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Test Rig & Benchmarks
The OS we use is Windows 10 Pro 64bit with all patches and updates applied. We also use the latest drivers available for the motherboard and any devices attached to the computer. We do not disable background tasks or tweak the OS or system in any way. We turn off drive indexing and daily defragging. We also turn off Prefetch and Superfetch. This is not an attempt to produce bigger benchmark numbers. Drive indexing and defragging can interfere with testing and produce confusing numbers. If a test were to be run while a drive was being indexed or defragged, and then the same test was later run when these processes were off, the two results would be contradictory and erroneous. As we cannot control when defragging and indexing occur precisely enough to guarantee that they won’t interfere with testing, we opt to disable the features entirely.
Prefetch tries to predict what users will load the next time they boot the machine by caching the relevant files and storing them for later use. We want to learn how the program runs without any of the files being cached, and we disable it so that each test run we do not have to clear pre-fetch to get accurate numbers. Lastly we disable Superfetch. Superfetch loads often-used programs into the memory. It is one of the reasons that Windows Vista occupies so much memory. Vista fills the memory in an attempt to predict what users will load. Having one test run with files cached, and another test run with the files un-cached would result in inaccurate numbers. Again, since we can’t control its timings so precisely, it we turn it off. Because these four features can potentially interfere with benchmarking, and are out of our control, we disable them. We do not disable anything else.
We ran each test a total of 3 times, and reported the average score from all three scores. Benchmark screenshots are of the median result. Anomalous results were discounted and the benchmarks were rerun.
Test Rig
| Test Rig “Hexzilla” |
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| Case Type | |
| CPU | |
| Motherboard | |
| Ram | |
| CPU Cooler | |
| Hard Drives | |
| Optical | Liteon DVD Burner |
| GPU | |
| Case Fans | 1 x 180mm Mosfet / CPU / Ram cooling fan 1 x 120mm PCI-E Cooling Fan |
| Docking Stations | None |
| Testing PSU | |
| Legacy | None |
| Mouse | |
| Keyboard | |
| Any Attempt Copy This System Configuration May Lead to Bankruptcy | |
Benchmarks
Unigine Heaven
Heaven Benchmark with its current version 4.0 is a GPU-intensive benchmark that hammers graphics cards to the limits. This powerful tool can be effectively used to determine the stability of a GPU under extremely stressful conditions, as well as check the cooling system’s potential under maximum heat output. It provides completely unbiased results and generates true in-game rendering workloads across all platforms.
The XFX R9 380 4G DD basically ties the PowerColor R9 380 which has a slightly higher clock speed.
We cranked the resolution to 1440p and the XFX R9 380 jumped out ahead by a couple of FPS. Perhaps the XFX got lucky in the manufacturing process and got a slightly better core.
Settings for Unigine Heaven
Unigine Heaven Settings |
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| 1920 x 1080 | 2560 x 1440 |
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3DMark Testing
Fire Strike
Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for today’s high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today.
Fire Strike Ultra 2160p
The extra memory on the R9 380 4G stretches its muscles and shows the advantage of 4GB over the 2GB GTX 960 and turned in a score of 2043/
FireStrike Extreme (1440p)
In the 1440p 3DMark FireStrike the 960’s are getting closer to the R9 380s as the memory requirements aren’t as high at 1440p. At the 1440p level the XFX r9 380 4G DD squeeked out a win of just over 130 points in the graphics score.
3DMark 1080p
The results in 3DMark at 1080p are much the same the XFX R9 380 4GB comes out ahead of the gtx 960 pack by about 500 points.
Bioshock Infinite
Set in 1912, the game has protagonist, former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, sent to the floating air city of Columbia to find a young woman, Elizabeth, who has been held captive there for most of her life. Though Booker rescues Elizabeth, the two become involved with the city’s warring factions: the nativist and elite Founders that rule Columbia and strive to keep its privileges for White Americans, and the Vox Populi, underground rebels representing the underclass of the city. During this conflict, Booker learns that Elizabeth possesses strange powers to manipulate “Tears” in the space-time continuum that ravage Columbia, and soon discovers her to be central to the city’s dark secrets.
BioShock just isn’t that demanding anymore but it scales well with GPU;s so we keep it around. The XFX r9 380 is about 8 FPS ahead of the GTX 960 pack and 0.3 FPS behind the PowerColor card. The difference between the PowerColor Card and the XFX card is just a little more core speed on the PowerColor, put a mild OC on and both cards would run the same.
BioShock at 1440p shows the XFX r9 380 4G DD at 64.1 trailed by the PowerColor card by 0.7 FPS, the R9 380’s come in about 5 FPS ahead of the GTX 960 pack.
We didn’t cut any slack and lower the settings on the games to accommodate the XFX r9 380 4GB DD and it hit 21.3 FPS but lowering the settings a little would put it in the easily playable range.
