Date:
Thursday , September 16, 2010
Author:
Brent Justice
Editor:
Kyle Bennett
Google +1

NV GTX 460 1GB SLI vs. ATI HD 5870 CFX Redux

We re-visit GeForce GTX 460 1GB SLI vs. Radeon HD 5870 CrossFireX performance using new Catalyst drivers and new CrossFireX Application Profile 10.8a. We also have a new BETA ForceWare driver in play and we will now see how these video card configurations compete with updated software.

Introduction

In our second follow-up, following the comparison of GeForce GTX 460 1GB SLI versus Radeon HD 5850 CrossFireX, we are now going to make the comparison to Radeon HD 5870 CrossFireX. On August 9th, 2010 we saw GeForce GTX 460 1GB SLI tearing up even high-end Radeon HD 5870 CrossFireX in AvP and BC2. Performance however changed with the ATI CrossFireX Application Profile 10.8a.

In this article we will compare GTX 460 1GB SLI versus 5870 CrossFireX using the 1.8 updated drivers and application profiles plus NVIDIA’s new Release 260.52 ForceWare driver.

Test Setup

This evaluation uses Catalyst 10.8 WHQL plus ATI CrossFireX Application Profile 10.8a for the HD 5870 CFX configuration. For the GTX 460 1GB SLI configuration we are using ForceWare 260.52 BETA drivers, which will be out this week.

All other configurations are the same from the original article, meaning we are using two Galaxy GeForce GTX 460 1GB Super OC video cards which are clocked at 810MHz GPU, 1600MHz shader and 4GHz memory. We will be testing in an apples-to-apples configuration at 2560x1600 and 5760x1200 ATI Eyefinity and NV Surround.

The system specifications are MSI Eclipse, Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.6GHz, 6GB DDR3, Dell 3007WFP, Win7 x64.

Metro 2033

Article Image

In Metro 2033 we ran at 2560x1600 with the "Very High" in-game settings. In our original article we saw that performance was very close between these two video card setups. With new drivers and profiles in play we see much of the same in this game. We find it very impressive that GTX 460 1GB SLI is holding its own against HD 5870 CFX in this game.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Article Image

In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 we tested at a high 2560x1600 with 4X AA and HBAO turned on. In our original article we experienced an 18% performance advantage with GTX 460 1GB SLI, and a more consistent framerate as well. The new CAP 10.8a has done wonders for us with HD 5870 CFX, and we are now seeing a 17% performance advantage go to HD 5870 CFX. We are also experiencing much smoother performance with more consistent framerates, the gameplay isn’t as choppy as it was before.

Aliens vs. Predator

Article Image

In Aliens vs. Predator in our original article we experienced a 22% performance difference with GTX 460 1GB taking the lead. The new CAP 10.8a has completely changed that in this game and there is now a large 29% performance lead using Radeon HD 5870 CFX.