3D Mark Vantage and More
3D Mark VantageThis DX10 benchmark really hammers on modern GPUs, and the poor integrated chips take the brunt of its ire. The entry level presets were enabled for this test, as performance presets were really unforgiving for these solutions.
We see the 785G taking another 40% lead overall from the older and slower 760G.
HD Tach
Considering that the 785G is not only a graphics chip, but also an attached southbridge, it is still good to get an idea where overall motherboard performance lies.
The SB710 controller is just a bit behind the SB700 that the 760G uses, but this again is likely a matter of BIOS optimizations on the newer board’s part. Performance should even out once updates are available.
Uningine Tropics 1.2
This “new to me” benchmark supports DX 9 through DX 10.1 rendering, and is a really wonderful looking benchmark which embraces a lot of the latest and greatest visual features in programming. From my testing it appears as though the results are consistent. The scene in high definition is near breathtaking, but of course with integrated graphics the quality settings are reduced to capture more consistent (and pleasant to watch) results.
Again the 785G walks away from the 760G, and we can throw in the added bonus of DX 10.1 support. Unfortunately, the differences in visual quality from DX 10 to 10.1 were not initially obvious to me with all of the shader presets set to low and 800 x 600 resolution.
World of Warcraft
With the latest Wrath of the Lich King expansion, Blizzard has further tweaked the WoW engine to give more advanced rendering features. I took a manual run through Crystalsong Forrest, as it features many interesting shader and lighting effects. I used FRAPS to give an average frame rate report at the end of the run. I used high presets with low shadows and a resolution of 1024×768 with no AA and 16X AF.
The 785G was far more playable at this resolution, and it did not drop nearly as low as the 760G when the going got tough. A 35% increase in performance in real-world scenarios is again quite impressive.
Oblivion
Titles like Fallout 2 and Far Cry 2 are dominating the benchmark scene, but not all that long ago Oblivion was the end all/be all of graphics performance measurements. It is still a great looking game, and it can push most graphics solutions when quality settings are increased. For this test I put the quality presets at Medium and included “Distant Trees”, with the resolution set at 800 x 600 with no AA and no AF. I took a jaunt through the woods with FRAPS in tow and recorded the min/max/avg framerates.
Who would have thought that integrated graphics would render Oblivion in an attractive and consistent manner? The 785G was pretty smooth throughout, though the 760G would have some hiccups now and then. I could easily play for hours with the 785G, but the 760G would have tested my patience from time to time.
Power Consumption
The power results for this test were actually quite surprising for me. With the 760G clocked at 350 MHz vs. the 785G’s 500 MHz, I would not expect the 760G to be the less efficient part.
At idle the 785G is a full 12 watts lower than the 760G. At full load the 785G is 8 watts lower than the 760G. Considering that both products have about the same transistor count (with the 760G having some parts disabled to boot), the 785G proves to be a VERY power efficient part. Another part of the equation is low power DDR-3 memory used (1.65 v) vs. the older DDR-2 (2.1v). The 785G combined with a lower power dual core processor and DDR-3 memory is a very compelling solution for those looking to be as green as possible with their computing.
