%<\/li>\n<li>Wolfenstein \u2013 Up to 9%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Resolved Issues for the Windows 8 \/ Windows 7 Operating Systems:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 13.1 software suite.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A sporadic system hang encountered with a single AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series GPU seen on X58 and X79 chipsets.<\/li>\n<li>An intermittent hang encountered with AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series GPUs in an AMD CrossFire + Eyefinity setup.<\/li>\n<li>Missing fonts in XBMC<\/li>\n<li>No video found in Media Player Classic Home Cinema when using full or half floating point processing<\/li>\n<li>Skyrim lighting (missing a lighting pass) for the AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series<\/li>\n<li>Skyrim cloud corruption experience in various in game locations<\/li>\n<li>A\u00a0 hang playing Dishonored on the AMD Radeon HD 6000 and AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series<\/li>\n<li>Engine and memory clocks running too high when the GPU is idle.<\/li>\n<li>GPU activity runs at lower values than expected seen on the AMD Radeon HD 7870.<\/li>\n<li>Corruption seen in Darkness 2 and Carrier Command when using AMD CrossFire configurations<\/li>\n<li>Adobe Premier\u00a0 Pro CS6 may fail to launch<\/li>\n<li>Hang experienced with AMD Crossfire and Eyefinity enabled on X58 and X78 chipsets<\/li>\n<li>Corel PaintShop Pro X3 \u2013 Hangs at the \u201cInitializing Command Manager\u201d window<\/li>\n<li>Company of Heroes 2 \u2013 display corruption experienced when AA is enabled in the AMD Catalyst Control Center<\/li>\n<li>Cyberlink\u00a0 Powerdirector\u00a0 10 crashes intermittently.<\/li>\n<li>Company of Heroes : Tales of Valor \u2013 Flickering experienced when AA is disabled<\/li>\n<li>Max Payne 3 \u2013 Flickering experienced in DirectX 9 mode with forced AA enabled<\/li>\n<li>Cyberlink PoweDVD 10 \u2013 crashes intermittently<\/li>\n<li>VLC &#8211; Green texture corruption seen in 720p MPEG2 video clips<\/li>\n<li>Black screen encountered when \u201cAlternate DVI mode\u201d is enabled in the AMD Catalyst Control Center<\/li>\n<li>Green display corruption seen in Skype webcam video<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Known Issues<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced with the AMD Catalyst 13.1 software suite.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Known issues under the Windows 8 Operating System.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sleeping Dogs \u2013 game may fail to launch in certain configurations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Known issues under the Windows 7 Operating System.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Shogun 2 \u2013 Total War : flickering experienced when game is run in medium quality mode<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Installing the AMD Catalyst Software Driver<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/support.amd.com\/us\/Pages\/AMDSupportHub.aspx\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/support.amd.com\/us\/Pages\/AMDSupportHub.aspx', 'AMD Customer Care']);\" id=\"AMD Customer Care\" title=\"\">AMD Customer Care<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Installation information can be found at: <a href=\"http:\/\/support.amd.com\/us\/kbarticles\/Pages\/737-20870HowtoInstallYourATIProduct.aspx\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/support.amd.com\/us\/kbarticles\/Pages\/737-20870HowtoInstallYourATIProduct.aspx', 'How to Install Your AMD Product']);\" title=\"\">How to Install Your AMD Product<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s head to the charts and see the performance comparison in 27 games and in 3 synthetics since we tested <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=32344\">the GTX 680 versus the HD 7970 last<\/a>.<br \/>\n<!--pagetitle: Test Configuration &amp; Release Notes--><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Summary chart, Smoothness and Conclusion--><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong>Benchmarks &amp; Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Here are our results of\u00a0thirty benchmarks &#8211; twenty-seven games and three synthetics &#8211; compared between Catalyst 13.1 against the latest GeForce 310.90 drivers and also with the last set of beta drivers for each video card.\u00a0 Please note that results are consistent across 2560&#215;1600 but we did not test the latest drivers again at 1920&#215;1200 and those results are in <em>italics<\/em> and are not to be compared directly to our results for the new drivers at 1920&#215;1080; however, the GTX 680 may be directly compared\u00a0with the HD 7970 GHz in all categories.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Untitled-14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-33496\" title=\"Untitled-1\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Untitled-14.jpg?resize=525%2C622\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Untitled-14.jpg?resize=525%2C622 525w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Untitled-14-253x300.jpg 253w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Untitled-1fixchart.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-33587\" title=\"Untitled-1fixchart\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Untitled-1fixchart.jpg?resize=525%2C622\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Untitled-1fixchart.jpg?resize=525%2C622 525w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Untitled-1fixchart-253x300.jpg 253w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>(Chart typo fixed for tSW &#8211; 1920&#215;1080 instead of 1920&#215;1200)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Civilization V<\/em> got some noticeable performance improvements with both cards as it now has &#8220;GPU Decode&#8221; .<\/p>\n<p>We also\u00a0noted some serious performance improvements with AMD&#8217;s &#8220;Never Settle&#8221; Catalyst 12-11 beta in more than several games since we <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=31410&amp;page=5\">tested it last time<\/a>.\u00a0 Evidently these increases were rolled up into the latest Catalyst 13.1 WHQL driver which keep\u00a0the HD 7970 at GHz speeds ahead of the GTX 680 in\u00a0more than\u00a0a 3:4 ratio in our benchmark suite!\u00a0\u00a0 However, we also find that the latest GeForce driver also brought good performance gains and recommend that you download and upgrade to the very latest drivers no matter which video card you may have!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Testing Frame rate latencies &#8211; &#8220;smoothness&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We are just going to look at one example from our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=33257\">latest frame time measurement series<\/a>, <em>Hitman: Absolution<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Hitman-settings.