Performance tests

Testbed:

• Intel Core i7-975 3340 MHz CPU
• ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard on the Intel X58 chipset
• 6GB of 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM from Corsair
• WD Caviar SE WD1600JD 160GB SATA HDD
• Tagan TG900-BZ 900W PSU
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, DirectX 11
• 30" Dell 3007WFP monitor
• VSync disabled
• NVIDIA Drivers 270.61, AMD Catalyst 11.4 beta

Benchmarks:

• Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft) — DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0 (HDR), built-in benchmarking utility (the Middle level), maximum settings.
• Crysis Warhead (Crytek/EA) — Cargo, DirectX 10.0, Shaders 4.0, Very High settings, batch file, timedemo available by e-mail request.
• Colin McRae: DiRT 2 (Codemasters) — DirectX 11, Ultra High settings, run as follows: "dirt2.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml".
• Metro 2033 (4A Games/THQ) — DirectX 11, Super High settings, PhysX disabled, run from in game.
• Just Cause 2 (Avalanche Studios/Eidos Interactive) — DirectX 10.0, Super High settings, run from in game.
• Aliens vs. Predator (Rebellion/SEGA) — DirectX 11, Shaders 5.0, Very High settings, run from in game.
• F1 2010 (Codemasters) — DirectX 11, Ultra High settings, run as follows: "formulaone.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml". Game provided by NVIDIA.
• Tropics Benchmark 1.3 (Unigine) — DirectX 10.0, High settings.
• Heaven Benchmark 2.5 Pro (Unigine) — DirectX 11, High settings.
• 3DMark 11 (FutureMark) — DirectX 11, Performance settings.

We'd like to thank Unigine for helping us set up their benchmarks.

Only one of the four tested cards is slightly overclocked and that isn't enough to make a big difference. For this reason we provide standard diagrams from our i3DSpeed.

Final thoughts

Leadtek WinFast GTX 580 copies the reference design. The GTX 580 itself is the absolute champion among single-GPU graphics cards, outperforming even the dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 in some tests. However, you should watch prices, because the slightly slower Radeon HD 6970 may be cheaper to buy.

Leadtek WinFast GTX 570 is also a copy of the reference card. This model fits between GTX 480 and GTX 470: it's a combination of a GPU from the former with a memory bus from the latter. This solution should compete with Radeon HD 6970, but the latter is actually faster and has a better price/performance ratio.

Leadtek WinFast GTX 560 Ti GDDR5 is yet another copy of the reference card.

Leadtek WinFast GTX 550 Ti OC is more original than the previous three. It features a nice cooler and is more compact. The GTX 550 Ti model itself is a good update of GTS 450, with higher bandwidth and frequencies. Priced more like Radeon HD 6850 than HD 5770, GTX 550 Ti is outperformed by it in all our tests, even though it is officially positioned to compete with the latter (to which it sometimes loses as well).

We express gratitude to Leadtek for the provided graphics cards. The PSU is provided by TAGAN, the monitor is provided by NVIDIA.

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