NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 Review

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Battlefield 3 (DX11)

Battlefield 3 (DX11)

For this benchmark, we used a sequence from the Rock and Hard Place mission. The results may seem lower than normal and this is due to the fact that after playing through the game multiple times, this one area was found to be the most demanding on the GPU. As with all of the tests, we try to find a worst case scenario in order to ensure a given card can properly play through the whole game instead of just a “typical” section.

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Crysis 2 (DX11)

Crysis 2 (DX11)

Crysis 2 with the DX11 and Texture Package installed not only looks great but it is a strain on any GPU. For this benchmark, we used a classic runthrough which includes far views, explosions, combat and close-in knifing; basically every hallmark of gameplay.

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Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DX11)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DX11)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution may not be the hardest game for today’s high end gaming rigs to render. While the game mostly takes place indoors, it is the few outdoor areas that put additional strain on graphics cards. So for this test, we use one of the more involved outdoor sections: the Sharif Manufacturing Loading Docks.

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Dirt 3 (DX11)

Dirt 3 (DX11)

Dirt 3 isn’t all that much different from its predecessor but the developers have added a few more visual touches but boost image quality. In this case, we used the Michigan Rally track since it features some of the hardest to render features of the game: expansive vistas, water, dirt effects, trees and many other items.

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Metro 2033 (DX11)

Metro 2033 (DX11)

For this test we use a walkthrough and combat scene from The Bridge level which starts at the beginning of the level and lasts for about 3 minutes of walking, running and combat. Famerates are measured with FRAPS and Advanced PhysX is turned off.

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Even though the AMD cards provide excellent performance in Metro 2033, when in Crossfire their display output shows a slight flickering across the screen. Since this is not detrimental to the overall gaming experience, we have decided to give them a pass here.

 

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Shogun 2: Total War (DX11)

Shogun 2: Total War (DX11)

Due to its very nature, Shogun 2 is a tough game to benchamark since the in-game tool doesn’t accurately convey an in-game experience. So we took a pre-recorded battle which pits three large armies against one another and includes camera zooms, fog, gun smoke and other items. Using a pre-recorded sequence also effectively removes the CPU from the equation since it doesn’t have to process AI.

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NVIDIA’s performance in Shogun 2 has undergone a seesaw experience from one driver revision and patch to another. Back when the GTX 680 first launched, it displayed excellent performance in this game but a major patch rolled out on March 22nd seems to have kneecapped framerates across the entire GeForce product range. Scaling from a single card to the GTX 690 remains excellent but AMD absolutely dominates here. We’re told that NVIDIA is actively trying to replicate and address the issue. Considering the quick response they’ve shown to other issues in the past, we have confidence that a solution will be found and rolled out as soon as possible.

 

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The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (DX9)

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (DX9)

Being one of the most popular and best looking RPG games released in the last few years, Skyrim needed to be included in our reviews, regardless of the fact that it uses an older DX9 rendering engine. For our test sequence we used a typical runthrough interspersed with some combat. A modded .ini file along with the official high resolution texture pack was used in order to ensure image quality was up to expectations.

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Wargame: European Escalation (DX11)

Wargame: European Escalation (DX11)

[/I]This may not be the most popular game on the market but through its DX11 rendering path it can display some amazing visuals. For our benchmark we used a combination of wide angle zooming, close quarters combat and camera pans in order to simulate as many in-game scenarios as possible.[/I]


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This is a game that neither AMD nor NVIDIA claim as their own and both provide reasonable performance across the board. However, the SLI setups experienced in-game flickering at certain zoom levels. Luckily, this didn’t impede gameplay and was only a minor nuisance when zooming in from a high vantage point to lower levels. NVIDIA’s response to this has been lightning quick and an SLI profile update should be available through NVIDIA Update or with the SLI Profile Updater you read this review.

 

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The Witcher 2 (DX9)

The Witcher 2 (DX9)

The Witcher 2 may be a DX9 based game but its graphics quality is beyond reproach. In this benchmark we take an area out of The Kayran mission and include one of the toughest effects the graphics engine has in store for the GPU: rain. Throughout this sequence, rain plays a large part but explosions, combat and even some sun shafts are included as well.

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The Witcher 2 has presented a host of problems for AMD cards, particularly now that the Enhanced Edition has been distributed. Let’s start with the obvious first: we couldn’t get a pair of HD 7970s in Crossfire to work in this game. After about 15 seconds of playing on numerous levels, the game crashed to an unrecoverable black screen, which made benchmarking impossible. As such we had no choice but to fail the Crossfire results until AMD can address this situation. In addition, AMD’s Eyefinity profiles don’t currently support this game, even with a modded application .inf file.

 

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Taking Image Quality to the Next Level

Taking Image Quality to the Next Level

In this section we take a number of games we have tested previously in this review and bring things to the next level by pushing the in-game settings to the highest possible level. All other methodologies remain the same.


Batman: Arkham City

Crysis 2

Dirt 3

Metro 2033