Results: 3DMark
The one benchmark we didn’t subject to Fraps-based logging was Futuremark’s new 3DMark. More than anything, we wanted to run these four cards through the latest synthetic, which attempts to represent the future of gaming through two graphics tests, a physics test, and a fourth benchmark intended to apply GPU and CPU loads simultaneously.
Futuremark’s Overall suite score is calculated using a weighted harmonic mean to consider the Graphics, Physics, and Combined sub-tests. Leaving our six-core CPU in place, running at 4.5 GHz, and swapping out graphics cards shows us that Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 690 is still the fastest card in our lab. The Titan follows behind, though, at the same $1,000 price point, we know which card we’d rather have.
AMD’s Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition deserves a special call-out. The least-expensive board is currently $430 on Newegg—less than the cheapest GeForce GTX 680. Over the course of time, and with more mature drivers, Tahiti-based cards have picked up significant momentum. Two of them should have little trouble outrunning a GTX 690 (and for $140 less). In fact, they do. I have a pair of vanilla 7970s here—not the GHz Edition boards—and they do 11,629 points in 3DMark.
In a pure look at graphics performance, the outcome is similar, albeit more pronounced. GeForce GTX 690 finishes up on top, with Titan landing between the 690 and AMD’s Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition.
