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AMD R9 290X CrossFire V Nvidia GTX 780 Ti SLI

Testing Procedure

Methods

To test the 4K performance of video cards at eTeknix we run a variety of benchmarks at the 4K resolution. We run each of these benchmarks three times and take an average for the most accurate results. We always use the latest WHQL-certified video card drivers from AMD and Nvidia to test with to ensure the most up to date results.

To measure power consumption we take the average stable power consumption on Windows 7 desktop idle over a 5 minute period and for load we take the maximum stable power consumption during a 5 minute AIDA64 GPU stress test and in 3DMark. In 3DMark we use a custom test that runs natively at the 4K resolution using “combined test” stage of the FireStrike benchmark, this lasts roughly 2 minutes and we take the highest power consumption reading from this test. The power consumption is measured at the wall as overall system power draw through a “killawatt” style meter.

To formulate our performance metric we use a weighted average method and each benchmark or test gets a weight of 1 out of a total calculation with 7 weights (meaning all resolutions and variations of the same test are only ever one weight). Those 7 weights are 1 for each test we do excluding Battlefield 4 and Hitman Absolution (so 6 games and 1 benchmark) which are omitted as we do not have results for all the graphics cards in those games. We then calculate the relative score for each card in each test by dividing the cumulative frame rate/score of each card by the average cumulative frame rate/score from all the graphics cards in group. Next we take those 7 relative scores and average those for each card, before dividing those averages by the average of the card being reviewed in the test so that the value of the card being reviewed is 1 and every other card’s performance metric is in relation to it. The end result are numbers that vary around 1 with 0.5 being half the performance of the tested card and 2 being double the performance of the tested card. We then convert those numbers into percentages to make them more readable so 1 becomes 100% and 0.5 becomes 50%.

Test System:

Motherboard – Asus Rampage IV Extreme X79 LGA 2011 (chipset fan disabled)
Processor – Intel Core i7 3960X at stock clock speeds of 3.3GHz with Turbo Mode disabled.
RAM – 16GB (2 X 8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 1866MHz at 9-10-9-27
CPU Cooler – Corsair H100i with Quiet Fan Profile
Power Supply – Corsair HX1050W
Main Storage Drive – Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD over SATA III interface
Chassis – Lian Li T60 Test Bench
Displays – ASUS PQ321Q
Operating System – Windows 7 64 Bit

We would like to thank Asus, Corsair, Intel, Kingston, Lian Li, Nvidia and all our other partners who supplied us with test equipment and hardware. Their generosity makes our testing possible and without them we wouldn’t be able to produce the reviews we do, so thank you!

Games Used