Configuration:
A system with the following components was used to test the
Sparkle GeForce 9800 GTX+ graphics card:
»
ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution X48 ATX motherboard
» Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 dual core processor (at 3.2GHz)
»
G.Skill 4GB DDR3-1600 Pi Series dual channel memory kit (at 1600MHz and 7-7-7-18)
» Maxtor MaxLine III 250GB SATA 3Gbps hard drive
» TSST Super WriteMaster optical drive
»
Nesteq EECS 700 Watt ultra quiet power supply
Initially, the drivers found on the CD included with the card were installed onto the test system described above running Windows Vista Home Premium (32-Bit). The interface Sparkle developed is rather crude and outdated, but it will help you get up and running without too much effort. I wasn't sure what GeForce drivers were being installed though, so I loaded up GPU-Z to get a confirmation, as well as a look at the specifications.
ForceWare version 177.83 was what the CD included, and after the time it took to capture the two screenshots above, I removed this software and installed ForceWare 181.22 (the most current at the time testing was started).
Testing:
For comparison purposes, the 512MB
Sparkle GeForce 9800 GTX+ was tested against the following four other cards:
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Sapphire 512MB Ultimate Radeon HD4670
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Sapphire 512MB Radeon HD4830
»
Leadtek 896MB Limited WinFast GTX260 EXTREME+
»
Sapphire Toxic 512MB Radeon HD4850
The tests to be executed include one synthetic benchmark, four benchmarks included with DirectX 10 capable 3D games, some power consumption testing, and thermal testing. Each card was run through the following tests, and the system was rebooted between each run.
» FutureMark 3DMark Vantage
» Devil May Cry
» World in Conflict
» Call of Juarez
» Company of Heroes - Opposing Fronts
» Power Consumption Testing
» Thermal Testing
