Benchmark Testing

Gaming benchmark tests were run against the GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 graphics card using the ACX 2.0 cooler and HeatKiller GPU-X3 GPU water block in stock and overclocked configurations. Results were provided to give a more complete understanding into the potential performance benefits gained from using the DirectCU H2O cooler in conjunction with an air-based or liquid-based cooling configuration. Note that only a single set of numbers are shown for the card's stock performance numbers because the +40MHz boost in GPU clock speed while liquid cooled was found to have neglible effects on the card performance.

FutureMark 3DMark

FutureMark Corporation’s 3DMark is one of the most grueling benchmark tests on the market for determining system graphics performance. The Fire Strike benchmark measures both graphics-based and PhysX-based system capabilities. The Fire Strike benchmark was run at default settings with a 1920×1080 resolution three times with the highest reproducible 3DMark scores recorded.

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The Fire Strike benchmark tests demonstrate the expected scaling for the card. The ACX 2.0-base overclocking increasing performance by about 10% and the HeatKiller-based GPU cooling adding another 5% over the air-cooled overclocking performance. A 15% performance boost for liquid cooling is not too bad. The PhysX-related operations do not seem to scale with the card GPU or memory speed, remaining virtually constant throughout all runs.

Unigine Heaven 4.0

The Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark is one of the more strenuous methods to determine a video card's performance. The Heaven benchmark was run a 1920×1080 resolution with all graphics settings set to High, On, or Normal with the following exceptions: 8x Anti-aliasing and DX11 API selected. The benchmark tests were run three times with the highest reproducible FPS scores recorded.

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The GTX 970 SC's performance continues to scale as expected with the liquid-based overclocking squeezing out just under a 15% gain over stock, while the air-cooled overclock managed just under 10%.

Batman: Arkham Origins

The Batman: Arkham Origins in-game benchmark was used to determine approximate real-world performance with the card under test. The benchmark test was run at a 1920×1080 resolution with all graphics settings set to High, On, or Normal with including the following settings: GeForce TXAA High Anti-aliasing, DX11 Enhanced mode enabled where applicable, and Hardware Accelerated PhysX High. The benchmark tests were run three times with the highest reproducible FPS scores recorded.

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Again, the card's performance scales as expected with the liquid-cooled GPU able to squeeze out just under 15% more performance in comparison to the stock numbers.

Metro: Last Light

The Metro: Last Light in-game benchmark was used to determine approximate real-world performance with the card under test. The benchmark test was run at a 1920×1080 resolution with all graphics settings set to High, On, or Normal with the following exceptions: SSAA enabled, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, and Advanced PhysX disabled. The benchmark tests were run three times with the highest reproducible FPS scores recorded.

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Metro: Last Light proves a bit more challenging to the GTX 970 SC performance-wise with the liquid-cooled card managing a performance gain of just over 10% in comparison to the stock numbers.

Grid 2

The Intel AVX-enhanced version of the Grid 2 in-game benchmark was used to determine approximate real-world performance with the card under test. The benchmark test was run at a 1920×1080 resolution with all graphics settings set to Ultra, High, On, or Normal with the following exceptions: 8x MSAA Multisampling. The benchmark tests were run three times with the highest reproducible FPS scores recorded.

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Again, we see the card scaling as expected in Grid 2 with a cool 15% increase in performance over stock with the HeatKiller block cooling the GPU.

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