Performance at Stock Clocks
For all tests the 3770k CPU was set to 4GHz with the RAM at 1866MHz and 9-9-9-24 timings. This is a very easy and simple overclock level and achievable with fairly cheap ram, as such it makes a good test-bed.
For benchmarks we have a variety of games and some synthetics, here’s a list:
- Alien Vs Predator DX11, all settings maxed at 1080p.
- Batman Arkham, all settings maxed at 1080p.
- Battlefield 3 on Ultra at 1080p.
- Civilization 5 DX11, all settings maxed, late game benchmark at 1080p.
- Metro 2033, all settings maxed at 1080p.
For synthetics we have:
- 3DMark03.
- 3DMark Vantage.
- 3DMark11.
- HWBot’s Unigine Heaven DX11.
Let’s dive right into the stock clock benchmark results!
AvP DX11
Aliens Vs Predators DX11 lacks a screenshotable result page, I got an average of 22.5FPS at stock clocks. Not spectacular. Playable at a bit lower settings/resolution though.
Batman Arkham
15FPS is below playable for most people, 32FPS is playable in my opinion. Drop some settings and you’re all set.
Battlefield 3
For BF3 I ran through the first campaign level and Fraps recording the FPS. This is my prefered BF3 test method as it is extremely reproducible, it makes comparing GPUs on a 1:1 basis quite easy and accurate. FPS on a huge multiplayer map will likely be lower.
Much like batman BF3 is playable, but not smooth. For my personal use I’d turn the settings down, then it’d be fine.
Civilization 5
Civ5 doesn’t give us any pretty pictures or min/max/avg. It ran at an average of 27.7FPS, plenty for a turn based strategy game like this.
Metro 2033
Metro is one of the nastiest DX11 benchmarks out there, it really puts the hurt to GPUs. It also comes with a built in benchmark, which makes my job easier.
This isn’t really playable, you’ll have to drop your settings a lot and/or lower the resolution.
Now we’re on to the synthetics.
3DMark03
3DMark03 is old, but there’s still a lot of competition centered on it and it scales well with GPU power. Kepler cores are generally pretty bad at it for reasons unknown.
3DMark Vantage
3DMark Vantage is a DX10 benchmark, the resolution is fairly low but the benchmark itself is quite demanding despite that.
Being an extremely repeatable benchmark this can be compared to a card at a similar price point such as the HD7770 ($120-$150), the 7770 generally beats this card. The 1GB version of the 650 costs $120 and does better from a price/performance standpoint.
3DMark11
3DMark11 is nice and modern, it uses DX11.
Not huge, but not bad.
HWBot Unigine Heaven DX11, Extreme Preset
Better than the 7750, not as good as the 7770. It could fit the $140 price point better.
Power draw at idle for the full system through a 80+ Bronze PSU was ~68w. In 3D11 test 4 the full system power draw was 143w at most. Not much at all.
At idle in a 18c ambient room the core runs ~27c. Through a 3DMark11 run the core temperature rises as high as 45c. Considering that it is rated for 100c or so, this is nothing.
Now onward to the next page for overclocking and overclocked results!
