Games of 2012 against modern video cards – – PC performance graphics benchmarks of Graphics Cards

INTRODUCTION

    

2012 has come to an end, the end of the world has not yet come, and we, by analogy with last year, have prepared a new summary review in which two great graphics giants – AMD and NVIDIA – have come together. During this year they managed to update their entire line of video cards, so the confrontation will be fierce…

Our test was attended by 35 candidates from two opposing camps, who met in 8 significant games this year. Half of the games were released under the auspices of NVIDIA, and the other half were released by AMD. Our goal is to identify the fastest solutions for this year’s games and the most optimal products in terms of price/performance ratio.

TESTING PROCEDURE

All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality using MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. The minimum and average frame size is taken as the performance indicator. 

Our video cards were tested at separate screen sizes of 1920×1080 and 2560×1600 at the maximum graphics quality settings allowed by the games, and, of course, by the resources of the video cards. The tests were based on the most striking games of 2011, both in terms of gaming and technology. Unfortunately, for the test we used video cards of the current generation with DirectX 11. For those who want to see earlier models in the tests, we advise you to go through our test archive. Below are the test sections of the games:

The test was carried out on one of the most powerful gaming configurations to date based on an Intel Core i7-3930K with overclocking to 4.8 GHz, eight gigabytes of DDR3 RAM with a frequency of 2400 MHz and an OCZ Vertex 3 SSD hard drive.

Max Payne 3

Max Payne 3 is currently one of the most beautiful and technologically advanced games of the current generation. In this case, the game is not just a means of console porting, but a completely independent project that was developed in parallel with the console versions. The main features of the PC version are visual effects based on DirectX 11 along with tessellation, which significantly increases the level of detail of the characters and environments. Advanced Ambient Occlusion technology is also available, creating more expressive and realistic shading.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings, with MSAA 4X anti-aliasing activated.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed Max Payne 3 at a resolution of 1920×1080, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7770 or GeForce GTX 560 level. An acceptable level should be expected from the Radeon HD 6870 or GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

At a resolution of 2560×1600, with maximum graphics quality settings, the minimum acceptable level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 7870 or GEFORCE GTX 660 level. The most optimal graphics cards for comfortable gaming with these settings will be the Radeon HD 7970 or GEFORCE GTX 680. Video cards with a video memory capacity of less than 1280 MB could not work correctly in this resolution.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

The graphics in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier left very mixed impressions. Of course, the picture in the game is very impressive, plus Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier supports the main features of DirectX 11, such as tessellation, volumetric fog and shader lighting. But still, in all visual aspects there is a console heritage – locations are a little cramped, characters The enemies are somewhat wooden, the colors are unnaturally faded.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed by Dragon Age II at a resolution of 1920×1080, the minimum performance level will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 5870 or GeForce GTX 480 level. A sufficient level should be expected from the Radeon HD 6970 or GeForce GTX 580.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

At a resolution of 2560×1600 with maximum quality settings, the acceptable level of performance will be shown by video cards of the level of Radeon HD 7870 or GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti. The most optimal graphics cards for comfortable gaming will be the Radeon HD 7970 or GeForce GTX 590.

Sleeping Dogs

It’s no secret that Sleeping Dogs is a very technological project, filled with all modern graphical goodies, including both high-resolution textures and support for DirectX 11, which distinguishes it from its console counterparts. So, in addition to a more favorable PC price, players receive not only a favorable offer, but also modern graphics goodies.

The test was carried out at the maximum quality of game settings in the in-game benchmark.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

With maximum graphics quality settings, the minimum level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 5870 or GeForce GTX 580 level. Video cards of the Radeon HD 7950 or GEFORCE GTX 680 level will show comfortable performance.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

At a resolution of 2560×1600, video cards of the Radeon HD 7970 level or GEFORCE GTX 690. The most optimal graphics cards for comfortable gaming sleeping dog will only become GEFORCE GTX 690. This time the minimum is the presence of 1536 megabytes of video memory on the video card.

