[OcUK]7950 Crossfire vs 680 SLI at 5760*1080 (Eyefinity/Surround)

[Final8ty]

With the new drivers for AMD enabling their cards to establish a healthy lead over their nVidia counterparts at the extreme 5760*1080 resolution, I have decide to swap over and actually quantify the difference in performance to give people an indication.

The reasons for swapping was not due to VRAM or any other kind of conspiracy theory. Now was a good a time as any to sell up on the 680's and swap to what I believe will be faster triple screen performance and with the selling on of the old cards and the games, I can actually make money and potentially achieve quite a large performance increase. This is quite frankly ludicrous and nVidia do need to look at their pricing structures if they want to compete above 1920*1080.

There's a real lack of data around on Surround/Eyefinity performance and if you discount obvious bias even less! It's difficult to jump into triple screen gaming without knowing how your hardware will perform so even if this helps one person before they buy I'll be happy.

Testing machine:

i7 3770K @ 4.5 GHz
8GB of Geil 2133 MHz RAM
Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H with the latest BIOS
680 SLI @ 1270 MHz core and ~ 7 GHz effective memory speed
7950 Crossfire - speeds TBC

The nVidia tests were run on 306.23 drivers and the AMD tests will be on the 12.11 beta's.

I will be benching at a high overclock to typify what I will term, your average 7970 overclock. So an overclock in 7970 terms that the majority of people will settle on as not pushing the limits of the card to the extreme with noise/heat and a comfortable balance of performance. So with that caveated you will be able to interpret my results as within a percentage point or two of what a 7970 crossfire set up can achieve on the latest drivers. It's worth stating for clarity that I understand that 7970's may go further but I still feel this is helpful as a comparison of the card above my 7950's as well as a 7950 comparison itself.

Complicated waffle over... Games to be benched:

BF3 Operation Swordbreaker
Borderlands 2
Metro 2033
Skyrim
Dirt Showdown
Sleeping Dogs
MOH Warfighter
Guild Wars 2

Unfortunately my first 680 is departing tonight so I can't run any more than what I have already benched. The 680 results are already compiled and available in the OCUK benchmark thread.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18455827

 

[Jaydip]

What about ms sli vs cf? check the latest [H] article.

 

[Final8ty]

What about ms sli vs cf? check the latest [H] article.

On the subject of microstutter and or any other visual discomforts: there was nothing major. If I was forced to pick something I would say the AMD set up was just a little bit less smooth feeling than 680 SLI but without any way to measure this it's difficult to really pin point or analyse so you can make of that subjective observation as you will. I would like to think it is the effort nVidia have made to eliminate it that produced that slightly more polished feel across 3 screens.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=23073346&postcount=3

 

[Jaydip]

Thanks.That site is inaccessible to me.

 

[Final8ty]

Next time read a bit yourself seeing it was only the 3rd post in the thread.

 

[Jaydip]

Sorry man but do you have reading comprehension issue?check my earlier post.

 

[Final8ty]

Sorry man but do you have reading comprehension issue?check my earlier post.

You cant expect people to keep running around for you because you cant view a publicly accessible site that does not need membership to read, use something else that can view it.

 

[Jaydip]

You cant expect people to keep running around for you because you cant view a publicly accessible site that does not need membership to read, use something else that can view it.

Many sites are blocked within corporate networks.But whatever you say.

 

[Final8ty]

Many sites are blocked within corporate networks.But whatever you say.

Well if the only access you have to the internet is the corporate networks then yes i say its your problem.

 

[Jacky60]

That's an extraordinary advantage for AMD in eyefinity/surround. I'm going 3 monitor very soon and seriously considering selling my 6990's to get 3 7950's. Thanks for the heads up dude.

 

[Jaydip]

Well if the only access you have to the internet is the corporate networks then yes i say its your problem.

@ Work yes.But this is getting stupid.

 

[Final8ty]

@ Work yes.But this getting stupid.

Use your phone, i do when im at work.

 

[Jaydip]

I do sometimes but the screen size is a bit deterrent to me.But on topic an excellent result from red team.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Hard to believe that stock 7950 cf beats stock 680 today.

