NVIDIA 680i SLI: Official 1333MHz FSB CPU Support Arrives
by Gary Key on July 20, 2007 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Gaming Performance:
We ran benchmarks with our standard 1280x1024 resolution with all games set to High Quality mode. Given the number of users that run 19" LCDs these days, 1280x1024 represents one of the most commonly used resolutions and it also ensures our comparisons are not GPU limited.
Battlefield 2
This benchmark is performed using DICE's built-in demo playback functionality with additional capture capabilities designed in house. When using the built-in demo playback features of BF2, frames rendered during the loading screen are counted in the benchmark. In order to get a real idea of performance, we use the instantaneous frame time and frames per second data generated from our benchmark run. We discard the data collected during the loading screen and calculate a result that represents actual game play. While DICE maintains that results over 100fps aren't always reliable, our methods have allowed us to get useful data from high performing systems.
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes is still proving to be a very addictive RTS game around the office. The game is extremely GPU intensive and also requires a hefty CPU at times. The game contains a built-in performance test that utilizes the game engine to generate several different action scenes. We found the performance test gives a good indication of how well your system will perform throughout the game on average. We have found some of the in-game action sequences to be more demanding than the performance test and are working on game play benchmark that is repeatable. We generally found the game to be enjoyable with an average frame rate above 35fps.
Prey
Prey offers some superb action sequences, unique weapons and characters, and is a visually stunning game at times. It still requires a very good GPU to run it with all of the eye candy turned on. We set all graphic settings to their maximum except for AA/AF and utilize a custom timedemo that takes place during one of the more action oriented sequences. We generally found the game to be enjoyable with an average frame rate above 35fps.
Gaming Summary
The NVIDIA 680i chipset has always been a top performer in gaming and this trends continues in our limited test suite. Although the performance differences between the boards are extremely minor, we see the EVGA 680i taking the top score in two of the benchmarks. This is reversal from previous P35 test results that utilized an AMD HD 2900XT card. Still, gaming performance is driven by the GPU, especially in the latest titles, but every extra bit of performance always helps.
We ran benchmarks with our standard 1280x1024 resolution with all games set to High Quality mode. Given the number of users that run 19" LCDs these days, 1280x1024 represents one of the most commonly used resolutions and it also ensures our comparisons are not GPU limited.
Battlefield 2
This benchmark is performed using DICE's built-in demo playback functionality with additional capture capabilities designed in house. When using the built-in demo playback features of BF2, frames rendered during the loading screen are counted in the benchmark. In order to get a real idea of performance, we use the instantaneous frame time and frames per second data generated from our benchmark run. We discard the data collected during the loading screen and calculate a result that represents actual game play. While DICE maintains that results over 100fps aren't always reliable, our methods have allowed us to get useful data from high performing systems.
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes is still proving to be a very addictive RTS game around the office. The game is extremely GPU intensive and also requires a hefty CPU at times. The game contains a built-in performance test that utilizes the game engine to generate several different action scenes. We found the performance test gives a good indication of how well your system will perform throughout the game on average. We have found some of the in-game action sequences to be more demanding than the performance test and are working on game play benchmark that is repeatable. We generally found the game to be enjoyable with an average frame rate above 35fps.
Prey
Prey offers some superb action sequences, unique weapons and characters, and is a visually stunning game at times. It still requires a very good GPU to run it with all of the eye candy turned on. We set all graphic settings to their maximum except for AA/AF and utilize a custom timedemo that takes place during one of the more action oriented sequences. We generally found the game to be enjoyable with an average frame rate above 35fps.
Gaming Summary
The NVIDIA 680i chipset has always been a top performer in gaming and this trends continues in our limited test suite. Although the performance differences between the boards are extremely minor, we see the EVGA 680i taking the top score in two of the benchmarks. This is reversal from previous P35 test results that utilized an AMD HD 2900XT card. Still, gaming performance is driven by the GPU, especially in the latest titles, but every extra bit of performance always helps.
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FireTech - Saturday, July 21, 2007 - link
Seconded.
Actually, it's over four months now. First post in http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">mATX Roundup was on 15/03/07....
No matter, we do have another Intel focussed article to read while we wait for it ;)
DigitalFreak - Friday, July 20, 2007 - link
Good job! Want a cookie?
JKing76 - Friday, July 20, 2007 - link
No thanks, the thrice-promised uATX roundup would be fine.CrystalBay - Friday, July 20, 2007 - link
It must get really boring to keep testing MB's without much more than 2% performance differences.... Parity blows.....poohbear - Friday, July 20, 2007 - link
nice article, but the above was a bit much for a "professional" article. no offense, i like anantech for their technical knowledge not their ability to ramble on w/ half-hearted jokes. do i really need to read all that before understanding all u needed was a P35 board?
Chunga29 - Friday, July 20, 2007 - link
I actually thought the snarky comments at the beginning was the most enjoyable part. All NVIDIA's marketing hype kicking in bragging about their platform, when the reality is that it's nothing really special. The more pressing concern was the next sentence:Okay, so that's just one more reason to stick with XP for me, but seriously are you telling me that NVIDIA's launch Vista drivers were so perfect that no updates are necessary? I'd say their driver teams are probably overworked right now, but regardless if I were looking at Vista that situation wouldn't make me very happy.
BitJunkie - Friday, July 20, 2007 - link
I've had this board and a 7950GX2 card from nvidia since December 2006 with an E6600 plugged in to it. It's been stable at a 1333 FSB with memory running at 1066 since then all be it with slack 5-5-5-15 timings.On the whole it's a fast(ish) and stable system BUT....and it's a BIG but the drivers have been the weak link since I installed Vista in January. Not real change for me in that time, I STILL get BSOD'd regularly, the SLI functionality is borked for the gfx card and up until new BIOS my raid array keept locking up on boot.
Expecting them to deliver the goods for the newer 1333 fsb quad core CPUs is kind of like pissing in to the wind. I so hope amd / ati get their act together soon, this is getting old.
Sunrise089 - Friday, July 20, 2007 - link
Agreed - I can find benchmarks anywhere, and this sort of article (unlike say the memory wall one) doesn't require a lot of technical expertise - so why not liven it up a bit.