Benchmarks: 570 gtx vs 970 gtx w/ Phenom ii x4 945

[Nightwing749]

I know, I'm way overdue for an upgrade. I recently bought a Zotac GTX 970 and 2500k earlier this week, however, I'm still shopping for a z68 or z77 board for the 2500k. So naturally, I installed the GTX 970 on my phenom x4 945 and ran some benchmarks.

The Test:
For the testing, I ran the phenom at a very stable overclock of 3.4 ghz. Same for my gtx 570 @840 mhz (I should of ran some stock benchmarks but I was too eager to install my new gtx 970). In my initial testing, I ran my gtx 970 at stock speeds because I felt my phenom x4 945 would bottleneck any noticeable gains. However, I eventually did overclock the gtx 970 @ 1450 mhz and saw some nice gains of an additonal 5-7 FPS.

Finally, I ran a few benchmarks with my Phenom 945 overclocked at it's max stable speed of 3.8 ghz with the 970 oc'd @ 1450 mhz. Interesting, I did not think the 1-2 additonal FPS was worth the cost of the phenom at max voltage in those final benchmarks.

The Test Setup
CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 945 (OC @ 3.4 Ghz)
OS:Windows 7 (Service Pack 1) 64bit
SDD: 840 EVO 250GB
RAM: 8GB (4 x 2GB) PC3-12800 (1600MHz) Kingston HyperX

The Graphic Cards:
GPU: EVGA Geforce GTX 570 (FTW SCC OC @840 mhz)
GPU: Zotac Geforce GTX 970 (Stock @1076 mhz) & ( OC'd @ 1450 mhz)

The Benchmarks:
Heaven 4.0
3dMark06
3dMark Vantage
3dMark11
3dMark (I'll post later)
Batman Arkham City (1080p Max settings; MSAA 8x)
Metro 2033 (1080p Max settings except: AF 4x, PhysX Off, DOF Off)
Metro 2033 (1080p Max settings with AF 16x, PhysX On, DOF On)

Heaven 4.0 (Phenom x4 945 3.4 ghz / GTX 570 OC 840 mhz / GTX 970 stock 1076 mhz)

3dMark06 (Phenom x4 945 3.4 ghz / GTX 570 OC 840 mhz / GTX 970 stock 1076 mhz)

3dMark Vantage (Phenom x4 945 3.4 ghz / GTX 570 OC 840 mhz / GTX 970 stock 1076 mhz)

3dMark11 (Phenom x4 945 3.4 ghz / GTX 570 OC 840 mhz / GTX 970 stock 1076 mhz)

Batman Arkham City: Settings

Batman Arkham City (1080p Max settings; MSAA 8x)

Metro 2033 (1080p Max settings except: AF 4x, PhysX Off, DOF Off)

Metro 2033 (1080p Max settings with AF 16x, PhysX On, DOF On)

OVERCLOCKING


Heaven 4.0 (GTX 970 oc'd @ 1450 mhz) (Phenom II x4 945 @ 3.4 ghz vs 3.8 ghz)

Metro 2033 (Phenom II x4 945 @ 3.4 ghz / GTX 970 oc'd @ 1450mhz)

Metro 2033 (Phenom II x4 945 @ 3.8 ghz / GTX 970 oc'd @ 1450mhz)

Thanks for reading. I'll post updates when I get the 2500k installed.

P.S. WTB Z68/Z77 board, PM if you have one laying around collecting dust. Thanks.

 

[Nightwing749]

spot saved for 2500k update.

 

[RamonGTP]

2500k while still a decent performing CPU is starting to show it's age in the more demanding games out there. I think you'll find you may be upgrading again before too long. I'd have aimed a little higher then a 5 year old CPU for an upgrade personally.

 

[MaZa]

2500k while still a decent performing CPU is starting to show it's age in the more demanding games out there. I think you'll find you may be upgrading again before too long. I'd have aimed a little higher then a 5 year old CPU for an upgrade personally.

Oh he will be fine as long as he just overclocks that beast to 4.7 or 4.8ghz. Who knows maybe he even has a golden chip that can be taken into 5.0ghz limit.

 

[Araxie]

2500k while still a decent performing CPU is starting to show it's age in the more demanding games out there. I think you'll find you may be upgrading again before too long. I'd have aimed a little higher then a 5 year old CPU for an upgrade personally.

+1 totally agree..

