GeForce GTX 580M SLI Vs. Radeon HD 6990M CrossFire
A flagship graphics launch is bound to fail unless it's the fastest game in town. Well, both AMD and Nvidia say their respective juggernauts have that title. Clearly, only one company can be right. Is the Radeon HD 6990M or GeForce GTX 580M quicker?
Test Settings And Benchmarks
| Test System Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Current CPU | Intel Core i7-990X (Gulftown) LGA 1366, 3.46-3.73 GHz, 12 MB L3 Cache |
| Previous CPU | Intel Core i7-980X (Gulftown) LGA 1366, 3.33-3.60 GHz, 12 MB L3 Cache |
| RAM | 3 x 4 GB DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24, 12 GB Total |
| GeForce GTX 580M | GeForce GTX 580M 2 GB 620 MHz GPU Core, GDDR5-3000 Mobile Driver Version 280.26 |
| Radeon HD 6990M | Clevo Radeon HD 6990M 2 GB 715 MHz GPU Core, GDDR5-3600 Mobile Catalyst 11.8 Display Driver |
| GeForce GTX 485M | GeForce GTX 485M 2 GB 575 MHz GPU Core, GDDR5-3000 Mobile Driver Version 265.77 |
| Radeon HD 6970M | Clevo Radeon HD 6970M 2 GB 680 MHz GPU Core, GDDR5-3600 Mobile Driver Version 8.810.0 |
| Current System Hard Drives | 3 x Intel 510 250 GB SSD, 750 GB (Striped), SATA 6Gb/s |
| Previous System Hard Drive | Seagate ST95005620AS Hybrid, 500 GB + 4 GB SLC, 32 MB Cache, SATA 3Gb/s |
| Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
| Software | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit |
Recent desktop replacement notebooks had relied on Intel’s previous Core i7-980X CPU, but today’s tests system uses the Core i7-990X. Our charts will reflect this change. We’ve also eliminated our synthetic benchmarks, partly to negate the impact of today’s faster drive configuration.
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Crysis | Patch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Very High Quality, 4x AA |
| F1 2010 | V1.01, Run with -benchmark example_benchmark.xml Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 4x AA |
| Just Cause 2 | Version 1.0.0.2, Built-In Benchmark "Concrete Jungle" Test Set 1: Medium Details, No AA, 8x AF Test Set 2: Highest Details, 4x AA, 16x AF |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat | Call Of Pripyat Benchmark version Test Set 1: High Preset, DX11 EFDL, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, DX11 EFDL, 4x MSAA |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| iTunes | Version 9.0.3.15 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format |
| Lame MP3 | Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| MediaEspresso 6.5 | Version 6.5.1210_33281: 1080i HDTV (449MB) to iPad H.264, 1024x768 |
| MediaConverter 7 | Version 7.1.0.68: 1080i HDTV (449 MB) to iPad, SmartFit profile |
| HandBrake CLI | Version 0.94: "Big Buck Bunny" (720x480, 23.972 FPS) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile) |
| MainConcept Reference | Version: 2.0.0.1555: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| Productivity | |
| Adobe Photoshop CS5 | Version 12.0 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 | Version 12.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
| WinZip | Version 14.0 Pro: THG-Workload (464 MB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
| WinRAR | Version 4.0 Beta 4: THG-Workload (464 MB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.2: THG-Workload (464 MB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version 10.0.102.82: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
A few of our benchmarks have also been updated. Though our primary focus will be on (unchanged) graphics tests, a handful of our productivity and encoding benchmarks indicate the performance difference between Intel’s Core i7-980X and its newer Core i7-990X.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Current page: Test Settings And Benchmarks
Prev Page Installing New Mobile Graphics Cards Next Page Benchmark Results: Crysis