{"id":36975,"date":"2013-08-08T17:26:15","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T16:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=36975"},"modified":"2013-08-09T01:42:10","modified_gmt":"2013-08-09T00:42:10","slug":"battle-of-the-betas-gf-326-19-vs-catalyst-13-8-performance-analysis-30-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/battle-of-the-betas-gf-326-19-vs-catalyst-13-8-performance-analysis-30-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle of the Betas &#8211; GF 326.19 vs. Catalyst 13.8 Performance Analysis &#8211; 30 games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[ 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><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As part of a regular feature for AlienBabelTech, we are charting the performance of 34 benchmarks with last week&#8217;s 13.8 Beta &#8220;frame pacing&#8221; Catalyst driver using a single HD 7970 and also at GHz Edition speeds. We will compare HD 7970 single-GPU performance versus the previous Catalyst 13-6 Beta and also versus <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/geforce-326-19-beta-performance-analysis-gtx-700-series-titan-part-1\/\">the latest Geforce 326.18 beta divers<\/a>.<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/crysis3-2013-04-09-16-38-34.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-36981\" alt=\"crysis3-2013-04-09-16-38-34\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/crysis3-2013-04-09-16-38-34.jpg?resize=691%2C389\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/crysis3-2013-04-09-16-38-34.jpg?resize=691%2C389 1920w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/crysis3-2013-04-09-16-38-34-300x168.jpg 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/crysis3-2013-04-09-16-38-34-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 691px) 100vw, 691px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This driver performance evaluation will give a natural comparison between the driver performance improvements for the GTX 770 and GTX 780 versus the HD 7970 and HD 7970 at GHz Edition speeds. Both sets of beta drivers were released quite recently and we naturally ask ourselves if the performance improvements for the Radeon HD 7970 will move the GHz edition ahead of the GTX 770.<\/p>\n<p>We are going to test Catalyst 13.8 beta and GeForce 326.19 beta using our current benchmark suite of 30 games plus 4 synthetic benchmarks &#8211; FireStrike<em>, Heaven 4.0<\/em>, 3DMark 11, and Valley. Our testing platform is Windows 7 64-bit, using Intel Core i7-3770K at 4.50GHz, EVGA Z77FTW motherboard and 16GB Kingston &#8220;Beast&#8221; DD3 at 2133MHz, and the settings and hardware are identical except for the video cards.<\/p>\n<p>The HD 7970 and the GTX 7&#215;0 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, and we use DX11\/10\/10.1 whenever possible with an emphasis on DX11 games.<\/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>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium; color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>Test Configuration<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Test Configuration &#8211; Hardware<\/span> <\/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 03-12-13 BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire\/SLI 16x+16x using Plex chip.)<\/li>\n<li>16GB Kingston Beast HyperX DDR3 Kingston RAM (8x2GB, dual-channel at 2133MHz; supplied by Kingston)<\/li>\n<li>Noctua NH-DH14 CPU cooler, supplied by Noctua plus 7 case fans.<\/li>\n<li>Nvidia GeForce 780, 3GB, reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>Nvidia GTX 770 (2GB, reference design and clocks), supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>PowerColor HD 7970 3GB at stock clocks (925\/1375MHz) and at GHz Edition Boost speeds (1050\/1500MHz)<\/li>\n<li>Onboard Realtek Audio<\/li>\n<li>Genius SP-D150 notebook speakers, 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>Cooler Master Platinum Pro 1000W PSU, supplied by Cooler Master<\/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<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium; color: #000000;\"><strong>Test Configuration &#8211; Software<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nvidia GeForce Beta 326.19 High Quality; Single-display Performance mode; Prefer Maximum Performance<\/li>\n<li>AMD Catalyst 13.6 and 13.8 beta drivers. All optimizations off (Use application settings); High Quality<\/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;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>The Benchmarks<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Synthetic<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>FireStrike (and FireStrike Extreme)<\/li>\n<li>3DMark 11<em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>Heaven 4.0<\/li>\n<li>Valley 1.0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><strong>DX9 <\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Serious Sam 3 BFE<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Alan Wake: Ameican Nightmare<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>The Witcher 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Borderlands 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Aliens: Colonial Marines<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><strong>DX10<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Crysis<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\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><\/em><em>Lost Planet 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Civilization V<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Total War: Shogun II<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>Crysis 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>DiRT 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>DiRT: ShowDown<br \/>\n<\/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>Sleeping Dogs<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Sniper Elite V2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Hitman: Absolution<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Far Cry 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Tomb Raider: 2013<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Assassin&#8217;s Creed 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Crysis 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>BioShock: Infinite<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Metro: Last Light<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>GRID 2<\/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 13.8 beta before we head to performance testing. Release notes, performance analysis and <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/geforce-326-19-beta-performance-analysis-gtx-700-series-titan-part-1\/\">the comparison with GeForce 320.xx for the GeForce 326.19 beta can be found here<\/a>. First up, the <a href=\"http:\/\/support.amd.com\/us\/kbarticles\/Pages\/AMDCatalyst13-8WINBetaDriver.aspx\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/support.amd.com\/us\/kbarticles\/Pages\/AMDCatalyst13-8WINBetaDriver.aspx', 'release notes']);\" >release notes<\/a> from AMD regarding Catalyst 13.8 Beta drivers.