Results: Tomb Raider
Our results in Tomb Raider are vastly different compared to the tests we performed using Catalyst 13.3 back in March with a pair of Radeon HD 7870 cards in CrossFire. When it comes to average frame rate, there's very little difference between Catalyst 13.8 and 13.6. Perhaps not surprisingly, the GeForce GTX 690 trails AMD's Radeon HD 7990 in this AMD Gaming Evolved title.
We chart out frame rate over time to get a more detailed look at the benchmark run as it happens.
Again, frame time variance is the most important chart on the page when it comes to evaluating frame pacing's effect. And, as in Crysis 3, Catalyst 13.8 has a huge impact on the benchmark result, allowing AMD's Radeon HD 7990 to approach Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690 (though not quite overtake it).
We look to video for confirmation:
Despite its lower frame rate, the GeForce GTX 690 gives us our smoothest result. Unfortunately, Nvidia has a problem with Lara's hair, which has to be a bug.
The difference between the two AMD data points isn't quite as clear. Both Catalyst 13.6 and 13.8 appear slightly more choppy, though 13.8 does seem to be more consistent. Watching the video through multiple times turns up a handful of stutter events on 13.6 that don't manifest with frame pacing enabled.