VGA Testing Methodology

As of October 2009 Benchmark Reviews has discontinued testing on the Windows XP (DirectX 9) Operating System, although it is recognized that 52% or more of the gaming world still use this O/S. DirectX 11 is native to the Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System, and will be the centerpiece of our test platform for the foreseeable future. In many tests, DirectX 10 is utilized on the Windows 7 platform.

According to the Steam Hardware Survey published at the time of Windows 7 launch, the most popular gaming resolution is 1280x1024 (17-19" standard LCD monitors) closely followed by 1024x768 (15-17" standard LCD). However, because these resolutions are considered 'low' by most standards, our benchmark performance tests concentrate on the up-and-coming higher-demand resolutions: 1680x1050 (22-24" widescreen LCD) and 1920x1200 (24-28" widescreen LCD monitors).

In each benchmark test conducted, five tests are collected at each setting with the highest and lowest results discarded. The remaining three results are averaged, and displayed in the performance charts.

Intel X58 Test System

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P (Intel X58/ICH10R Chipset) with F10h BIOS
• Processor: Intel Core i7-920 Nehalem 2.67 GHz (BX80601920)
• System Memory: 6GB (3x 2GB) OCZ Triple-Channel 1333 MHz DDR3 CL 7-7-7-20 OCZ3P1333LV6GK
• Primary Drive: OCZ Vertex EX SLC SSD OCZSSD2-1VTXEX120G
• Power Supply Unit: Antec TruePower Quattro 850W Modular PSU TPQ-850
• Monitor: 26-Inch Widescreen LCD (up to 1920x1200@60Hz)

Benchmark Applications

• 3DMark Vantage v1.01 (Extreme Quality, 8x Multisample Anti-Aliasing, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, 1:2 Scale)
• BattleForge (Very High Quality, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Auto Multi-Thread)
• Crysis Warhead v1.1 with HOC Benchmark (DX10, Very High Quality, 4x Anti-Aliasing, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, Airfield Demo)
• Devil May Cry 4 Benchmark Demo (DX10, Super-High Quality, 8x MSAA)
• Far Cry 2 v1.02 (DX10, Very High Performance, Ultra-High Quality, 8x Anti-Aliasing, HDR + Bloom)
• Resident Evil 5 Benchmark Demo (DX10, Super-High Quality, 8x MSAA)
• SPECViewPerf 10 (CATIA, Pro/ENGINEER)

Video Card Test Products

• NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 Reference Design (738 MHz GPU/1836 Shader/1100 vRAM - Forceware 191.07)
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 Reference Design (800 MHz GPU/850MHz vRAM - ATI Catalyst 9.10)
• Palit GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 216SP (625 MHz GPU/1348 MHz Shader/1100 MHz vRAM - Forceware 191.07)
• Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 RV790 (850 MHz GPU/975 MHz vRAM - ATI Catalyst 9.10)
• ATI Radeon HD 5850 Reference Design (725 MHz GPU/1000MHz vRAM - ATI Catalyst 9.10)
• ASUS GeForce GTX 285 ENGTX285 TOP (670 MHz GPU/1550 MHz Shader/1330 MHz vRAM - Forceware 191.07)
• Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X 100281-2GVXSR (850 MHz GPU/1200MHz vRAM - ATI Catalyst 9.10)

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