 

[zaydq]

Wow. Didn't think i'd ever see performance graphs showing the 600$ setup as stronger than the 900$ setup. Thats a slap in the face for any 680sli owners that play with surround.

 

[BoFox]

Even for a 6-game review with a conclusion that "AMD set up was just a little bit less smooth feeling than 680 SLI", it's not a very well-rounded review, using 4 out of 6 games that are widely known to strongly favor AMD cards.

If a "slap in the face" is to be derived from such a small review covering only a few games, then it's one that should be taken lightly without too much feeling.

 

[Meghan54]

Even for a 6-game review with a conclusion that "AMD set up was just a little bit less smooth feeling than 680 SLI", it's not a very well-rounded review, using 4 out of 6 games that are widely known to strongly favor AMD cards.

If a "slap in the face" is to be derived from such a small review covering only a few games, then it's one that should be taken lightly without too much feeling.

First, I guess selective reading is a specialty of yours......in case you missed it (I bolded it for you so it'd be harder to miss/ignore this time):

Unfortunately my first 680 is departing tonight so I can't run any more than what I have already benched.

Maybe that's why there were only 6 games included. DUH!



Second, it's a complete slap in the GTX 680 SLI's face given it was beaten rather soundly in 5 out of 6 games by a pair of cards that don't compete with it.

I'd be firing off emails to Nvidia if I were you......cannot have this happen!!!! Need new drivers!!!!!! Nvidia's honor has been soiled.....their top end card in SLI bested by a pair 7950's, the GTX670 competitor.


BTW, BoFox, any news on when we can expect the release of the much talked about but never seen AMD paid shill list that keeps surfacing in rants, but never in reality?

 

[BoFox]

Second, it's a complete slap in the GTX 680 SLI's face given it was beaten rather soundly in 5 out of 6 games by a pair of cards that don't compete with it.


BTW, BoFox, any news on when we can expect the release of the much talked about but never seen AMD paid shill list that keeps surfacing in rants, but never in reality?

Correction - 4 out of 6 games, not 5.. a man can take a slap from something "weak", couldn't he?! (Ignoring and reporting your OT trollish flame-bait that was never brought up in this thread to begin with)

 

[AnandThenMan]

, it's not a very well-rounded review, using 4 out of 6 games that are widely known to strongly favor AMD cards.

I thought Nvidia drivers were much superior?

 

[BoFox]

I thought Nvidia drivers were much superior?

Why "much superior"?

 

[SirPauly]

Nice performance advantage there at multi-monitor in the specific examples offered. HD 7950 continues to offer nice price/performance and even more with the new drivers!

Thanks!

 

[Meghan54]

Why "much superior"?

Wait a minute.....that's just one line Nvidia users have been claiming for years upon years: the superiority of Nvidia drivers in all aspects.

Not true?

 

[thilanliyan]

their top end card in SLI bested by a pair 7950's

Nah it's only their mid-range remember? Didn't you get the memo?

Wait a minute.....that's just one line Nvidia users have been claiming for years upon years: the superiority of Nvidia drivers in all aspects.

Not true?

Confession occurs at nV HQ only.

OT, that is an impressive showing by the 7950s but few games tested if I say so myself. For the price though (<$600 with 3 good games)...that is ridiculously good bang for buck.

 

[Meghan54]

Nah it's only their mid-range remember? Didn't you get the memo?

Damn, I keep forgetting that. I know the AMD paid shill, errrr Nvidia memo is somewhere. Let me go look in the nvidia folder---wife calls it the dumpster for some reason.

 

[BoFox]

Wait a minute.....that's just one line Nvidia users have been claiming for years upon years: the superiority of Nvidia drivers in all aspects.

Not true?

I don't know - that's what I asked Anandthenman (your circle buddy).

Damn, I keep forgetting that. I know the AMD paid shill, errrr Nvidia memo is somewhere. Let me go look in the nvidia folder---wife calls it the dumpster for some reason.

LOL - there you go, bringing up the shill topic once again that you brought up in post #17, and still getting bent..