We’re applying the same methodology used to test AMD’s Radeon R9 290: mainly, each graphics card is subjected to five minutes of gameplay before we fire up our benchmarks. What results is a more representative look at performance than simply running one test after another. Here’s a little secret: these are the same numbers run for that R9 290 launch—I simply added the GeForce GTX 780 Ti data to them.
Regarding the debate about variability and AMD’s Hawaii-based cards: like it or not, R9 290X operates at a range between 727 and 1000 MHz, and 290 runs between 662 and 947 MHz. Depending on the ambient environment you’re in (our lab is climate-controlled to 78 degrees, controlled by a Nest thermostat, but naturally ranges plus or minus a couple of degrees at a time), Radeon R9 290X will react. As it happens, our retail card tends to run at lower clock rates in a cool room. Increase the ambient to 78-80 degrees, and that’s when it drops clock rates more significantly compared to the board we got from AMD. Even if AMD hammers this issue out with a new driver, thermally-constrained workloads will still push Hawaii-based cards down under their peak performance levels.
| Test Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processors | Intel Core i7-3970X (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.5 GHz Base Clock Rate, Overclocked to 4.3 GHz, LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled |
| Motherboard | MSI X79A-GD45 Plus (LGA 2011) X79 Express Chipset, BIOS 17.5 |
| Memory | G.Skill 32 GB (8 x 4 GB) DDR3-2133, F3-17000CL9Q-16GBXM x2 @ 9-11-10-28 and 1.65 V |
| Hard Drive | Samsung 840 Pro SSD 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3 GB |
| AMD Radeon R9 290X 4 GB | |
| AMD Radeon R9 290 4 GB | |
| AMD Radeon R9 280X 3 GB | |
| AMD Radeon HD 7990 6 GB | |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan 6 GB | |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3 GB | |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 4 GB | |
| Power Supply | Corsair AX860i 860 W |
| System Software And Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 8 Professional 64-bit |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Graphics Driver | Nvidia GeForce 331.70 Beta (GeForce GTX 780 Ti) |
| Nvidia GeForce 331.65 WHQL (All OtherNvidia cards) | |
| AMD Catalyst 13.11 Beta 8 (Radeon R9 290) | |
| AMD Catalyst 13.11 Beta 7 (All Other AMD cards) | |
| Benchmarks And Settings | |
|---|---|
| Battlefield 4 | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160: Ultra Quality Preset, v-sync off, 100-second Tashgar playback. FCAT for 1920x1080 and 2560x1440; Fraps for 3840x2160 |
| Arma III | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x FSAA, Anisotropic Filtering: Ultra, v-sync off, Infantry Showcase, 30-second playback, FCAT and Fraps |
| Metro: Last Light | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160: Very High Quality Preset, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, Low Motion Blur, v-sync off, Built-In Benchmark, FCAT and Fraps |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160: Ultra Quality Preset, FXAA Disabled, 25-second Custom Run-Through, FCAT and Fraps |
| BioShock Infinite | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160: Very High Quality Preset, 75-second Opening Game Sequence, FCAT and Fraps |
| Crysis 3 | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160: High System Spec, High Texture Resolution, MSAA Low (2X), 60-second Custom Run-Through, FCAT and Fraps |
| Tomb Raider | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160: Ultimate Quality Preset, FXAA, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, TressFX Hair, 45-second Custom Run-Through, FCAT and Fraps |
- GK110, Unleashed: The Wonders Of Tight Binning
- Meet The GeForce GTX 780 Ti
- Test Setup And Benchmarks
- Results: Arma III
- Results: Battlefield 4
- Results: BioShock Infinite
- Results: Crysis 3
- Results: Metro: Last Light
- Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Results: Tomb Raider
- Results (DirectX): AutoCAD 2013 And Inventor
- Results (OpenGL): LightWave And Maya 2013
- Results (OpenCL): GPGPU Benchmarks
- Results: CUDA Benchmarks
- Gaming Power Consumption Details
- Detailed Gaming Efficiency Results
- Power Consumption Overview
- Noise And Video Comparison
- Unquestionably The Fastest Single-GPU Graphics Card
It could also come down to production variance between the chips. Seen in before in manufacturing and it's not pretty. Sounds like we're starting to hit the ceiling with these GPUs... Makes me wonder what architectural magic they'll come up with next.
IB
If it has a negligible impact on what it looks like I am wondering how performance is with single cards on ultraHD screens WITHOUT ANTI-ALIASING. Please could you investigate? or point me to somewhere that has. Cheers all!
Apples to apples it looks like the 780 ti will remain faster than the 290x even after we begin to see custom cooling AMD cards . . . but at a high premium.
and yet, people will continue to eat up their products like mindless sheep. guess a lot of people have disposable income.
Well, it is possible, but highly unlikely, given that Nvidia has a hard defined minimum clock rate, and a much narrower range...plus this is a reference board, it's fully possible that a retail card with a custom cooler will perform much higher (like the Gigabyte 780 in this article).
And, it's not an issue with the Titan or the 780, which are both based on GK110...which has been out for months, and has stable drivers.
and yet, people will continue to eat up their products like mindless sheep. guess a lot of people have disposable income.
What i can't understand is why this has to be a ****ing war.
When they had no competition, they charged a lot of money for their top end cards. No one was forced to buy these overpriced cards. If no one bought them, they'd drop prices. When AMD released solid competition, they dropped prices.
That's how the market works. If you think AMD wouldn't do the same, well, what can i say..
AMD haven't been in a position to do that for a long time on either the GPU or CPU front, which is why they haven't.
When they tried to release an $800 FX CPU (this is without a monopoly or lead in the market, btw), no one bought it, and AMD had to drop prices by more than half.