by Rob Williams on June 17, 2014 in Graphics & Displays
On the lookout for a gaming GPU at around the $250 mark? Need it to handle games at 1080p in great detail or 1440p at good detail? EVGA has a solution for both of those needs. It comes to us in the form of the GeForce GTX 760 Superclocked – complete with ACX cooler. Read on to see how it compares to NVIDIA’s reference model.
For about as long as GPU-accelerated games have existed, an ideal performance target has been 60 frames-per-second. Owing thanks to this is the standard 60Hz monitor, which delivers its best result when the framerate matches its refresh rate. To make sure the monitor’s refresh rate and game’s framerate keep aligned, to avoid visible tearing, VSync should be enabled.
While I believe our Best Playable results will appeal to any gamer, they could especially prove useful to those intrigued by livingroom gaming or console replacements. The goal here is simple: With each game, the graphics settings are tweaked to deliver the best possible detail while keeping us as close to 60 FPS on average as possible.
Because our Metro Last Light and Total War: SHOGUN 2 tests are timedemos, and because this kind of testing is time-consuming, I am sticking to six out of the eight games I test with for inclusion here.
|
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag |
|
Minimum |
Average |
EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC |
46 |
57 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 1920×1080 |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 |
48 |
59 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 1920×1080 |
Both GTX 760s can handle AC IV: Black Flag just fine at 1080p with ambient occlusion turned off. For some reason, EVGA’s card scored a bit lower, but that’s due to this being a manual run rather than a timedemo (it’s not that I’m poor at manually benchmarking; rather, it’s the fact that the game has many variables that come into play from one run to the next).
|
Battlefield 4 |
|
Minimum |
Average |
EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC |
45 |
61 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 2560×1440 |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 |
45 |
61 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 2560×1440 |
With the reference-clocked GTX 760, I put all settings on High and disabled AA and AO. On EVGA’s card, I was able to enable SSAO while retaining the exact same framerate. Also, unlike AC IV, I was able to stick to the top 1440p resolution with BF 4.
|
Crysis 3 |
|
Minimum |
Average |
EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC |
43 |
63 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 1920×1080 |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 |
39 |
61 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 1920×1080 |
It might not come as a huge surprise, but running Crysis 3 at 1440p on a $250 graphics card is hard. So hard, that I decided to bump down to 1080p and retain those High detail settings. For 1440p to become truly playable, you’ll need to disable too much.
|
GRID 2 |
|
Minimum |
Average |
EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC |
55 |
62 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 2560×1440 |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 |
61 |
68 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 2560×1440 |
At 60+ FPS, both GTX 760s handle GRID 2 great at 1440p, although EVGA’s card allowed me to boost the Shadow quality to Ultra (from High).
|
Sleeping Dogs |
|
Minimum |
Average |
EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC |
61 |
73 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 2560×1440 |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 |
54 |
66 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 2560×1440 |
As with most GPUs I’ve run through the Best Playable gauntlet, Sleeping Dogs is best-played when the anti-aliasing is degraded to Normal. Admittedly, this is just fine, since the game’s AA implementation is junk, at best.
|
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist |
|
Minimum |
Average |
EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC |
52 |
65 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 2560×1440 |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 |
48 |
59 |
Graphics Settings
& Ingame ScreenshotResolution: 2560×1440 |
Wrapping-up, both GTX 760s handle the same graphical details, but as expected, EVGA’s card gives the FPS a little boost.