So over the last two weeks I have taken a look at two different R7 370’s and two GTX 950’s so this week I’m going to pair them up and see just how good they perform in dual card configurations. Today I will start off the testing by testing and looking at how the two R7 370’s perform when in Crossfire. As with all of our Crossfire and SLI articles, this is not a review as I have already tested and reviewed both cards individually. So all I’m doing today is taking a quick look at what you can expect from two 370’s in Crossfire. Enjoy!
Product Names: Sapphire Nitro R7 370 4GB and Asus R7 370 Strix 4GB
Review Samples Provided by: Sapphire and AMD
Written by: Wes
Pictures by: Wes
Amazon Links: Sapphire and Asus
Our Test Rig and Procedures
Our Test Rig | ||
CPU | Intel i7-3960X | Live Pricing |
Memory | Corsair Vengeance 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM Quad Channel (4x4GB) | Live Pricing |
Motherboard | Asus Rampage IV X79 Motherboard | Live Pricing |
Cooling | Intel Active Thermal Solution RTS2011LC | Live Pricing |
Power Supply | Cooler Master Gold Series 1200 Watt PSU | Live Pricing |
Storage | Kingston Hyper X 3K 240GB SSD | Live Pricing |
Case | High Speed PC Test Bench | Live Pricing |
Our Testing Procedures | |
3DMark | The same goes for the most current version of 3DMark using the Fire Strike benchmark in normal, extreme, and ultra settings |
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 | Using the “Extreme” preset |
Unigine Valley Benchmark 1.0 | Using the Extreme HD preset to get an average FPS |
Bioshock Infinite | Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Bioshock Infinite on the “Xtreme” quality setting. This has a resolution of 1920x1080, FXAA turned on, Ultra Texture detail, 16x Aniso Texture Filtering, Ultra Dynamic Shadows, Normal Postprocessing, Light Shafts on, Ambient Occlusion set to ultra, and the Level of Detail set to Ultra as well. We also run this same test at 2560x1440 using the same settings as mentioned above. |
Tomb Raider | Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Tomb Raider on the “Xtreme” quality setting. This has a resolution of 1920x1080, Exclusive Fullscreen turned on, Anti-Aliasing set to 2xSSAA, Texture Quality set to Ultra, Texture Aniso set to 16x Aniso, Hair Quality set to TressFX, Shadow set to Normal, Shadow Resolution on High, Ultra SSAO, Ultra Depth of Field, High Reflection quality, Ultra LOD scale, Post Processing On, High Precision RT turned on, and Tessellation is also turned on. We also run this same test at 2560x1440 using the same settings as mentioned above. |
Hitman: Absolution | Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Hitman: Absolution on the “Xtreme” quality setting other than the MSAA setting is turned down from 8x to 2x. That setting puts the resolution at 1920x1080, MSAA is set to 2x, Texture Quality is set to High, Texture Aniso is set to 16x, Shadows are on Ultra, SSA is set to high, Global Illumination is turned on, Reflections are set to High, FXAA is on, Level of Detail is set to Ultra, Depth of Field is high, Tessellation is turned on, and Bloom is set to normal. We also run this same test at 2560x1440 using the same settings as mentioned above, except on the “high” setting. |
Sleeping Dogs | Using the Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool we run Sleeping Dogs on the “Xtreme” quality setting. That means our resolution is set to 1920x1080, Anti-Aliasing is set to Extreme, Texture Quality is set to High-Res, Shadow Quality is High, Shadow Filter is set to high, SSAO is set to High, Motion Blur Level is set to High, and World Density is set to Extreme. We also run this same test at 2560x1440 using the same settings as mentioned above. |
F1 2014 | We use the built in benchmark for F1 2014. We use the Ultra setting and then test at 2560x1440 and 1920x1080 |
Total War: ROME II | Ultra setting tested at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440, built in forest benchmark |
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor | Using the built in benchmark we test with ultra settings at 1440p |
Sniper Elite 3 | Ultra setting tested at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440, built in benchmark |
GRID Autosport | Ultra setting tested at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440, built in benchmark |
Theif | Tested using the “Very High” setting at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 |
Folding @ Home | Using the Folding @ Home benchmark we test both single and double precision using the explicit result |
Cinebench R15 | OpenGL benchmark |
Unreal Heaven Benchmark 4.0 heat testing | We run through Unreal Heaven using the “Extreme” preset for 30 minutes to test in game cooling performance. |
Power Usage | Using Unreal Heaven Benchmark 4.0, we get our “load” power usage number from the peak power usage during our test. We get our numbers from a Kill-A-Watt connected to the test benches power cord. |
Noise Testing | Our Noise testing is done using a decibel meter 3 inches away from the video card on the bottom/fan side of the card. We test an idle noise level and then to get an idea of how loud the card will get if it warms all the way up we also turn the fan speed up to 50% and 100% and test both speeds as well. The 100% test isn’t a representation of typical in game noise levels, but it will show you how loud a card can be if you run it at its highest setting or if it gets very hot. |