Three Factory-Overclocked, High-End Graphics Cards

By Don Woligroski
published

Why buy a standard model when you can get the top-of-the-line? Treat yourself to the good stuff! We take three premium graphics cards for a spin to see just what kind of optional extras you can get when purchasing a factory-tweaked non-reference board.

Benchmark Results: Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2 is easy enough on the system to let loose 8xAA. In this case, the GeForce cards really come into their own, but the Radeons are delivering smooth performance, too. None of the factory overclocks are making a huge difference here.

At 2560x1600, the GeForce cards claim the first win, but the factory-overclocked Zotac AMP! edition card establish only a slight advantage over the reference design. At this setting, none of the Radeon HD 5870 cards can manage a minimum frame rate of 30 FPS, overclocked or not.

Don Woligroski
55 Comments Comment from the forums
  • knutjb
    Good to see sensible conclusions, bang for the buck.

    Amazing how well the ATI cards are doing given their time on the market.
    Reply
  • Jax69
    i am amazed by ati cards after one year on the market is still strong as hell. very good amd
    Reply
  • jonsy2k
    I'm not liking the trend of these cards consuming more and more pci slots to be honest.
    Reply
  • lashton
    lol GTX 480 aginst the 5870
    Reply
  • carlhenry
    GTX 480 is looking very good and sexy
    Reply
  • ohim
    Did your lights flickered when you powered up that GTX480 ? :)
    Reply
  • ^^^^^
    hahahahahhaah.
    liked the flickered thing.
    LOL
    Reply
  • h83
    So, the conclusion is that the only good point about those factory overclocked cards are their coolers...
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    Aliens vs. Predator favors the Radeons, just like Crysis favors the GeForce cards. However, the playing field remains very close
    The graphs tell otherwise.
    Reply
  • The Lady Slayer
    It's a shame the Big Green has paid off so many game developers that we'll never see a 'true' comparison between ATI & nVidia
    Reply