Battlefield 4, Shadow Of Mordor, Alien: Isolation, Arma 3
Battlefield 4
First up, Battlefield 4. At the standard 1080p HD resolution with the ultra detail preset enabled, let's see how these cards compare. Note that we've tested the Radeon cards with the Mantle API enabled, as its a viable option in this game.
Its a close race, but with all three cards pulling over 60 FPS minimum, the difference is academic. Now let's bump the resolution to 4K, which requires us to drop details to the high preset in order to keep things playable.
At 4K the GeForce GTX 970 falls behind, and both of the Radeon cards take the lead in a virtual tie. The extra graphics memory on the Sapphire card doesn't appear to help here.
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Now let's try a new game, Middle earth: Shadow of Mordor. This open-world sandbox has gotten a lot of press for its large texture set option, let's see how it affects these graphics cards:
At ultra details at 1080p, there's little difference to talk about and all three cards barely drop below 60 FPS. Now let's try 4K, which necessitates a drop to the high detail preset. But let's increase the texture detail to high, too.
The extra graphics RAM appears to help Sapphire's card here, and it never drops below 33 FPS, unlike the 4GB cards. The average frame rate also stays just shy of a comfortable 40 FPS.
Alien: Isolation
Now we'll try another new game in our bench suite, Alien: Isolation. This well-reviewed title features a lot of impressive visual spaceship interior detail.
Even with the highest details possible with SSAO and 2x SMAA enabled, this game never drops below 100 FPS. Let's see what happens at 4K with the same ultra-high settings.
Its a close race here, but the Sapphire Vapor-X grabs a meaningless win. All three cards have a minimum frame rate above 30 FPS and an average rate above 40 FPS.
Arma 3
Arma 3 is a great-looking military simulation that keeps getting better and better with frequent patches. Let's see how these cards fare at 1080p with the ultra detail preset enabled, including 8x MSAA.
All three cards produce a very smooth result, barely dropping below 60 FPS, but the GeForce takes a lead here.
Increase the resolution to 3840x2160, though, and we have to lower the details to the high preset, with 4x MSAA. At this setting, the Sapphire Vapor-X scores a significant win with an average frame rate approaching 40 FPS while the competitors float closer to 30.