BioShock Settings |
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| 1920 x 1080 | 2560 x 1440 |
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Battlefield 4
Battlefield 4™ on PC, powered by the advanced technology of DICE’s proprietary Frostbite™ 3 engine, blurs the line between game and glory. With dynamic destructable environments, vehicular combat, and the chaos of all-out-war with 64 players, Battlefield 4 on PC is an unmatched interactive experience.
In addition to its hallmark multiplayer, Battlefield 4 features an intense, dramatic character-driven campaign that starts with the evacuation of American VIPs from Shanghai and follows your squad’s struggle to find its way home.
There is no comparison. Immerse yourself in the glorious chaos of all-out war, found only in Battlefield.
Battlefield 4 just wasn’t a problem at 1080p and the XFX r9 380 4G DD hit 52.05 FPS, the other 380 was in the same range.
At 1440p Battlefield 4 is putting the crunch on the XFX R9 380 4G which turned in a score of 32,87.
At 2180p we are still using uber settings and the XFX r9 280 dropped to 18.41 FPS but keep in mind that is a good indicator that with a few relaxed settings you’ll be running at 30 FPS or above easily.
Battlefield 4 Settings |
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FarCry 4
The game follows Ajay Ghale, a young Kyrati-American of Nepali origin who returns to his native country of Kyrat (presently in Nepal) to spread his deceased mother’s ashes. Kyrat was an autonomous state in the Himalayas ruled by separate Kyrati Kings. Kyrat is derived from Kirati, a collection of Himalayan people originating from Tibet bordering the Himalayas. Ajay finds the country in a state of civil war between Kyrat’s Royal Army led by the country’s eccentric and tyrannical king Pagan Min and the Golden Path, a rebel movement fighting to free Kyrat from Min’s oppressive rule. The choices Ajay makes will determine the fate of Kyrat. This story has been inspired by the ten-year-long Maoist insurgency in Nepal.
FarCry4 at 1080p puts a headlock on the XFX R9 380 4G DD which turned in a 33,9 FPS but lets see what happens at 1440p.
At 1440p FarCry 4 body slammed the GTX 980 bunch and politely told the XFX r9 390 4G to drop from ultra settings to high.Still just dropping a few ultra settings in FarCry 4 is pretty good for the XFX R9 380 as for the GTX 960’s we had to set everything to low and even then we got some flipping frames and drag.
FarCry 4 Settings |
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| 1080p | 1440p |
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Metro Last Light
Metro: Last Light is the sequel to Metro 2033. Published by Ukrainian game studio 4A Games, it is set in the same post-apocalyptic future as its predecessor, where mankind tries to survive in the underground of Moscow’s Metro. The story takes you through claustrophobic tunnels where you fight both humans and mutants. Each step takes you closer toward revealing a dark future and the possibility to prevent it.
Just like in the last title, the 4A Engine is used. It fully supports DirectX 11, Tessellation and Physics, we test with Physics turned off.
Metro Last Light treated the XFX r9 280 4g pretty good and it turned in 42.24 FPS easily
At 1440p very high quality Metro LLÂ was kicking some butt on FPS ans the XFX r9 380 4G hit 25.FPS but for fun we dropped settings a little and the XFX R9 380 ran the bench fine with relaxed settings.
Metro: Last Light Settings |
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| 1080p | 1440p |
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CRYSIS 3
Crysis 3 is the Fourth installment in the Crysis series. It is was released on February 19th, 2013 in North America, and February 21st in Europe. It was made using CryENGINE 3 and published by Electronic Arts.
Just an editorial note, Crysis 3 running CryEngine 3 at very high settings kills the FPS of GPU’s so badly no real comparison can be made so we use medium settings. When EA catches up with reality and better optimizes the game we’ll gladly retest at Uber High Settings.
Crysis 3 is the only game we have backed off settings and we backed them off to medium. until EA gets a clue the very high settings are just to demanding to make any comparison worth doing. On Medium settings the XFX R9 380 4G DD turned in a 45.5 FPS which is slightly behind a couple of the 960’s but we wanted to keep the GPU;s grouped by type/
Kick the resolution up to 1440 and the XFX R9 380 4G DD tops out at 34.1 between 8 and 9 FPS ahead of the GTX 960 pack.
Crysis 3 Settings |
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1080p |
1440p |
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I really hate your forced smooth scrolling on the website. It’s awful.
Yeah
“Lets just say we were happy with the noise levels and PowerColors Split fan design really delivers in cooling and sound suppression.”
FYI – You might want to check that sentence.
Nice Review and agree this is a card many should gravitate toward if on 3-5 year run @1080p, and believing in the near term they could see a 1440p panel on there desktop!
Now lets hope panel manufactures can start offering in 1440p panels with FreeSync (nothing all that fancy) for more like $350 and give folks a nudge.
How can you test PC products, which rely on heat, in a desert climate? These results are skewed so much. Most reviews give praise to the XFX’s cooling. Your overclocks are complete garbage. Maybe because…mmm. You’re in the desert?
Before you write a review make sure you list that your climate is absolutely ridiculous in comparison to every other person who would purchase this card.