Test System
- NZXT Beta Case
- AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.6 GHz
- Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler
- OCZ ModXStream 700W PSU
- Windows 7 64-bit
- Catalyst 11.6 drivers
Benchmarks
In order to get an idea of the cards capabilities, it was run through a range of both synthetic and gaming benchmarks that show off its DX11 and DX10 performance.
- 3DMark 11
- 3DMark Vantage
- Unigine 2.5
- DiRT 3
- Just Cause 2
- Metro 2033
- Aliens vs. Predator
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat
Synthetic Benchmarks
3DMark 11:
3DMark 11 is the newest benchmark in the popular 3DMark line following the successful 3DMark Vantage. 3DMark 11 incorporates the new graphical features provided by DirectX 11 and is capable of bringing any modern card to its knees.
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On the left we have the score from the performance setting. This setting runs the benchmark at 720p with most settings on medium. It is intended for most gaming PCs.
On the right is the score from the extreme setting. This benchmark is run at 1080p with everything maxed. It is intended for high-end gaming PCs.
The Sapphire 6950 DiRT 3 Edition performed well in the performance benchmark with a score of 4456. In the extreme setting however it lagged horribly and scored only 1401 marks. But considering the extreme setting is intended for absolute top of the line machines with multiple graphics cards, that score can not be held against it.
3DMark Vantage:
3DMark Vantage is the industry standard performance benchmark for DirectX 10 gaming PCs. Even though this is not the latest benchmark from Futurmark, it is still very intensive and gives a good representation of DX10 performance.
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On the left is the score from the performance setting. The 6950 scored a very high 17393 marks. The benchmark ran smoothly with fps rarely if ever dropping below 30.
The right side score is from the extreme setting. Even with this older benchmark the 6950 struggled to hold a smooth framerate and often dropped below 15 fps. The final score was 9974.
Unigine Heaven 2.5:
Unigine Heaven was the first DX11 benchmark to debut back in 2009. It is still considered the go to benchmark to show off the capabilities of DirectX 11.
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The benchmark was run at 1920 x 1080 on the high preset. The 6950 was able to play through the benchmark with very little lag, maintaining an average fps of 38.4.
