7850x2 Destroying GTX 680 in 3dmark11?

[goldsauce]

I just ran my first benchmark with my new build on 3dmark11 and I was really interested in my graphics score of 10147 (http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5527504) and wanted to compared it to some other cards so I went to the search function and chose my CPU and a different card I just chose the GTX 680 randomly and I saw that my cards destroy its score of 9596 and why I say destroy is because my cards have very large OC Headroom which I can use to get as much as 30% increase in FPS now my question is why does a 2 mid end cards like my own beat a very high end card in benchmarks and according to benchmarks in games aswell and I know some people that crossfire is crap and unreliable and that what I thought before I actually tried crossfire and I can run all of my 80+ games on steam fine at highest settings with no driver issues.

Anyways back to the point why are these mid end cards beating high end cards?

 

[CaptainTom]

I just ran my first benchmark with my new build on 3dmark11 and I was really interested in my graphics score of 10147 (http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5527504) and wanted to compared it to some other cards so I went to the search function and chose my CPU and a different card I just chose the GTX 680 randomly and I saw that my cards destroy its score of 9596 and why I say destroy is because my cards have very large OC Headroom which I can use to get as much as 30% increase in FPS now my question is why does a 2 mid end cards like my own beat a very high end card in benchmarks and according to benchmarks in games aswell and I know some people that crossfire is crap and unreliable and that what I thought before I actually tried crossfire and I can run all of my 80+ games on steam fine at highest settings with no driver issues.

Anyways back to the point why are these mid end cards beating high end cards?

Because the 680 is a joke? Seriously idk why you are surprised. 7850 CF is slightly stronger than a stock 7970 GHz and the 7970 Ghz is a tier above the 680.

FYI in Ugine Heaven my 7970 scores 40% higher than a stock 670. I don't make the prices people buy these things at, but I will laugh at their decisions!

 

[blazorthon]

Two mid-end cards often best a single GPU high-end card. For example, two Radeon 6850s generally beat the Radeon 6970, two Radeon 5830s generally beat a Radeon 5870, and the list goes on. The same is true for Nvidia: tow GTX 660s generally beat a GTX 680, two GTX 560s generally beat a GTX 580, two GTX 460s generally beat a GTX 480, etc. It's quite normal.

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

Nvidia has always had top notch driver support. But I do like the 7970 at the price. Nvidia definitely has some advantages over AMD and vice versa. And who wouldn't expect two 7850's to out perform a 680 lol! I have a 680, love it! I can overclock the crap out of it!

 

[blazorthon]

Nvidia has always had top notch driver support. But I do like the 7970 at the price. Nvidia definitely has some advantages over AMD and vice versa. And who wouldn't expect two 7850's to out perform a 680 lol! I have a 680, love it! I can overclock the crap out of it!

At stock, two 7850s generally best the 680 somewhat. With overclocking, the gap increases. The 680 has a lot of overclocking headroom, but not as much as two 7850s.

 

[goldsauce]

I spent around $350 in total on both of these 7850s because I bought them when they were on sale and they are performing better than a $600~ GTX 680! It look's like I suddenly like AMD more now.

 

[blazorthon]

I spent around $350 in total on both of these 7850s because I bought them when they were on sale and they are performing better than a $600~ GTX 680! It look's like I suddenly like AMD more now.

GTX 680 is suppose to cost around $450 right now. Still, I feel the same way about the Radeon 7850. It was my first card used out of the Radeon 7000/GTX 600 generation and my favorite for overclocking (7850 beats just about everything other than the Radeon 7950 when it comes to overclocking headroom).

 

[bystander]

I spent around $350 in total on both of these 7850s because I bought them when they were on sale and they are performing better than a $600~ GTX 680! It look's like I suddenly like AMD more now.

Consider this: http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited/11
And this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995-4.html

I'd rather have a single 680, and where are you from that has 680's at $600?

 

[blazorthon]

Consider this: http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited/11
And this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995-4.html

I'd rather have a single 680, and where are you from that has 680's at $600?

