MSI N280GTX SUPER OC review

Page 5 - Testing methods

For the video card testing purposes we choose powerful enough rig, allowing us to use the cards at their full potential. Those are the rig's details::

• Motherboard: ASUS P5K-E WiFi
• CPU: Intel C2D E8500 @ 4GHz (8x500)
• Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P
• RAM: A-Data 2x2GB DDR800 @ DDR1000 12-5-5-5
• Hard drive 1: Western Digital Raptor 10 000RPM 36GB
• Hard drive 2: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 320GB
• PSU: GlacialPower AL 650A
• Monitor: Belinea o.display 4_24" LCD 1920x1200

For the testing Windows Vista Ultimate x64 was used, with the simple purpose to be able to use all the 4GB RAM memory. Cards were tested with the latest drivers available on the according AMD and NVIDIA websites at the time of the review, namely - ATI Catalyst 8.8 for the AMD ATI video cards, NVIDIA ForceWare 175.19 for 8800GT and NVIDIA ForceWare 177.41 for 260GTX/280GTX. The list of the cards tested is as follows:

• GeForce 280GTX
• GeForce 280GTX
• GeForce 260GTX
• GeForce 9800 GT
• Radeon R4870 512MB
• Radeon HD4850 512MB
• Radeon HD3870X2

The list with tests is based firstly on modern and popular games, most of which with DirectX 10 effects support, using the full video card potential and revealing how in reality do they compare to each other. Each game and benchmark was updated to the most recen available version.

• Crysis v1.2.1 (DirectX 10)
• World in Conflict v1.009 (DirectX 10)
• Unreal Tournament 3 v1.2 (DirectX 10)
• Enemy Territory Quake Wars v1.5 (OpenGL)
• PT Boats: Knights of the Sea (DirectX 10)
• Devil May Cry 4 (DirectX 10)
• Furmark v1.3 (OpenGL)
• 3DMark Vantage (DirectX 10)

Tests were ran at the most popular gaming resolutions: 1280x1024, 1680x1050, 1920x1200, at different details settings, filtration and anti-aliasing with each test in order to show what exactly is to be expected in certain mode and to reveal the weak and powerful sides of each card.