GeForce 320.00 Beta Performance Analysis – Part 1 – GTX 680 and Titan

As part of a regular feature for AlienBabelTech, this editor is comparing the performance of 31 benchmarks with the just released GeForce Beta 320.00 driver release versus the last GeForce 314.22 WHQL divers.  We are going to give you GTX 680 and GeForce Titan results in this Part 1 today, and GTX 690 and GTX 680 SLI performance results in Part 2, tomorrow.

This driver performance evaluation will give a natural comparison between the performance improvements since Nvidia’s last driver set when the Titan was released, and in Part 2, we can again compare Titan with the GTX 690 at the highest settings at 1920×1080 and at 2560×1600.

We are going to test GeForce 320.00 using our current benchmark suite of 26 games plus 5 synthetic benchmarks, Heaven 4.0, Valley 1.0, FireStrike, 3DMark 11 and Vantage. Our testing platform is Windows 7 64-bit, using Intel Core i7-3770K at 4.50GHz, EVGA Z77FTW motherboard and 16GB of Kingston “Beast” HyperX RAM at 2133MHz, and the settings and hardware are identical except for the drivers being tested.

The GeForce Titan and the GTX 680 are tested at higher settings and resolutions generally than we test midrange cards. All of our games are now tested at two resolutions: 2560×1600 and 1920×1080 at 60Hz, and we use DX11/10/10.1 whenever possible with a very strong emphasis on the latest DX11 games including Crysis 3.

Let’s get right to the test configuration, the driver release notes and the tests.

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

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

Benchmarks & Conclusion

Here are our results of thirty-one benchmarks – twenty-six games and 5 synthetics – compared between GeForce 320.00 against the last GeForce 314.22 WHQL drivers for GeForce Titan and for the GTX 680.

Each set of drivers is compared against the other and the higher performance number is in bold.  If there is a tie, both results are given in bold type.

We noted some serious performance improvements with Nvidia’s new GeForce 320.00 beta in some games although we have not yet witnessed the “up to 20%” improvement that the release notes mentioned. We still have to test the GTX 690, and we can give you GTX 680 SLI results in our upcoming Part 2 tomorrow.

We have noted one issue with the standalone Call of Pripyat benchmark exhibiting “snow” although we have not yet tested the game.  However, so far, we find that the latest GeForce driver has brought good performance gains and recommend that you download and upgrade to the very latest beta driver.

Testing Frame rate latencies – “smoothness”

ABT is working on new benching methods and testing beyond Fraps.  Please bear with us as we transition.

Conclusion:

So far, we would recommend upgrading to the latest GeForce 320.00 driver because there are real advantages, and the pluses that we found outweigh the rare few negatives (specifically in Call of Pripyat benchmark).  We’ll be back to expand this testing to multi-GPU tomorrow as well as to continuing to measure the smoothness of frame rate delivery in the future.  We shall also publish an evaluation of a 16GB kit of Kingston “Beast” 2133MHz HyperX RAM this week that naturally focuses on gaming improvements over 1333MHz and 1666MHz RAM.

In the meantime, check ABT’s forum for the best tech discussions anywhere.

Happy gaming!

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