Unigine
Hardware-based tessellation is a cornerstone of DirectX 11. The ability to efficiently generate massive geometry and then to apply what's known as a displacement map makes it a tasty technique for adding complexity and detail to a scene without a huge computational cost.
Unigine's Heaven 2.1 benchmark tests the ability of DX11 GPUs to provide varying levels of tessellation and extra in-benchmark detail.
Here's the standard benchmark run at 1,920x1,080 with 4x AA and 16x AF. Hover your mouse over the picture to see the difference between no tessellation and moderate tessellation.
We ran the DX11 cards through the benchmark/tessellation test at all four settings; disabled, moderate, normal and extreme.
Higher frequencies and a 'wider' geometry setup makes the GTX 580 easily faster than the GTX 480. In fact, it needs two GTX 460 GPUs in SLI to topple the '580 at 2,560x1,600.
| Comparison at 'Extreme' | GTX 480 | HD 5870 | HD 5970 |
| Faster/slower (per cent) | +17.5 | +100 | +24.6 |
The new GPU is almost 20 per cent faster than the GTX 480, double the speed of the HD 5870, and comfortably ahead of the HD 5970 here.