<\/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><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Feature Highlights of The AMD Catalyst 13.8 Beta Driver for Windows:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Support for AMD CrossFire\u2122 Frame Pacing\n<ul>\n<li>Frame Pacing ensures that frames rendered across multiple GPUs in a CrossFire configuration will be displayed at an even and regular pace.<\/li>\n<li>Enabled through the AMD Catalyst Control Center; Globally or on a per application basis.<\/li>\n<li>Frame Pacing is enabled by default.<\/li>\n<li>Supported for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications, and resolutions up to and including 2560&#215;1600 (single display).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>OpenGL 4.3 support \u2013 full support for the OpenGL 4.3 feature set<\/li>\n<li>Performance improvements found in AMD Catalyst 13.8 Beta for Windows:\n<ul>\n<li>Metro: Last Light \u2013 improves performance up to 7% on the AMD Radeon\u2122 HD 7000 Series<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>OpenGL support for User Profiles and Catalyst Application Profiles:\n<ul>\n<li>Users can now create per application 3D setting profiles for OpenGL applications.<\/li>\n<li>OpenGL applications are now supported through Catalyst Application Profile updates (for single GPU and AMD CrossFire configurations).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>AMD Enduro Technology enhancement &#8211; Catalyst Control Center will now show which applications are active on the Performance GPU, and the Power-Saving GPU<\/li>\n<li>Resolved issues:\n<ul>\n<li>Resolved crash when enabling AMD CrossFireX\u2122 on some AMD 970 platforms<\/li>\n<li>Improved stability for AMD Radeon HD 7790<\/li>\n<li>Resolved intermittent mouse cursor corruption when rapidly moving the cursor across window borders<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>System Requirements:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Windows\u00ae 8 (32 &amp; 64-bit versions)<\/li>\n<li>Windows 7 (32 &amp; 64-bit versions with SP1 or higher)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>AMD Product Compatibility:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>AMD Radeon\u2122 HD 7900 Series<\/li>\n<li>AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series<\/li>\n<li>AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series<\/li>\n<li>AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series<\/li>\n<li>AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series<\/li>\n<li>AMD Mobility Radeon HD 8000M Series<\/li>\n<li>AMD Mobility Radeon HD 7000M Series<\/li>\n<li>AMD Mobility Radeon HD 6000M Series<\/li>\n<li>AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5000M Series<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s head to the charts and see the performance comparison in 30 games and in 4 synthetics since we last tested <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=31410&amp;page=5\">the GTX 770 versus the HD 7970<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><!--pagetitle: Test Configuration--><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Summary Charts &amp; 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 thirty-four benchmarks &#8211; thirty games and four synthetics &#8211; compared between Catalyst 13.8 beta versus the previous 13.6 beta, and also against the latest GeForce beta 326.19 drivers.<a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Untitled-fix.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-36991\" alt=\"Untitled-fix\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Untitled-fix.jpg?resize=700%2C1469\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Wins&#8221; between the two Catalyst driver sets are in <strong>bold<\/strong>; if there is a tie, both results will be in bold type. The GeForce results are not bolded.<\/p>\n<p>We note some minor performance improvements with Catalyst 13.8 beta in more than a few games although we did not see the improvements in <em>Metro: Last Light<\/em> that AMD noted. We also note significant increases in <em>the Secret World<\/em> and with <em>Crysis 2<\/em> that had us retest the older drivers again! We also find that the newest 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>The only caveat would be if you regularly play <em>Battleforge<\/em> with a HD 7970 It has been unplayable for several sets of drivers. Also, do not forget to download and install the Catalyst Application Profiles (CAP) if applicable to your PC.<\/p>\n<p>To sum it up, we would recommend upgrading to either of these latest betas because there are real advantages, and the pluses that we found outweigh the rare few negatives. AMD&#8217;s driver team has primarily focused on frame pacing for the Catalyst 13-8 betas but they are also quite good for single-GPU performance with the AMD flagship HD 7970.<\/p>\n<p>We have to also give our recommendation to the latest GeForce 326.19 beta 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 when the WHQL versions of these drivers are released.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, check <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\">ABT&#8217;s forum<\/a> for the best tech discussions anywhere. You can expect an evaluation of EVGA&#8217;s GTX 770 SC 4GB by tomorrow night. Immediately afterward, we will begin a series evaluating GTX 770 SLI (versus GTX 680 SLI), GTX 770 Tri-SLI, and also GTX 770 2GB versus GTX 770 4GB vRAM comparisons.<\/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>As part of a regular feature for AlienBabelTech, we are charting the performance of 34 benchmarks with last week&#8217;s 13.8 Beta &#8220;frame pacing&#8221; Catalyst driver using a single HD 7970 and also at GHz&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":36988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,4454,4453],"tags":[6882,72,6881,3819,6858,6808,6883,6884,6661,5012,121],"class_list":["post-36975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-mini-reviews","category-software-2","tag-13-6-beta","tag-amd","tag-catalyst-13-8-beta","tag-driver-analysis","tag-frame-pacing","tag-geforce-326-19","tag-ghz-edition","tag-gts-780","tag-gtx-770","tag-hd-7970","tag-nvidia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36975","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=36975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}