Borderlands 2

The developers have previously stated that the game will have much greater graphical functionality than modern consoles, but as a cross-platform project, Borderlands 2 looks very impressive. But still, one of the main advantages of Borderlands 2 is the use of PhysX technology, so let’s look at this in more detail. Borderlands 2 uses NVIDIA PhysX technology in key elements of the game to create more realistic and physical effects.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings, with physics activated at maximum. Our main test processor in this test segment was quite enough to reveal the potential of Radeon video cards.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed Borderlands 2 at a resolution of 1920×1080 the minimum level of performance was shown Radeon HD 5770 or GeForce GTS 450 GeForce GTX 580. The best option should be considered dual-chip solutions Radeon HD 7750 or GeForce GTX 550 Ti.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

At a resolution of 2560×1600 with maximum quality settings, the acceptable level of performance will be shown by video cards of the Radeon HD 5850 level or GeForce GTX 560. The most optimal graphics cards for comfortable gaming will be the Radeon HD 6950 or GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Only one thing can be said about Call of Duty: Black Ops II – you shouldn’t expect new graphics until the next generation of consoles. The developers tried their best to prove to us that the game would use more modern graphics, but in fact, the innovations that were introduced practically did not improve the game image.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings, with MSAA 8X anti-aliasing activated.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed Call of Duty: Black Ops II at a resolution of 1920×1080, the minimum level of performance was shown by the Radeon HD 5770 or GeForce GTX 550 Ti. The most optimal solutions for these settings would be the Radeon HD 7770 or GeForce GTX 560.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

At a resolution of 2560×1600, with maximum graphics quality settings, the minimum performance level will show Radeon HD 5830 or GeForce GTX 560. The most optimal solutions for gaming will be solutions such as the Radeon HD 6970 or GeForce GTX 580.

Hitman Absolution

Hitman Absolution, by modern standards, is one of the most technologically advanced games, and this is not without reason, because the game is armed to the teeth with various graphical bells and whistles, including all the features of DirectX 11. If you want the most beautiful and technological product, then this is undoubtedly Hitman Absolution.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings, with MSAA 4X anti-aliasing activated in the in-game benchmark.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed Hitman Absolution at a resolution of 1920×1080 the minimum level of performance was shown Radeon HD 6870 or GeForce GTX 560 Ti. The best option should be considered solutions Radeon HD 6970 or GeForce GTX 480.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

At a resolution of 2560×1600, with maximum graphics quality settings, the minimum performance level will show Radeon HD 7950 or GEFORCE GTX 680. The most optimal solutions for gaming will be solutions such as Radeon HD 7970 GE or GeForce GTX 590.

Assassin’s Creed III

Assassin’s Creed III can currently be considered a graphical breakthrough in the series. The graphics are better than in previous parts of the series, much better. Literally after the first part, the developers decided not to bother with a PC audience, and in subsequent games in the series we were treated to graphics comparable to console ones. Now everything has changed, the PC version is significantly superior to its console counterparts in all aspects.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings, with very high quality anti-aliasing activated. Many people wonder why AMD has quite adequate FPS on our test system. An important role was played by the fact that vertical synchronization was forcibly turned off via the video driver on AMD video cards. Also, during recent testing, we discovered a pattern that game performance significantly depends on the frequency and parameters of the RAM.

Thus, the transition from DDR3-1600 to DDR3-2400 frequency gives a 15-20% increase in CPU performance on AMD video cards. Plus, the transition from two-channel to four-channel mode gives an increase of up to 5%. As a result, we have a total increase from memory alone of at least 20%. As a result, older AMD chips showed decent results and a load of 90-99%. In a trial test at [email protected], the Radeon 7970 at a resolution of 1920×1080 was loaded at 80-85%. At a resolution of 2560×1600, the 7970 video card was fully loaded at 99% without delay – it turns out that it’s all about the processor dependence of AMD video cards in this game. 