Oh he will be fine as long as he just overclocks that beast to 4.7 or 4.8ghz. Who knows maybe he even has a golden chip that can be taken into 5.0ghz limit.

not really even oc'd 5ghz at 1080P it will be a bottleneck in a lot of games.

 

[Nightwing749]

2500k while still a decent performing CPU is starting to show it's age in the more demanding games out there. I think you'll find you may be upgrading again before too long. I'd have aimed a little higher then a 5 year old CPU for an upgrade personally.

I completely agree, however, most of my budget went to the GTX 970. The 2500k is just a temporary solution, however, $150 for a 2500k + z77 is most bang for my buck! Considering there's little improvement over the 2500k for the 3570k or 4670k.

not really even oc'd 5ghz at 1080P it will be a bottleneck in a lot of games.

I highly doubt it and there's hundreds of reviews to prove you wrong and show the 2500k is still a beast.

Intel Core i5-4670K vs 3570K vs 2500K Gaming-Performance - CPUs > CPU Gaming Performance > 2013 - Reviews - ocaholic

Overall Index at max settings
4670k only marginally improved by 0.91% better than the 2500k with both OC'd at 4.5 ghz.
3570k only marginally improved by 0.90% better than the 2500k with both OC'd at 4.5 ghz.

>0.91% isn't worth an extra $150-200 for me and that's factoring I don't get my 2500k over 4.5 ghz. I'm way better off putting that money towards another 970 gtx for SLI.

 

[misterbobby]

I completely agree, however, most of my budget went to the GTX 970. The 2500k is just a temporary solution, however, $150 for a 2500k + z77 is most bang for my buck! Considering there's little improvement over the 2500k for the 3570k or 4670k.




I highly doubt it and there's hundreds of reviews to prove you wrong and show the 2500k is still a beast.

Intel Core i5-4670K vs 3570K vs 2500K Gaming-Performance - CPUs > CPU Gaming Performance > 2013 - Reviews - ocaholic

Overall Index at max settings
4670k only marginally improved by 0.91% better than the 2500k with both OC'd at 4.5 ghz.
3570k only marginally improved by 0.90% better than the 2500k with both OC'd at 4.5 ghz.

>0.91% isn't worth an extra $150-200 for me and that's factoring I don't get my 2500k over 4.5 ghz. I'm way better off putting that money towards another 970 gtx for SLI.

You can doubt that all you want but he is right for some games. I had a 2500k at 4.4 and it was pegged in several games and actually stuttered a bit at times especially in Watch Dogs. Crysis 3 sees a massive increase in spots as parts that were in the mid 40s are now well over 60. Heck when digitalfoundry was testing the 6600k they even said it was getting maxed out and stuttering at times too where as the 6700k was not. People are living in a fantasy land thinking an i5 can always fully push a high end gpu in all games now. Ignorance is bliss though.

 

[Nightwing749]

You can doubt that all you want but he is right for some games. I had a 2500k at 4.4 and it was pegged in several games and actually stuttered a bit at times especially in Watch Dogs. Crysis 3 sees a massive increase in spots as parts that were in the mid 40s are now well over 60. Heck when digitalfoundry was testing the 6600k they even sad it was getting maxed out and stuttering at times too where as the 6700k was not. People are living in a fantasy land thinking an i5 can fully push a high end gpu in all games now. Ignorance is bliss though.

Of couse a 6700k will out perform a 2500k, that's a 6th generation i7 and $400! I don't think you read my entire reply and/or missed my point. The 2500k is only a $75 temporary solution and with my current funds it's the best bang for my buck. I also highly doubt it will "be a bottleneck in a lot of games." Maybe a select few but not "a lot."

 

[misterbobby]

Of couse a 6700k will out perform a 2500k, that's a 6th generation i7 and $400! I don't think you read my entire reply and/or missed my point. The 2500k is only a $75 temporary solution and with my current funds it's the best bang for my buck. I also highly doubt it will "be a bottleneck in a lot of games." Maybe a select few but not "a lot."

Yes its not that many games but it would drive me crazy as I bought a high end gpu and want games to be smooth. Just disabling HT on my 4770k makes my cpu become fully pegged in several games that I own. It keeps me from even maintaining 60 fps at times which again would drive me nuts since I use vsync. The worst culprit by far is Watch Dogs as its not even what I consider playable in some spots when I disable HT on my 4770k with hitches and stutters.

You have a 970 so you are likely to avoid most of the issues since you will be gpu bound much more often.