The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (DirectX 9)
The Empire of Tamriel is on the edge. The High King of Skyrim has been murdered.
Alliances form as claims to the throne are made. In the midst of this conflict, a far more dangerous, ancient evil is awakened. Dragons, long lost to the passages of the Elder Scrolls, have returned to Tamriel.
The future of Skyrim, even the Empire itself, hangs in the balance as they wait for the prophesized Dragonborn to come; a hero born with the power of The Voice, and the only one who can stand amongst the dragons.
Our settings for Skyrim
Here is a video our testing run through, for your reference
Even though Skyrim is not the GPU hog that Crysis 3, Far Cry 3 and Sleeping Dogs, a LOT of people still love to play this RPG and it shows some compelling results. The HD 7850 is without a doubt the best card of these three and the HD 7790 and the GTX 650 Ti are closer than they have ever been. The HD 7850 averages a frame rate of 80 or so, while the HD 7790 and GTX 650 Ti result in average frame rates of 51 and 41 respectively. Even more important though is the spikes in frame times seen in both the GTX 650 Ti and HD 7790 parts – an indication that the 1GB frame buffer is a limit at our Ultra preset.
I’d much rather take the
I’d much rather take the rebate and shoot for this:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/397023/HD7850-DC2-2GD5-V2_AMD_Radeon_HD_7850_2048MB_GDDR5_PCIe_30_x_16_Video_Card
If this was a 2gig card it
If this was a 2gig card it would prolly beat the 7850? Im guessing on that.
I don’t think so – the shader
I don't think so – the shader count difference is the main reason performance gap at 1080p.
question: In both areas,
question: In both areas, Radeon graphics and A-series APUs, AMD does have some distinct advantages. Clarificiation?
On the APU side, AMD’s edge
On the APU side, AMD's edge comes with a higher performance integrated GPU and better parallel compute performance.
On the GPU side, AMD has better price/perf in many market segments, runs slightly more efficient at idle, etc.
If you’re doing single GPU,
If you’re doing single GPU, then 7970 will come in significantly cheaper than a 680 and beat it, but ONLY at STOCK because it has a higher stock clock (Ghz edition).
A 680 clocked over 1350 Mhz can and will blow a 7970 Ghz out of the water.
But it’s pretty hard to hit 1400-1500 on stock cooler on a 680. The only cards that can easily do those speeds are the MSI 680 PE, Galaxy 680 White and the Sparkle Calibre 680.
Fair enough but this is a
Fair enough but this is a completely different class of card we are reviewing here.
So the 7970 can’t
So the 7970 can’t overclock.
OK.
It can. Sigh.
The GHZ edition
It can. Sigh.
The GHZ edition 7970 is nothing more than a PRE-OVERCLOCKED 7970, so it nowhere has as much headroom as a good 680 solution.
The 7970’s aren’t built as well or as well clocking as the top notch 680’s, since they aren’t as efficient.
Not to mention that AMD drivers are currently a complete and total mess.
That new 7990 which just popped out today may be a worth a wait.
yes maybe 7790 is better
yes maybe 7790 is better price/performance than 650Ti, but i think nvidia PhysX got greater effect in gamer’s eyes, or at least for me
so my conclusion is a draw, 7790 + never settle = 169 and 650Ti + PhysX = 149
plus in my country, AMD always get more dollar than in newegg, but Nvidia’s price exactly same.
thank you for the review and simple, refreshing and new visual graphic
Thank you for the feedback!
Thank you for the feedback! I just don't tend to put much weight behind PhysX because it is used in so few games and when it is, I don't feel the effect is particularly interesting.
It depends entirely on how
It depends entirely on how well PhysX is implemented in it.
Regardless, I agree that PhysX is nothing more than a pile of shit at it’s current rate.
It will probably die once Unreal 3 Engine dies.
I just don’t know how much
I just don't know how much more money NVIDIA is going to be willing to spend on it, considering none of the new consoles will ever use it.
lol i heard rumors about
lol i heard rumors about unreal engine 4 will use PhysX as their physic engine. btw we might not see much about gpu accelerated physics from PhysX in the future but i don’t think physx will die just like that. PhysX is a complete physic engine so they can license the tech for any developer that interested to use third party physic engine.
Never Settle > PhysX
Never Settle > PhysX
What happened to latency
What happened to latency testing?
Stay tuned very shortly!!
Stay tuned very shortly!!
Luxmark?
Luxmark?
It’s basically a 7770 on
It’s basically a 7770 on roids. It wouldn’t perform all that well on Luxmark, which seems to depend and base the power it requires on shader strenght.
This card isn’t as strong as a 7850 in the shader department, like nowhere is. It bases it’s power on high clock frequencies.
If you want something to render, then that 7850 I linked to would do a much better job.
Also, this card is done on a 650-like PCB with many different capacitors, chokes, coils etc. all thrown across from whatever they had in stock. I’m not even sure how reliable this card would be on the long run.
That Asus 7850 DCII I linked to would be a much more superior choice, both in terms of power, build quality and longevity.
Any idea how this fairs
Any idea how this fairs against a GTX 460? Would it be enough of a jump to make the $150 worth it? I only game at 1080p and so far the 460 is holding up. GeForce Experience helps with some games very well and I don’t have the really new titles to push it more. For that matter, I have two monitors, both hooked up to the 460. Would hooking up the second monitor to the my i5’s 3570 Intel HD4000 graphics help with frame rates on the main monitor?
it depends on how much
it depends on how much performance jump that you can consider as an upgrade.
7790 is about on par with
7790 is about on par with 6870.
460 (1GB 336 SP in particular) is on par with 6850, SE versions might be somewhat slower.
So it is one performance tier up at worst, one and a half tier at best.
I actually have the same
I actually have the same question/problem and could really use some help. I only game at 1080p, and have a GTX 460 I bought for a new build in December 2010 (Core i7-950).
The card is holding up for me, I just finished FarCry3 a few weeks ago without complaints.
But the AMD deal for Bioshock Infinite and FC3 Blood Dragon, included with an HD 7790 for $160 has me scratching my head. I mean, I almost bought Bioshock two days ago for $59.99 on Steam. What to do????
I’d just save up and get
I’d just save up and get something real like this:
http://www.amazon.com/PowerColor-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-AX7870-2GBD5-2DHPPV3E/dp/B00AO35AXU
You are the first person I
You are the first person I have seen to refer to the 7790 as Sea Islands. Is this confirm by Amd?,or is it a best guess situation.