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed Assassin’s Creed III at a resolution of 1920×1080, video cards Radeon HD 6870 or GeForce GTX 460 showed the minimum level of performance. The most optimal solutions for these settings would be Radeon HD 5870 or GeForce GTX 560.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

At a resolution of 2560×1600, with maximum quality settings, video cards of the Radeon HD 7870 or GeForce GTX 480 level will show the acceptable minimum. The most optimal graphics cards for comfortable gaming with these settings will be the Radeon HD 7870 or GeForce GTX 570.

Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 is the main project this fall. The beauty of this game lies in the fact that the developers not only provided players with a fascinating plot and gameplay, but were also able to present the most beautiful and technological picture in the PC version.

The test was carried out at maximum quality game settings, with MSAA 4X anti-aliasing activated.

Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080

At the maximum graphics quality settings allowed Far Cry 3 at a resolution of 1920×1080, video cards Radeon HD 7850 or GeForce GTX 480 showed the minimum level of performance. The most optimal solutions for these settings would be Radeon HD 7870 or GeForce GTX 580.

Testing at maximum quality settings 2560×1600

At a resolution of 2560×1600, with maximum quality settings, the acceptable level of performance will be shown by video cards of the level of Radeon HD 7970 or GEFORCE GTX 680. The most optimal graphics cards for comfortable gaming with these settings will be Radeon HD 6990 or GEFORCE GTX 690.

VRAM test

Testing of video memory consumed by games was carried out by MSI Afterburner. The indicator was based on the results on top video cards from AMD and NVIDIA with separate screen sizes of 1920×1080 and 2560×1600. All data on games are summarized in one table.

Testing at maximum memory GPU quality settings 1920×1080

 

As we can see, in most cases the amount of video memory consumed is more than 1 gigabyte, so for a smooth picture in a resolution of 1920×1080 today it is necessary to have 1,5 gigabytes of video memory.

Testing at maximum quality settings memory GPU 2560×1600

 

With ultra-high screen sizes, the optimal amount of video memory will be 2 gigabytes.

Determining the fastest and most optimal solutions for 2012

Next, we will begin to identify the winners of our test. The winners will be determined in two categories – the fastest graphics solutions on the market and the most optimal purchase in terms of price/performance. To find out what the fastest solutions are video cards in games of 2012, we will sum up their total FPS in games.

 

So, we see that at a resolution of 1920×1080, the top three included three video cards – GEFORCE GTX 690, Radeon HD 7970 GE and GeForce GTX 590. If you choose from single-chip solutions, the result will be as follows – Radeon HD 7970 GE, GEFORCE GTX 680, Radeon HD 7970. Below we present a generalized graph at a resolution of 2560×1600.

At a resolution of 2560×1600, the top three included three video cards – GEFORCE GTX 690, Radeon HD 6990 and GeForce GTX 590. If you choose from single-chip solutions, the result will again be as follows – Radeon HD 7970 GE, GEFORCE GTX 680, Radeon HD 7970. Now look at the cost of video cards at the moment.

 

First of all, we presented a generalized graph of the cost of video cards at the moment, from which, as one would expect, more money is asked for the most productive solutions. Next, we will show which video cards are most effective for games, that is, on average they will show at least 25 FPS:

 

Next, we look for all video cards that are no longer on sale and that showed an average of more than 25 FPS. And the next step is to identify the most optimal purchases, as a result of which we can buy the largest number of FPS for 1 $. We divide the total FPS we received in 15 games and get the number of frames that we can purchase for $1.

And as we see, the most expensive and fastest graphics solutions turned out to be the least economical to purchase. The faster we want to ride, the more we pay. This time again, mid-level solutions turned out to be optimal. The most optimal ones for purchase at the moment should be considered video cards Radeon HD 7870, GEFORCE GTX 660 and Radeon HD 6870. Based on the tests and pricing policy, these video cards should be considered the optimal purchase for games in 2012.