When building a system to test a graphics card, it is important that the rest of the system is suitable for the hardware on review, especially to minimise any possible CPU limiting. For this review we would assume that the majority of people buying a GTX 480 AMP! will have a very high end system.
We will be comparing the GTX 480 against the top end AMD boards as well as nVidia’s high end ‘last’ generation.
Zotac GTX480 AMP! Edition
Zotac GTX 480
Intel Core i7 980X
Asus Rampage III Extreme Motherboard
XFX 5870 1GB Black Edition
AMD reference 5870 1GB
AMD reference 4870 X2
nVidia reference GTX 295
nVidia reference GTX 285
(3×2GB) 6GB Crucial 1600mhz Ballistix Tracer
LaCie 730 30 inch LED screen
Coolit ECO A.L.C. (Review)
Enermax 1250W Revolution PSU
160GB Intel SSD
Silverstone Raven 2 Chassis
Thermal Diodes
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Windows 7 64bit Ultimate Edition – all latest patches/updates
Catalyst 10.6 Driver
ForceWare 257.21
Fraps Professional
Aliens V Predator
Metro 2033
Grand Theft Auto 4: Episodes from Liberty City
Colin McRae Dirt 2
Napoleon: Total War
Far Cry 2
The system was built from scratch and all drivers updated – all our results are gathered from five individual runs to analyze and remove any possible result abnormalities.