Test System And Benchmarks
Testing for this article was performed on a high-end Sandy Bridge-E-based system at 4.2 GHz. We chose the Radeon HD 7850 1 GB and GeForce GTX 660 to represent performance from AMD and Nvidia.
Because Windows 7 and 8 employ the same graphics drivers, that variable remains constant between both operating systems. The only thing changing is the OS itself.
As an aside, we're testing AMD's new Catalyst 12.11 build for this comparison. The company claims significant performance increases from this version, so we're curious to see if it brings the Radeon HD 7850 1 GB any closer to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 660.
Test System | |
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CPU | Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E), 3.3 GHz, Six Cores, LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled, Overclocked to 4.2 GHz |
Motherboard | ASRock X79 Extreme9 (LGA 2011) Chipset: Intel X79 Express |
Networking | On-Board Gigabit LAN controller |
Memory | Corsair Vengeance LP PC3-16000, 4 x 4 GB, 1600 MT/s, CL 8-8-8-24-2T |
Graphics | Reference GeForce GTX 660980/1033 MHz Base/Boost GPU, 2 GB GDDR5 at 1502 MHzXFX R7850 Core Edition, Radeon HD 7850 1GB860 MHz GPU, 1 GB GDDR5 at 1200 MHzAll overclocked cards reduced to reference specification for testing |
Hard Drive | Samsung 470-Series 256 GB (SSD) |
Power | ePower EP-1200E10-T2 1200 W ATX12V, EPS12V |
Software and Drivers | |
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 x64, Service Pack 1Microsoft Windows 8 RTM x64 |
DirectX | DirectX 11 |
Graphics Drivers | Nvidia: 306.97 WHQLAMD: Catalyst 12.11 Beta |
Benchmarks | |
Battlefield 3 | Campaign Mode, "Operation Swordfish" 60-second Fraps |
Crysis 2 | DirectX 11, 60 second Fraps |
Batman: Arkham City | Version 1.0.0.0, Built-in DirectX 11 Benchmark |
Metro 2033 | Full Game, Built-In Benchmark, "Frontline" Scene |
DiRT Showdown | Version 1.0.0.0, DirectX 11 Benchmark |
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | Update 1.4.27, THG Benchmarks save, 25-second Fraps |
Max Payne 3 | Version 1.0.0.4.7, Chapter 3, save 16, 65-second Fraps |
World Of Warcraft | DX 11, Elwynn Forest area, 30-second Fraps |
Sleeping Dogs | High Detail Preset, Built-in Benchmark |
Borderlands 2 | Highest Settings, 8x AF, PhysX low, Fraps |