Radeon HD 5750 1GB vs. Geforce GTX 460 1GB - Performance Comparison
Ok I finally managed to complete a set of tests with a Geforce card without burning anything
Setup
Graphics cards:
- Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 5750 1GB
- Gainward Geforce GTX 460 1GB GS
Adapter: PE4H v1.0 + EC2C
Connection: PCI-e 1.0 x1E (see notes here)
Power supply: 550W EZ Cool single rail ATX PSU, 400W Corsair 400CX single rail ATX PSU
Drivers: Catalyst 10.6, Forceware 258.96
Results
Observations- DirectX 9: the HD 5750 is generally the best performer but the gap is not as wide as the 3dmark06 scores would suggest. In the case of DiRT 2 and RE5, the GTX 460 even ends up being the fastest card.
- DirectX 10: The GTX 460 is the clear winner here with consistently better perfomance than the Radeon HD 5750.
- DirectX 11: Coming soon...
- x1 vs x1E: There is no significant difference in GTX 460 performance, confirming Nando's earlier results
Noise & Power consumption
The GTX 460 is a reasonably quiet card that still draws considerable power compared to the HD 5750 although nothing like the GTX 465 I previously tested. If noise and power consumption are high on your regards then a Radeon H57xx is still your best bet but for all round performance the GTX 460 seems like a great option for DIY Vidockers.
At first I've powered the card with a 550W EZ cool single rail PSU to ensure ample supply. Unfortunately, only recently I realized that this PSU has pretty poor reviews and is known for its unrealiability. I've now replaced it with a Corsair 400W 400CX single rail PSU that is 80 Plus certified - the difference in build quality and performance is palpable and well worth the extra money (around 30-40 quid). This PSU barely hums at all under load while the EZ Cool popped and whined under any sort strain.
I used a Wattage meter to measure the total power consumption of PE4H + GPU + PSU:
- Idle power consumption (laptop off): 20-25W
- Windows 7 Desktop (Aero): 25-32W
- Various gaming benchmarks: 88-125W
- Peak power consumption: 139W
I haven't stressed the GPU too hard yet (Furmark tests are next). The peak test was accomplished in DiRT 2 in one of the map screens - it's a basic 2D in 3D scene that is rendered at full speed (344 FPS) and uses low polygon shapes and limited textures. The GPU burns another 14W in this setting alone and generally draws more power when the framerate climbs to 60+ FPS. Perhaps enforcing VSYNC on all games is a way to limit power consumption so that a smaller PSU can be used to power the GTX 460 - I'll investigate this further.
Coming soon...- Completing BC2 tests
- Furmark tests for peak power consumption
- Fixing the 3dmark links