Test Systems and Procedures
Before we delve into any testing we would like to take this opportunity to review our test system and thank those sponsors who kindly provided us with test equipment to make our work possible. We offer our thanks to:
Intel for supplying us with a Core i7 4960X processor, which we reviewed here.
Kingston for supplying us with a Hyper X 3K 240GB solid state drive, which we reviewed here.
XFX for supplying us with an R9 290X Double Dissipation 4GB graphics card, which we reviewed here.
Nvidia for supplying us with a GTX 780 Ti 3GB graphics card, which we reviewed here.
Corsair for supplying us with a Hydro Series H100i liquid CPU cooler, which we reviewed here, and a Vengeance Pro 1866MHz 16GB memory kit, which we reviewed here.
Be Quiet for supplying us with a Straight Power E9 680W power supply unit, which we reviewed here.
ASUS for supplying us with a Rampage IV Extreme X79 motherboard, which we reviewed here.
Lian Li for supplying us with a PC-T60A test bench.
Noctua for supplying us with NT-H1 thermal compound.
Test System:
- Motherboard – Asus Rampage IV Extreme X79 LGA 2011 Motherboard
- Processor – Intel Core i7 4960X with Turbo disabled
- Graphics Card: XFX R9 290X Double Dissipation 4GB (with AMD Catalyst 14.6 RC drivers) and Nvidia GTX 780 Ti 3GB (with GeForce 340.43 beta drivers)
- RAM – 16GB (2 X 8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 9-10-9-27 1866MHz
- CPU Cooler – Corsair H100i with Quiet Fan Profile
- Power Supply – Be Quiet Straight Power E9 680W
- Main Storage Drive – Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD
- Chassis – Lian Li T60 Test Bench
- Displays – LG IPS234 23 inch 1080p display
- Operating System – Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Software Used
- AMD Gaming Evolved App (Powered by Raptr)
- Nvidia GeForce Experience App
I have used both and for old GPUs NVIDIA is much better to optimizing games. I had a GT520 (if that can even be called a GT) and I could play with mixed settings and AA enabled BF3 and it was pretty smooth. On the other hand 5770 was a Low level on BF3 for AMD App, meanwhile I could play at High No AA pretty well. But I suppose it needs more feedback from the users.
Personally I liked the simplicity of NVIDIA better.
Using dif GPU’s = the different graphic performance, has nothing to do with the programs.
And game options are the same no matter what. So saying game options were simple with one programe over another makes zero sense.
Please read more carefully. The programs are different. The cards are totally different, and Geforce Experience does a better job at automatically setting the settings compared to Raptr.
The only real beauty of the software for me is the ability to optimise game graphics settings in an instant and amazingly they both seem to get it just about spot on, it takes away all that tedious, boring hit or miss stuff that was part of setting up games in the past. The other functions, apart from auto update I couldn’t care less about let alone use but it’s there if thats what floats your boat.
If you wanna sit on the fence Ryan thats quite alright but overall I think GFE is slightly more polished.
And how so ? just being Nvidia fanboy isn’t it ?
Both are
Personally i vote for the Experience. The Gaming Evolved has a lot of problems for me, I got so mad, I don’t even open it anymore. It’s like a beta program for years.
But the Experience works fine on my other pc.
I’ve used both and Raptr is like malware, pops up all the time with ads and garbage and I’ve never had it update drivers properly, or it will say drivers not supported for this card. Nvidia Geforce Experience is beautiful and simple, keeps my drivers up to date which is a main thing, also optimizes my game video settings for optimal performance and has the awesome shadowplay that can record your gaming and the screen for that matter with zero lag and full res. Geforce Experience is definitely way better.
Raptr is like malware, no where near the best if you’ve even tried geforce experience lately.
No it isn’t. I have Raptr and have had a popup with it. Raptr also gives you points for playing that you can trade in on in game perks, hardware discount, etc. GeForce Experience is extremely lacking in its features. Everything GeForce can do, Raptr can also, plus you earn those points in Raptre.
I have tried both. Honestly, neither one really offer any true benefit. They are both all fluff.
Could I use gaming evolved with some support on a GTX 970? I am planning to upgrade my card and don’t want to lose my points.
Raptr still has a long way to go. I recently reinstalled the AMD Crimson Drivers and Raptr after putting in an older AMD card. The Raptr software is still not great, doesn’t allow for recording in unsupported games and still doesn’t allow desktop capture. The Crimson drivers also felt a little clunky and the layout could be better.
Not really. The AMD app builds points for playing that can be traded in for perks in games or discounts on hardware. GeGorce doesn’t do that.