Actually, thanks to the new RadeonPro tool, AMD has less stutter in Crossfire with current drivers than Nvidia has with SLI. Tom's did a much more recent article that involved it with the Radeon 7990 versus the GTX 690 where the 7990s came off as the performance winners, but the 690 won overall due to it not having out of control power consumption.

Furthermore, that TechReport aritcle only tested a few games, making it statistically less useful despite having an arguably superior method of measuring performance. It also doesn't include overclocking well, something that AMD has Nvdia beat badly in.


Still, agreed on how the price given by OP for GTX 680 is inaccurate.

 

[bystander]

Actually, thanks to the new RadeonPro tool, AMD has less stutter in Crossfire with current drivers than Nvidia has with SLI. Tom's did a much more recent article that involved it with the Radeon 7990 versus the GTX 690 where the 7990s came off as the performance winners, but the 690 won overall due to it not having out of control power consumption.

Furthermore, that TechReport aritcle only tested a few games, making it statistically less useful despite having an arguably superior method of measuring performance. It also doesn't include overclocking well, something that AMD has Nvdia beat badly in.

But as they mentioned, it's a pain in the butt to use and set up for each and every game. To each their own.

 

[dudewitbow]

Consider this: http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited/11
And this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995-4.html

I'd rather have a single 680, and where are you from that has 680's at $600?

to play devils advocate and argue for the other side, AMD is currently attempting to adress the issue, and latency problems can be fixed by tech savy users who know how to set profiles with radeon pro producing graphs similar to this


but, if i had a choice, i would go 680 just to avoid and complications. Xfire/sli is usually there for people who already have the gpu already and wants more power for the cost(like my situation i guess, being a 7850 owner)

 

[goldsauce]

Consider this: http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited/11
And this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995-4.html

I'd rather have a single 680, and where are you from that has 680's at $600?

Australia you can get good MSI or EVGA 680s for $600 but other brands for $550 also I have tried 95% of my 80 games on steam and they all work perfectly fine with no stutter it seems that crossfire is really getting better since the newest drivers (12.11 Beta 11)

 

[blazorthon]

Australia you can get good MSI or EVGA 680s for $600 but other brands for $550 also I have tried 95% of my 80 games on steam and they all work perfectly fine with no stutter it seems that crossfire is really getting better since the newest drivers (12.11 Beta 11)

Oh yeah, I forgot how the Tech Report tests are ten driver versions out of date for Catalyst 12.11.

Still, I'll agree on to each his/her own for RadeonPro.

 

[bystander]

Australia you can get good MSI or EVGA 680s for $600 but other brands for $550 also I have tried 95% of my 80 games on steam and they all work perfectly fine with no stutter it seems that crossfire is really getting better since the newest drivers (12.11 Beta 11)

The first link (when it fully works), was tested with those drivers. They are still problematic.

Not everyone really notices it, but most wouldn't notice the differences of a score of 9600 and 10500 either.

 

[bystander]

Oh yeah, I forgot how the Tech Report tests are ten driver versions out of date for Catalyst 12.11.

Still, I'll agree on to each his/her own for RadeonPro.

It wasn't out of date though:

We're also quite confident the problem isn't confined to a single set of drivers. You see, this article has had a long and difficult history; it was initially conceived as an update comparing Catalyst 12.8 and 12.11 beta drivers. However, driver updates from AMD and Nvidia, along with some additional game releases, caused us to start testing over again last week. I can tell you that we've seen the same spiky frame time plots in most of these games from three separate revisions of AMD's drivers—and, yes, Catalyst 12.11 is an improvement over 12.8, all told, even if it doesn't resolve the latency issues.

NOTE: these are tested with single cards, not in crossfire. Radeon pro doesn't help out single card in microstuttering. Though the OP does have crossfire, so he could mess with it if he wishes.

 

[dudewitbow]

The first link (when it fully works), was tested with those drivers. They are still problematic.

Not everyone really notices it, but most wouldn't notice the differences of a score of 9600 and 10500 either.

to play devils advocate again, not everyone notices the frame latency problem that tr had gone in realtime gameplay. even when the two gameplay videos* was reviewed side by side, just about everyone could agree, when slowed down, both stuttered none the less.

