GeForce 320.00 Beta Performance Analysis – Part 1 – GTX 680 and Titan
Test Configuration & Driver Release Notes
Test Configuration
Test Configuration – Hardware
- Intel Core i7 3770K (overclocked to 4.5GHz); Turbo is on.
- EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard (Intel Z77 chipset, latest beta 03-12-13 BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 16x+16x using Plex chip.)
- 16GB Kingston DDR3 Kingston RAM (8x2GB, dual-channel at 2133MHz; supplied by Kingston)
- Noctua NH-DH14 CPU cooler, supplied by Noctua plus 7 case fans.
- Nvidia GeForce Titan, 6GB, reference clocks, supplied by Nvidia
- Nvidia GTX 680 (2GB, 1006/6008MHz, reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
- Onboard Realtek Audio
- Genius SP-HF 800A speakers, two pairs in 4.0 Quadraphonic configuration, supplied by Genius
- 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
- Cooler Master Platinum Pro 1000W PSU, supplied by Cooler Master
- Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake
- Philips DVD SATA writer
- HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD
Test Configuration – Software
- Nvidia GeForce Beta 320.90 and WHQL 314.22. High Quality; Single-display Performance mode; Prefer Maximum Performance
- Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
- Latest DirectX
- All games are patched to their latest versions.
- Vsync is forced off in the control panels.
- Varying AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for Crysis.
- All results show average frame rates
- Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
- 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.
The Benchmarks
- Synthetic
- Vantage
- FireStrike (and FireStrike Extreme)
- 3DMark 11
- Heaven 4.0
- Valley 1.0
DX9- Left 4 Dead 2
- Serious Sam 3 BFE
- Alan Wake: Ameican Nightmare
- The Witcher 2
- Borderlands 2
DX10- Crysis
- Far Cry 2
- Just Cause 2
DX11- BattleForge
- Alien vs. Predator
- STALKER, Call of Pripyat
- Metro 2033
- F1 2012
- H.A.W.X. 2
- Lost Planet 2
- Total War: Shogun II
- Crysis 2
- Dirt 3
- Batman: Arkham City
- Battlefield 3
- Max Payne 3
- Sleeping Dogs
- Sniper Elite V2
- Hitman: Absolution
- Assassin’s Creed 3
- Crysis 3
Lets look at the release notes from Nvidia regarding the GeForce 320.00 beta driver before we head to performance testing.
Release Notes Highlights for GeForce 320.900
Please see the GeForce 320.00 Release Highlights
Release Summary
This is the GeForce Game Ready driver for Dead Island: Riptide, Neverwinter, and Star Trek.
Get optimal game settings and automatically stay up to date with the latest drivers with GeForce Experience.
New in GeForce R319 Drivers
- Performance Boost – Increases performance by up to 20% for GeForce 400/500/600 series GPUs in several PC games vs. GeForce 314.22 WHQL-certified drivers. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration. Here is one example of measured gains:
GeForce GTX 660:
- Up to 20% in Dirt: Showdown
- Up to 18% in Tomb Raider
- Up to 8% in StarCraft II
- Up to 6% in Sniper Elite V2
- Up to 6% in Metro 2033
- Up to 6% in Far Cry 3
- Up to 6% in Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Up to 5% in F1 2012
GeForce GTX 660 SLI:
- Up to 17% in Dirt: Showdown
- Up to 18% in Tomb Raider
- Up to 9% in Assassin’s Creed III
- Up to 7% in StarCraft II
- Up to 6% in Far Cry 3
- Up to 6% in Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Up to 6% in Battlefield 3
- Up to 5% in BioShock: Infinite
- Up to 5% in F1 2012
- SLI Technology
- Added SLI profile for Alien Fear
- Added SLI profile for Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
- Added SLI profile for Dead Island: Riptide
- Added SLI profile for Dragon Sword
- Added SLI profile for Neverwinter
- Added SLI profile for Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
- Added SLI profile for GRID 2
- Added SLI profile for Human Head 2
- Added SLI profile for Remember Me
- Added SLI profile for The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
- Updated SLI profile for Natural Selection 2
- Updated SLI profile for Resident Evil 6
- Updated SLI profile for Trackmania 2: Canyon
Additional Details
- Installs PhysX System Software 9.12.1031.
- Installs HD Audio v1.3.24.2
- Includes support for applications built using CUDA 5.5 or earlier version of the CUDA Toolkit. More information at http://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-toolkit
- Supports OpenGL 4.3 for GeForce 400-series and later GPUs.
- Supports DisplayPort 1.2 for GeForce GTX 600 series GPUs.
- Supports multiple languages and APIs for GPU computing: CUDA C, CUDA C++, CUDA Fortran, OpenCL, DirectCompute, and Microsoft C++ AMP.
- 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.
You can download them here.
Let’s head to the charts and see the performance comparison in 26 games and in 5 synthetics and check the driver progress with the GTX 680 and the GeForce Titan since we tested last in February:
Nvidia’s Titan arrives to take the performance crown – 36 Performance Benchmarks
