Battle of the light-heavyweights: Sapphire 290 Vapor-X vs EVGA 780 Classified

[peterjedi]

These two cards are perhaps the best from camp AMD-290's and camp Nvidia-780's. Maybe MSI 780 Lighting should be in the mix, but I don't have this card.

Here are the specs:

Sapphire 290 Vapor-X (Hynix) 1030 GPU and 1400 Memory
Cost 449.99 newegg
Display Eizo Foris FX2431 1920x1200 24"
CPU Intel 4770k watercooled with Swiftech AD II and Swiftech Radiator (No overclock)
Memory 2x8 GBs of G.Skill Trident-x 2400MHz 10 12 12 31 1T
Motherboard Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H (Get latest bios and drivers)
SSD Samsung 840 Pro 256 (Steam is not installed on this drive. Not sure if this matters.)
PSU Corsair TX750
Case Silverstone TJ-10SW
FANS 4 Silverstone AP-121
Windows 7 64 bit SP1

EVGA 780 Classified (Hynix) 993 GPU (Boost 1046, but actual is 1110) and 1502 Memory
Cost 509.99 newegg + 19.99 backplate + 2-3 dollars shipping frozenCPU
Display Eizo Foris FX2431 1920x1200 24"
CPU Intel 4770k no overclock watercooled with Swiftech AD II and Swiftech Radiator
Memory 2x8 GBs of G.Skill Trident-x 2400MHz 10 12 12 31 1T
Motherboard Asus Z87-Pro (Get latest bios and drivers)
SSD Samsung 840 Pro 256 (Steam on SSD)
PSU Corsair TX750
Case Silverstone TJ-10BW
FANS 4 Silverstone AP-121
Windows 7 64 bit SP1

Round 1 - 3DMARK - Fire Strike

Sapphire 290 Vapor-X driver 14.4
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/2277785

EVGA 780 Classified driver 337.88
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/2277579

Winner Sapphire 290 Vapor-X

Round 2 3DMARK11

Sapphire 290 Vapor-X driver 14.4
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8503032

EVGA 780 Classified driver 337.88
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8429761

Winner Sapphire 290 Vapor-X

Round 3 Thief

Settings:
Full Screen
1920-1080
Vsync=off
Preset=Custom
Texture Quality=Very High
Texture Filtering Quality=8x
Shadow Quality=Very High
SSAA=Off
Depth of Field Quality=High
Automatic Limit Texture Quality=Default
All boxes checked

Sapphire 290 Vapor-X driver 14.4
Min=56.3, Max=93.1, Avg=70.0

EVGA 780 Classified driver 337.88
Min=53.7, Max=90.9, Avg=70.3

Winner TIE

Round 4 Hitman Absolution

Settings:
Resolution: 1920x1080
Full Screen=On
MSAA=8x
Vsync=Off
Quality Level=Custom
Shadow Quality=Ultra
Texture Quality=High
Texture Filter=8x
Reflections=High
Level of Details=Ultra
Depth of Field=High
SSAO=High
Bloom=Normal
All boxes checked

Sapphire 290 Vapor-X driver 14.4
Min=48.54, Max=122.33, Avg=59.01

EVGA 780 Classified driver 337.88
Min=40.77, Max=177.04, Avg=51.91

Winner Sapphire 290 Vapor-X

I have Grid II, but not sure I will bench this. I can bench Heaven next. These are all the games that I have, except Dungeon Siege III and Daylight but I don't see a way to bench with them. So far I was able to overclock Sapphire 290 Vapor-X to GPU 1200 and Memory to 1600 with voltage +200, but I don't think it is 100% stable. I was able to bench 3DMark and 3DMark11 with these settings, but the scores were not any better than the default settings. Same with Thief and Hitman. So I assume it must be throttling or something.

I am new to this so just wanted to post some results.

Cheers!

 

[Shmee]

Cool stuff. I am looking forward to more OC results and seeing how far you can go, I hear the Vapor X is a beast.

 

[Leadbox]

If AMD didn't have a fixed upper limit boost clock like they do, they would win more of these benchmarks. Those crazy high maximums that boost 2.0 allows with any available headroom are propping up nvidia's averages some. Those minimums tell their own story too. AMD's next gen needs to have a boost system that allow them to exploit any available headroom and not run "up to" a fixed clock.

 

[3DVagabond]

If AMD didn't have a fixed upper limit boost clock like they do, they would win more of these benchmarks. Those crazy high maximums that boost 2.0 allows with any available headroom are propping up nvidia's averages some. Those minimums tell their own story too. AMD's next gen needs to have a boost system that allow them to exploit any available headroom and not run "up to" a fixed clock.

I think AMD's "boost" is pure marketing allowing for thermal/power throttling. It doesn't actually boost. It simply reduces.

 

[Silverforce11]

I think AMD's "boost" is pure marketing allowing for thermal/power throttling. It doesn't actually boost. It simply reduces.

Yup, AMD's boost is a dirty name for it, really all it is is temperature or TDP throttling.

NV did a great job on its boost which auto-OC without user input.

 

[Leadbox]

I think AMD's "boost" is pure marketing allowing for thermal/power throttling. It doesn't actually boost. It simply reduces.

Yup, AMD's boost is a dirty name for it, really all it is is temperature or TDP throttling.

NV did a great job on its boost which auto-OC without user input.

Agreed, they need to implement something similar to nvidias' going foward