ASUS M4A78T-E 790GX AM3 Motherboard Review | ||
| by MAC | April 20, 2009 | ||
| Gaming Benchmarks Gaming BenchmarksFuturemark 3DMark06 The Futuremark 3DMark series has been a part of the backbone in computer and hardware reviews since its conception. The trend continues today as 3DMark06 provides consumers with a solid synthetic benchmark geared for performance and comparison in the 3D gaming realm. This remains one of the most sought after statistics, as well as an excellent tool for accurate CPU comparison, and it will undoubtedly be used for years to come.  In 3DMark 06, the overclocked configuration boasts a mighty 21% lead over the stock clocked system. This is a very impressive improvement when you consider that our GeForce GTX 280 graphics card was not overclocked. Let's see if the gains are as prominent on Futuremark's latest gaming benchmarking... Futuremark 3DMark Vantage You asked for it, so we have finally included 3DMark Vantage, Futuremark’s latest release in their renowned line of 3D benchmarking software. This latest DX10-only 3DMark comes with a variety of presets, but for our tests will be use the standard Performance preset which is suitable for a much greater range of system specifications than the other more demanding presets.  In 3DMark Vantage, despite a proper 30% gain in the CPU score, the overall score increases a relatively meager 8%. Can we expect similar results in actual games? Let's find out... Far Cry 2 Far Cry 2 is the hot new new first-person shooter from Ubisoft's Montreal studio, and the first game to utilize the new visually stunning Dunia Engine, which will undoubtedly be used by numerous future games. Using the included Benchmarking Tool, we ran the Long Ranch demo in DX10 mode at 1680x1050 with all settings set to very high.  At these settings, the GeForce GTX 280 appears to be limiting gaming performance, since between 3.2Ghz and 3.7Ghz the frames per second are effectively identical. Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts This test consists of actual gameplay using a single mission (Authie: Boudica's Boys from the British Campaign) since it holds a bit of everything the game has to offer: vehicle battles, artillery barrages and house-to-house fighting. We recorded frame rates using FRAPS up until the 15 minute mark of the mission and excluding any in-game briefings / cut scenes. The game was run in DirectX 10 mode at 1680x1050 with all settings maxed out.  Clearly, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts is still a graphical force to be reckoned with when all its graphical settings are maxed out. Our high-end GeForce GTX 280 is just barely able to keep the minimum frame rate at the vital 30FPS limit across the board. Ignoring the large increase in maximum FPS, we do notice a very impressive 17% gain in the average frame rate. Left 4 Dead Left 4 Dead is the latest disorienting, fast-paced zombie apocalypse mega-hit from Valve. L4D uses the latest version of the Source engine with enhancements such as multi-core processor support and physics-based animation. We test here at 1680x1050 with in-game details set to their highest levels, with MSAA 4X and AF 8X. For benching, we used a pre-recorded 20 minute timedemo taken on the No Mercy campaign during The Apartments mission.  Last but certainly not least is Valve's ground-breaking new multi-player title. From stock to overclocked, the average frame rate increased by a significant 17%, which demonstrates the Source engine's strong CPU scaling.         | ||
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