Test System Specs

Core i7 Test System Specs
- Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition (Overclocked @ 3.70GHz)
- x3 2GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 (CAS 9-9-9-24)
- Asus P6T Deluxe (Intel X58)
- Seagate 500GB 7200-RPM (Serial ATA300)
- Thermaltake Toughpower 1000w (PSU)
- 2x Radeon HD 5870 (1024MB) 850/1200MHz (HIS and ATI reference)
- 2x GeForce GTX 480 (1536MB) 700/1401/924MHz (Inno3D and Nvidia reference)
Software
- Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
- Nvidia Forceware 257.21
- ATI Catalyst 10.6

All four graphics cards are being tested with the default AMD and Nvidia frequency specifications using the latest available drivers at the time of writing. Our gaming test suite includes Alien vs. Predator, Crysis Warhead, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Just Cause 2, Metro 2033 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. Each game was tested using the maximum visual quality settings with some level of anti-aliasing/anisotropic filtering enabled when possible as detailed on each benchmark page.

To measure performance we are using Fraps, recording the minimum and average frame rates for each pair of graphics cards. As in our previous GPU shootout, we are including a frame rate timeline that should suggest how each graphics card performed at a given moment compared within the benchmark run.

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