Game-related benchmarks

The synthetics

3DMark 11 and Vantage are useful tests to track changes within the same system and they are often used to give a rough comparison between platforms.

Vantage

First up we look at Vantage with a GTX 680 and i7-4770K at 4.2GHz – the only variable is the 1600MHz stock RAM.

Next, up is the same test repeated, the only difference is that the Kingston RAM is now at 2800MHzThere is a small increase in FPS just as there is in OPS.

3DMark 11

Now we look at Futuremark’s 2011 DX11 graphics-heavy test. Using our Predator RAM at 1600MHz paired with a reference clocked GTX 780 Ti scores 12216, while the same platform with the RAM clocked at 2800MHz achieves 12628.

We can see the scores summarized in the Game Benchmarks chart as well as the results of Futuremark’s latest 2013 benchmark suite featuring Firestrike.

The Game Benchmarks with the GTX 780 Ti

Here are the benches for the Kingston HyperX Predator RAM at 1600MHz versus running it at 2800MHz. All games have their setting completely maxed out and levels of AA are identified on the chart. The GTX 780 Ti is run at reference clock speeds. In just about every case – except with Crysis 3 – the faster RAM speed of 2800MHz makes a performance improvement over running it at Haswell platform’s stock 1600MHz speed. Are the results significant? Not really, however, for the enthusiast looking to get every bit of performance out of the Haswell platform, faster RAM will make a difference.

If you are a gamer, you can definitely “get by” with using RAM at stock speeds although 4GB of system RAM is no longer sufficient to play some games (Call of Duty: Ghosts, for example) and 8GB appears to be the new minimum for a fast gaming platform.

Let’s head for our conclusion.