How we tested

As always, we did our best to deliver a clean set of benchmarks, with each test repeated three times and an average of those results is what we’re reporting here. In the rare case where performance was inconsistent, we continued repeating the test until we got three results that were consistent.

The tests performed are a mixture of custom in-game timedemos and manually played sections, using FRAPS to record the average and minimum frame rates. We strive to not only record real-world performance you will actually see, but also present the results in a manner that is easy to digest.

Intel Core i7 Test System

• Intel Core i7-965 processor (3.2GHz: 133MHz x 24)
  
• Asus P6T V2 motherboard (Intel X58 Express with three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots)
  
• 3x 2GB Corsair TR3X6G1333C9 memory modules (operating in dual channel at DDR3 1,600MHz 9-9-9-24-1T)
  
• Corsair X128 120GB SSD running v1 firmware
  
• Corsair HX1000W PSU
  
• Windows 7 Home Premium x64
  
• Antec Twelve Hundred Chassis

ATI graphics cards

• Asus Ares 4GB (2 x 850MHz GPU, 4.8GHz memory) using Catalyst 10.6 WHQL
  
• Sapphire HD 5970 Toxic 4GB (2 x 900MHz GPU, 4.8GHz memory) using Catalyst 10.3 WHQL
  
• AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB (2 x 725MHz GPU, 4GHz memory) using Catalyst 10.6 WHQL
  
• AMD ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB (725MHz GPU, 4GHz memory) using Catalyst 10.6 WHQL
  
• AMD ATI Radeon HD 5830 1GB (800MHz GPU, 4GHz memory) using Catalyst 10.6 WHQL
  
• AMD ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB (850MHz GPU, 4.8GHz memory) using Catalyst 10.6 WHQL

Nvidia graphics cards

• Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 1.3GB (607MHz core, 1,215MHz stream processors, 3.3GHz memory) using ForceWare 257.21
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 465 1GB (607MHz core, 1,215MHz stream processors, 3.2GHz memory) using ForceWare 257.21
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 1GB (675MHz core, 1,350MHz stream processors, 3.6GHz memory) using ForceWare 257.21
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 768MB (675MHz core, 1,350MHz stream processors, 3.6GHz memory) using ForceWare 257.21

Games Tested

• Colin McRae: Dirt 2 (DX11)
  
• STALKER: Call of Pripyat (DX11)
  
• Crysis (DX10, Very High)
  
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (DX11)