Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480
UT 2004 & Doom 3
To start our in-game testing, we did some low-resolution benchmarking with Unreal Tournament 2004. When testing with UT 2004, we use a specific set of game engine initialization settings that ensure all of the systems are being benchmarked with the exact same in-game settings and graphical options. Like the other in-game tests in this review, we used a "Low-Quality" graphical settings and low screen resolution which isolates CPU and memory performance.
 |
|
In yet another test, the Intel powered system lagged behind the two AMD powered systems, and the Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI and Sapphire PI-A9RX480 performed at very similar levels. Technically, the nForce 4 powered Gigabyte motherboard finished the test with highest framerate, but its 2.21 FPS margin of victory equates to only a 1.6% advantage.
 |
|
For our next game test, we benchmarked all of the test systems using a custom multi-player Doom 3 timedemo. We cranked the resolution down to 640 x 480, and configured the game to run at its "Low-Quality" graphics setting. Although Doom 3 typically taxes today's high-end GPUs, when it's configured at these minimal settings it too is more CPU and memory-bound than anything else.
Our Doom 3 results mirrored what we saw with Unreal Tournament 2004, but the Intel powered system put up a much better performance here. In our custom, low-res Doom 3 benchmark, the Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI outpaced the Sapphire Pure Innovation PI-A9RX480 by 2.5 frames per second, or 1.7%. Not an earth-shattering victory by any means, but a technical victory nonetheless.
