Testing methodology
New GT 640 on the left, extant on the right.
System setup |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel |
AMD |
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Core i7-4770K |
Core i5-4670K |
Core i7-3770K |
Core i5-3570K |
Core i3-3225 |
Core i7-2700K |
Core i5-2500K |
A10-6800K |
A10-6700 |
A10-5800K |
A10-5700 |
|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Z87-D3HP |
Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H |
Gigabyte F2-A85X-UP4 |
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| BIOS | F4 |
F14 |
F4 |
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| Chipset Driver | Intel Inf 9.4.0.101 and IMEI 9 |
AMD Catalyst 13.6 |
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| DDR3 Memory | G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2 x 4GB) |
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| Memory Timings | 11-11-11-30-2T @ 2,133MHz |
11-11-11-30-2T @ 1,866MHz |
11-11-11-30-2T @ 2,133MHz |
11-11-11-30-2T @ 2,133MHz |
11-11-11-30-2T @ 1,866MHz |
11-11-11-30-2T @ 2,133MHz |
11-11-11-30-2T @ 1,866MHz |
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| Integrated Graphics | HD 4600 |
HD 4600 |
HD 4000 |
HD 4000 |
HD 4000 |
HD 3000 |
HD 3000 |
HD 8670D |
HD 8670D |
HD 7660D |
HD 7660D |
| Discrete Graphics | Gainward GT 640 GK208 (ForceWare 326.41) Gainward GT 640 GK107 (ForceWare 326.41) Sapphire Radeon HD 7730 1GB (Catalyst 13.8 beta) AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB (Catalyst 13.8 beta) |
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| Disk Drive | Samsung 840 Pro 250GB |
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| Optical Drive | Sony AD-7263S |
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| Chassis | Corsair Graphite 600T |
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| Power Supply | Corsair AX750 |
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| Operating System | Windows 8 64-bit |
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IGP Benchmarks |
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| 3DMark Vantage | DX10, run at the default performance preset | ||||||||||
| 3DMark 11 | DX11, run with the performance preset | ||||||||||
| 3DMark | DX11, Fire Strike benchmark | ||||||||||
| BioShock Infinite | DX9, 1,280x720 and 1,920x1,080 medium quality | ||||||||||
| DiRT Showdown | DX9, 1,280x720 and 1,920x1,080 medium quality | ||||||||||
| Just Cause 2 | DX9, 1,280x720 and 1,920x1,080 medium quality | ||||||||||
Miscellaneous Benchmarks |
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| General purpose | LuxMark OpenCL using HDR Ball test and Bitcoining using GPUMiner front-end (discrete GPUs only) | Power Consumption | While idling and when running DiRT Showdown | ||||||||
Notes
This system setup page is somewhat different than usual. We believe it makes most sense to compare the performance of the two GT 640s against the latest integrated graphics available on Intel and AMD CPUs. Doing so allows us to determine whether spending an extra £50-60 for a discrete card is worth it for folk who have built inexpensive PCs based around IGPs.
We have some of the best integrated graphics of 2013 - Intel 'Haswell' HD 4600 and AMD 'Richland' HD 8670D - versus entry-level discrete cards that have been tested on the Core i7-3770K platform.