{"id":34978,"date":"2013-04-29T15:01:08","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T14:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=34978"},"modified":"2013-05-05T16:34:12","modified_gmt":"2013-05-05T15:34:12","slug":"geforce-320-00-beta-performance-analysis-part-2-gtx-690-680-sli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/geforce-320-00-beta-performance-analysis-part-2-gtx-690-680-sli\/","title":{"rendered":"GeForce 320.00 Beta Performance Analysis \u2013 Part 2 \u2013 GTX 690 and 680 SLI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As part of a regular feature for AlienBabelTech, this editor is comparing the performance of 32 benchmarks with last week&#8217;s GeForce Beta 320.00 driver release versus the latest\u00a0WHQL\u00a0GeForce 314.22 divers. We already gave you <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/geforce-320-00-beta-performance-analysis-part-1-gtx-680-and-titan\/\">GTX 680 and GeForce Titan results in Part 1<\/a>, and now we have added GTX 690 and GTX 680 SLI performance results in this Part 2.\u00a0 Since last, we have also added <em>BioShock: Infinite<\/em> results for all of the cards .<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-34984\" alt=\"BioShockInfinite-2013-04-29\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/BioShockInfinite-2013-04-29.jpg?resize=640%2C400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/BioShockInfinite-2013-04-29-1024x640.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/BioShockInfinite-2013-04-29-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We are going to test GeForce 320.00 using our current benchmark suite of 26 games plus 5 synthetic benchmarks. Our testing platform is Windows 7 64-bit, using Intel Core i7-3770K at 4.50GHz, EVGA Z77FTW motherboard and 16GB of Kingston &#8220;Beast&#8221; HyperX RAM at 2133MHz, and the settings and hardware are identical except for the drivers being tested.<\/p>\n<p>The GTX 680, GeForce Titan, GTX 690 and GTX 680 SLI are tested at higher settings and resolutions generally than we test midrange cards. All of our games are now tested at two resolutions: 2560&#215;1600 and 1920&#215;1080 at 60Hz, and we use DX11\/10\/10.1 whenever possible with a very strong emphasis on the latest DX11 games<em>.<\/em><\/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 03-12-13 BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire\/SLI 16x+16x using Plex chip.)<\/li>\n<li>16GB Kingston DDR3 Kingston HyperX &#8220;Beast&#8221; 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 Titan, 6GB, reference clocks, supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>Nvidia GTX 680 (2GB, 1006\/6008MHz, reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>GTX 690 (2GB, reference clocks and also +91MHz to simulate GTX 680 SLI)<\/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>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;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Test Configuration &#8211; Software<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nvidia GeForce Beta 320.90 and WHQL 314.22. 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>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<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<li><em>The Witcher 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Borderlands 2<\/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<\/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>F1 2012<\/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><\/em><em>Crysis 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>Dirt 3<\/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>Sleeping Dogs<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Sniper Elite V2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Hitman: Absolution<\/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<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lets look at the release notes from Nvidia regarding the GeForce 320.00 beta driver before we head to performance testing.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><\/strong><strong>Release Notes Highlights for GeForce 320.900<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Please see the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-320.00-beta-driver.html\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/object\/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-320.00-beta-driver.html', 'GeForce 320.00 Release Highlights']);\" >GeForce 320.00 Release Highlights<\/a>\u00a0as well as <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/geforce-320-00-beta-performance-analysis-part-1-gtx-680-and-titan\/\">summarized in Part 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"tab1_content\">\n<div id=\"tab1_content\">\n<p>You can download them <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/content\/DriverDownload-March2009\/confirmation.php?url=\/Windows\/320.00\/320.00-desktop-win8-win7-winvista-64bit-english-beta.exe&amp;lang=us&amp;type=GeForce\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/content\/DriverDownload-March2009\/confirmation.php?url=\/Windows\/320.00\/320.00-desktop-win8-win7-winvista-64bit-english-beta.exe&amp;lang=us&amp;type=GeForce', 'here']);\" >here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Let&#8217;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:<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Permalink to Nvidia\u2019s Titan arrives to take the performance crown \u2013 36 Performance Benchmarks\" href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=33836\" rel=\"bookmark\">Nvidia\u2019s Titan arrives to take the performance crown \u2013 36 Performance Benchmarks <\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Test Configuration &#038; 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 thirty-two benchmarks &#8211; twenty-six games and 5 synthetics &#8211; compared between GeForce 320.00 against the last GeForce 314.22 WHQL drivers for GeForce Titan and for the GTX 680.<\/p>\n<p>Each set of drivers is compared against the other and the higher performance number is in <strong>bold<\/strong>. If there is a tie, both results are given in bold type.<a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/FINALCHART-Part-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-34985\" alt=\"FINALCHART-Part-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/FINALCHART-Part-2.jpg?resize=720%2C1316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/FINALCHART-Part-2.jpg 767w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/FINALCHART-Part-2-164x300.jpg 164w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/FINALCHART-Part-2-560x1024.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 100vw, 767px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We note some performance improvements with Nvidia&#8217;s new GeForce 320.00 beta in maany games although we have not quite witnessed the &#8220;up to 20%&#8221; improvement that the release notes mentioned.<\/p>\n<p>Since Part 1, we have changed our setting for <em>Hitman: Absolution<\/em> from using 2xAA to using 8xAA because there appears to be a limit of around 60 fps with our very fastest graphics cards using the lower AA settings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Issues with GeForce 320.00 drivers\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We have noted one major issue with the standalone <em>Call of Pripyat<\/em> benchmark exhibiting &#8220;snow&#8221; which is also present in the game at maximum settings so as to make it completely unplayable with the beta driver that works fine with the current GeForce 314.22 WHQLs. \u00a0Also, we played <em>Trine 2<\/em> which also has very bad display issues making it unplayable that are also not found in the GeForce WHQL 314.22 drivers. \u00a0However, 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 unless you are playing these two games.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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 <em>Call of Pripyat<\/em> and in <em>Trine 2<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>This week, ABT will publish an evaluation of a 16GB kit of Kingston &#8220;Beast&#8221; 2133MHz HyperX RAM this week that naturally focuses on gaming improvements over 1333MHz and 1666MHz RAM.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, check ABT&#8217;s forum for the best tech discussions anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>Happy gaming!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><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, this editor is comparing the performance of 32 benchmarks with last week&#8217;s GeForce Beta 320.00 driver release versus the latest\u00a0WHQL\u00a0GeForce 314.22 divers. We already gave you&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":34984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,5,4453],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-gaming","category-software-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}