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-33201\" title=\"Hitman-settings\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Hitman-settings.jpg?resize=480%2C298\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Hitman-settings.jpg?resize=480%2C298 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Hitman-settings-300x186.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lets&#8217;s look at the frame time chart for the GTX 680 using the last beta drivers, GeForce 310.70. It has a relatively smooth delivery of frames as confirmed by the chart below:<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-33271\" title=\"hitman-680-ft\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-680-ft.jpg?resize=550%2C265\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-680-ft.jpg?resize=550%2C265 550w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-680-ft-300x144.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here is the frame time chart using the latest drivers, 310.90, very little has changed other than the SSD we are\u00a0using.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-33493\" title=\"HMA-FT\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/HMA-FT.jpg?resize=550%2C264\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/HMA-FT.jpg?resize=550%2C264 550w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/HMA-FT-300x144.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The next chart really does convey the jitter experienced when playing <em>Hitman: Absolution<\/em> or running the benchmark even though the HD 7970 is faster than the GTX 680. Now the frame time chart for the HD 7970 at GHz edition speeds using the &#8220;Never Settle&#8221; beta drivers:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-7970-ft1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-33288\" title=\"hitman-7970-ft\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-7970-ft1.jpg?resize=550%2C266\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-7970-ft1.jpg?resize=550%2C266 550w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-7970-ft1-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now here is the HD 7970 GHz at the same settings with the latest WHQL Catalyst 13.1; only the SSD has changed but the spikes and the jitter remain:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/7970HMA-FT.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-33494\" title=\"7970HMA-FT\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/7970HMA-FT.jpg?resize=550%2C267\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/7970HMA-FT.jpg?resize=550%2C267 550w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/7970HMA-FT-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Since the ranking basically remains unchanged, here is the GTX 680 ranking using the beta driver as in our last evaluation:<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-33272\" title=\"hitman-680-RANK\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-680-RANK.jpg?resize=550%2C262\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-680-RANK.jpg?resize=550%2C262 550w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-680-RANK-300x142.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Finally the HD 7970 at GHz Edition speeds ranking with the beta driver.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-7970-GHz-rank.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-33349\" title=\"hitman-7970-GHz-rank\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-7970-GHz-rank.jpg?resize=550%2C264\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-7970-GHz-rank.jpg?resize=550%2C264 550w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hitman-7970-GHz-rank-300x144.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div>Here is the frame time latency comparison using the beta drivers which gives an idea how the GTX 680 compares to the HD 7970 at GHz clocks:<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Average time: <\/strong>Average time across the entire run<\/li>\n<li><strong>1% time: <\/strong>Time it takes to draw 99% of frames<\/li>\n<li><strong>0.1%: <\/strong>Time it takes to draw 99.9% of frames<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hma.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-33370\" title=\"hma\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hma.jpg?resize=200%2C87\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As evidenced by the frame times charts, there is\u00a0noticeable difference in smoothness experienced by the gamer between playing <em>Hitman: Absolution<\/em> on a GTX 680 versus playing it on a HD 7970. The benchmark may be more demanding than the game, but the jitter is still more evident on the Radeon than it\u00a0 is on the GeForce. Even though the HD 7970 is faster in raw framerates, the frame delivery is uneven and it detracts from the\u00a0gameplay. We will continue to monitor AMD&#8217;s drivers in this particular case.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Do not forget to download and install the Catalyst Application Profiles (CAP) if applicable to your PC (they are downloaded <em>in addition <\/em>to Catalyst 13.1 from the same AMD support page).<\/p>\n<p>To sum it up, we would recommend upgrading to either of these latest\u00a0drivers because there are real advantages, and the pluses that we found outweigh the rare few negatives.\u00a0 The latest Catalyst drivers have incorporated all of the performance advantages of the &#8220;Never Settle&#8221; betas.<\/p>\n<p>We have to also give our recommendation to the latest GeForce 310.90 drivers. In most cases they provide excellent performance increases with no real negatives that we have encountered. We&#8217;ll be back to expand this testing to multi-GPU and to more of the Kepler and Tahiti families as well as to continuing to measure the smoothness of frame rate delivery.<\/p>\n<p>In the mean time, check ABT&#8217;s forum for the best tech discussions anywhere. You can expect an evaluation of Genius&#8217; new\u00a0PC Speakers \u00a0tonight as well as an evaluation of Thermaltake&#8217;s Level 10 M mouse!<\/p>\n<p>Happy gaming!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>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>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>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>Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul>\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<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=33491\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: Mark Poppin\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Catalyst-13-1-Nvidia-310.90.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,5,4454,4453],"tags":[72,6044,6045,6047,6046,6043,5122,5862,121,3338,5993],"class_list":["post-33491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-gaming","category-mini-reviews","category-software-2","tag-amd","tag-catalyst-12-1-beta","tag-catalyst-13-1","tag-frame-time-measurement","tag-geforce-310-33","tag-geforce-310-90","tag-gtx-680","tag-hd-7970-ghz","tag-nvidia","tag-performance-analysis","tag-smoothness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33491","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=33491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}