System setup and notes
Hardware
| Graphics cards | Inno3D GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MiB | Inno3D GX2 in SLI | BFG GeForce 9800 GTX | Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 X2 1024MiB | Sapphire HD 3870 X2 in CrossFire | Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 512MiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current pricing, including VAT | £375 | £750 | £210 | £245 | £490 | £125 |
| Shader Model | 4.0 | 4.1 | ||||
| Stream processors | 256 | 512 | 128 | 640 | 1280 | 320 |
| GPU clock speed (MHz) | 600 | 600 | 675 | 825 | 825 | 777 |
| Shader clock speed (MHz) | 1,500 | 1,500 | 1,688 | 825 | 825 | 777 |
| Memory clock speed (MHz) | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,200 | 1,802 | 1,802 | 2,252 |
| Memory bus width (Bits) | 256 | 512 (2x256) | 256 | 512 (2x256) | 256 | |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 LGA775 (3.0GHz, 8MiB L2 cache, quad-core) | |||||
| Motherboard | eVGA NF68 (nForce 680i SLI) | MSI X48 Platinum (X48+ICH9R) | ||||
| Motherboard BIOS | P31 | P2B2 | ||||
| Mainboard software | NVIDIA device driver 15.08 | Intel Inf 8.4.0.1016 | ||||
| Memory | 4GiB (4x 1GiB) DDR2-1066 | 4GiB (4x 1GiB) DDR3-1066 | ||||
| Memory timings and speed | 5-5-5-15 2T @ 1066MHz | 7-7-7-20 2T @ 1066MHz | ||||
| PSU | Gigabyte ODIN GT 800W | Enermax Galaxy DXX 850W | Gigabyte ODIN GT 800W | Enermax Galaxy DXX 850W | ||
| Monitor | Dell 30in 3007WFP - 2,560x1,600 | |||||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 160GiB SATAII (ST3160812AS) | |||||
| Graphics driver | NVIDIA ForceWare 174.53 | NVIDIA ForceWare 174.74 | CATALYST 8.2 beta 5 | CATALYST 7.12 | ||
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows Vista Business, 64-bit | |||||
Software
| 3D Benchmarks | Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts v2.103: DX9 Enemy Territory: Quake Wars v1.2 (demo_00010.dem, map Valley): OpenGL Lost Planet: Extreme Condition v1.004 built-in benchmark: DX10 |
|---|
Notes
A six-card line-up that takes the very best that NVIDIA and ATI has to offer. Two different platforms have been used for SLI and CrossFire for NVIDIA and ATI cards, respectively, adding second cards to form the multi-rendering pair.NVIDIA's single-card retail pricing, set by its partners and etailers, is such that it's 50 per cent higher than ATI's Radeon HD 3870 X2, but our performance look showed that it provided more-than linear increases.
Benchmarks were conducted at 1,920x1,200, and 2,560x1,600 with decent image-quality settings to boot. Why waste a £750 graphics sub-system on a paltry 1,680x1,050, right?
We've also added the GeForce 9800 GTX and Radeon HD 3870 SKUs for good measure.
Our lack of transitioning to an nForce 790i Ultra SLI platform rests with the use of previous results obtained on the trusty nForce 680i Ultra SLI platform. All tests will be re-run on the '790i Ultra SLI in due course.
