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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 SLI Performance Analysis

By Kenny Yeo - 10 Dec 2010

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 SLI Performance Analysis

Doubling the Performance

The GeForce GTX 570 effectively replaces the old GeForce GTX 480 and we must say that it is a very decent high-end offering from NVIDIA. It may not be faster than the model it replaces, but it runs markedly cooler and is also less power hungry thanks to a better optimized core and a custom design vapor chamber cooler. And at US$349, the GeForce GTX 570 is decently priced too, bridging the gap between the uber expensive GeForce GTX 580 and its lesser brethren like the GeForce GTX 470, GTX 460 and so on. If you haven’t checked out our review, we suggest you do so by clicking here.

To follow up, we’ll be taking a look at how the GeForce GTX 570 performs in a 2-way SLI configuration. NVIDIA claims that the GeForce GTX 570 will scale in performance well, and judging from our past experiences, we have no reasons not to believe their claims.

Test Setup

To evaluate the GeForce GTX 570’s performance in a 2-way SLI configuration, we will be using our X58 setup which has the following specifications:

  • Intel Core i7-975 (3.33GHz)
  • Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P motherboard
  • 3 x 1GB DDR3-1333 G.Skill memory in triple channel mode
  • Seagate 7200.10 200GB SATA hard drive
  • Windows 7 Ultimate

960 CUDA cores of pure, unadulterated graphics horsepower. But what kind of performance can we expect? Read on to find out.

This time, we’ll be paying attention to how much gain in performance you can get by adding another GeForce GTX 570 to the system. Also, it’ll be interesting to see how the it will match up against the new Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 in 2-way CrossFire.

The full list of cards and driver versions tested:

  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 2-way SLI (ForceWare 263.09)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 (ForceWare 263.09)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1560MB GDDR5 (ForceWare 262.99)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 1560MB GDDR5 (ForceWare 260.89)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1280MB GDDR5 (ForceWare 263.09)
  • AMD Radeon HD 6870 2-way CrossFireX (Catalyst 10.10)
  • AMD Radeon HD 6850 2-way CrossFireX (Catalyst 10.10)
  • ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB GDDR5 (Catalyst 10.9)

The list of benchmark used are as follows:

  • Futuremark 3DMark Vantage
  • Crysis Warhead
  • Far Cry 2
  • Warhammer: Dawn of War 2
  • Battlefield Bad Company 2
  • “Heaven" from Unigine v2.1
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
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