 

[blazorthon]

It wasn't out of date though:

We're also quite confident the problem isn't confined to a single set of drivers. You see, this article has had a long and difficult history; it was initially conceived as an update comparing Catalyst 12.8 and 12.11 beta drivers. However, driver updates from AMD and Nvidia, along with some additional game releases, caused us to start testing over again last week. I can tell you that we've seen the same spiky frame time plots in most of these games from three separate revisions of AMD's drivers—and, yes, Catalyst 12.11 is an improvement over 12.8, all told, even if it doesn't resolve the latency issues.

NOTE: these are tested with single cards, not in crossfire. Radeon pro doesn't help out single card in microstuttering. Though the OP does have crossfire, so he could mess with it if he wishes.

It used the original Catalyst 12.11. There have been ten releases of it since then, some of which more impacting than the original compared to Catalyst 12.8. I make no guarantees of that shifting the winner in the few gaming situations tested by Tech Report in that article, but it is enough to question the relevance of that review (and just about all others) with current drivers.

 

[bystander]

It used the original Catalyst 12.11. There have been ten releases of it since then, some of which more impacting than the original compared to Catalyst 12.8. I make no guarantees of that shifting the winner in the few gaming situations tested by Tech Report in that article, but it is enough to question the relevance of that review (and just about all others) with current drivers.

So you are saying that they finally fixed it after several years of saying they were going to fix it, with in one of the latest beta versions? You may be stretching here. It is possible, but given the track record, it is highly unlikely.

I'm also not saying that it is a terrible card, just that I'll stick with Nvidia atm and I'd certainly choose a single card over CF for similar performance. I do notice latency issues. I get nauseated from it. I didn't always know that this was the cause, but I learned this in the last couple years. While I do not always notice every microstutter, it does cause me nausea, and so does poor latency in general.

 

[goldsauce]

Just dumping some photos here as requested by someone that just messaged me 10 minutes ago.

My Rig:

Have not gotten to cable management yet but will do in the near future or when I have time:

 

[bystander]

Just dumping some photos here as requested by someone that just messaged me 10 minutes ago.

My Rig: http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/553278_430238937047241_511636533_n.jpg

Have not gotten to cable management yet but will do in the near future or when I have time: http://sphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/537254_430238950380573_1757743233_n.jpg

Looks nice. If you can, run those cables behind the motherboard, assuming your case lets you remove the back panel.

 

[goldsauce]

Looks nice. If you can, run those cables behind the motherboard, assuming your case lets you remove the back panel.

I will probably try but I don't know I have never been good with cable management its my least favorite part of building computers :lol:

 

[dudewitbow]

I will probably try but I don't know I have never been good with cable management its my least favorite part of building computers :lol:

i can agree that its one of the legnthier parts and where people need to get better at after playing with different cases. had to wire my old rosewill future gaming, then switched it into a xclio touch 767(then rewire older case for my friend.) and recently wired up a NZXT phantom full tower for my friend. im getting better at it, but still, i need work.

 

[goldsauce]

Another thing, in GPU-Z I can only see the GPU Usage from my 1st card, my 2nd card does not show gpu usage.

Is the 1st cards reported GPU Usage counted as both of them combined?

 

[Mousemonkey]

So you are saying that they finally fixed it after several years of saying they were going to fix it, with in one of the latest beta versions? You may be stretching here. It is possible, but given the track record, it is highly unlikely.

I'm also not saying that it is a terrible card, just that I'll stick with Nvidia atm and I'd certainly choose a single card over CF for similar performance. I do notice latency issues. I get nauseated from it. I didn't always know that this was the cause, but I learned this in the last couple years. While I do not always notice every microstutter, it does cause me nausea, and so does poor latency in general.

I can't say that I've seen any fixes advertised in the last seven days or so.
http://www.legitreviews.com/news/14814/

I guess it's still a work in progress.

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

Oh and with my reference 680 I score around 10700 on 3dmark11 performance. Just ran it! I love it with my 2600, I have my cpu running at 4.7 GHZ and my 680 OC, they are well matched. So yeah a 7850 CF doesnt really beat or destroy a 680 now does it?