Test Methods
Benchmark testing where we use a scripted or specific benchmark utility that has no user interaction other than setting the graphics properties and hitting ‘start’. The utility then gives us a report of the relevant statistics.
We also only graph the average frame rates as minimum and maximum frame rates can be misleading.
The following tests were all reproducible or scripted or in-game benchmarks that are consistently executed without human intervention.
Futuremark Firestrike
We’ve moved on from the older 3DMark11 benchmarks that still hold relevance for some but the latest benchmarking tests from Futuremark give modern day GPUs a serious belting at the extreme , high end and mid-low end levels.
In these synthetic benchmarks, we see the AMD R9 380 edge out the more expensive GTX 960 with the 1080p Firestrike result the most telling.
Firestrike Ultra
Firestrike Ultra is first up and gives a good indication of how ‘4K-ready’ a GPU is.
Firestrike Extreme
Next up Firestrike Extreme is geared to test 2560×1440 gaming capability
Firestrike
Firestrike gives an indication of performance at 1080p
Skydiver
Finally we tested SkyDiver in the interests of completeness but the result is aimed at low end graphics platforms.
Unigine Heaven
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 Basic is one of the programs that we run to temperature test the cards and we also do a benchmark run during the process.
There isn’t much in it between the GTX960 and the R9 380 when it comes to Unigine and although the AMD card comes out slightly ahead, there really isn’t much in it.
Tomb Raider
For the in-game benchmarking utility, the following graphics settings were used
1920×1080 & 2560×1440, Motion Blur:On, Screen Effects:On, Quality: Ultimate,Texture Quality: Ultra,Texture Filter: Anisotropic 16X, Hair Quality: TRESSFX, Anti-Aliasing: FXAA Shadows: Normal, Shadow Resolution: High, Level of Detail: Ultra, Reflections: High, Depth of Field: Ultra, SSAO: Ultra, Post Processing: On, Tessellation: On, High Precision: On
Although TRESSFX is an AMD feature we had it enabled because gamers will want to enjoy it in this title and we have other benchmarks so it all evens out in the end.
Despite Tomb Raider being considered an ‘AMD friendly’ title, this one is also really close and there is less than 2 frames per second separating the GTX 960 and R9 380.d
Batman Arkham City
The settings used for the Arkham City in-game benchmark were:
1920×1080 & 2560×1440, V-Sync: Off, Anti-Aliasing: FXAA (High), Directx 11 Features: MVSS and HBAO, Dx11 Tessellation: Normal, Detail Level: Very High Dynamic Shadows: Yes, Motion Blur: Yes, Distortion: Yes, Lens Flares: Yes, Light Shafts: Yes, Reflections: Yes, Ambient Occlusion: Yes, Hardware Accelerated PhysX: Normal
The GTX 960 took the points in this round by a mere 3 frames per second at 1080p so again the trend of the cards being evenly matched continues.
Hitman Absolution
The following settings were used in the in-game benchmark:
1920×1080 & 2560×1440, MSAA:8x, Vsync: Off, Quality Setting: Ultra
This benchmark showed a more pronounced advantage to the R9 380 over the GTX 960 with 4.5 FPS at 1440p and 5FPS at 1080p. Whilst this margin isn’t huge, the average frame rates are relatively low compared to other games to 5FPS means more in this context.
Metro 2033
The benchmarking script for Metro 2033 was set using the following options
1920×1080 & 2560×1440, DX11, Quality: Very High, AA: MSAA 4X, Texture Filtering: AF 16X, Advanced PhysX: Disabled, Tessellation: Enabled, DOF: Enabled
Metro has tortured GPUs since it was released and it’s fair to say that in this case, both the GTX 960 and R9 380 perform on par with each other.
Bioshock Infinite
The in-game benchmark for Bioshock Infinite was set using the following options
1920×1080 & 2560×1440, DX11, All settings maxed out
In another close one, there is only 3FPS between the GTX 960 and R9 380 with the NVIDIA GTX 960 taking the points… just
Sniper Elite III
The in-game benchmark for Sniper Elite III was set using the following options
1920×1080 & 2560×1440, All settings maxed out
The R9 380 is about 5FPS faster than the GTX960 in Sniper Elite III but it isn’t really enough to be noticeable in game play.
GTA V
The in-game benchmark for GTA V was run using the following options
1920×1080 & 2560×1440, DX11, Tessellation: 3, ShadowQuality: 3, ReflectionQuality: 2, Reflection MSAA: 2, SSAO: 2, Anisotropic Filtering: 16x, MSAA: 2x, TextureQuality: 2, ParticleQuality: 2, WaterQuality: 2, GrassQuality: 2, ShaderQuality: 2, Soft Shadows: 1, UltraShadows_Enabled: false, Particle Shadows: on, Shadow Distance: 1, LongShadows: off, Reflection_MipBlur: on, FXAA Enabled, TXAA Disabled, Lighting_FogVolumes: true, Shader_SSA: true, PostFX: 2, DoF: off, MotionBlurStrength: off
Once again, we are seeing a close result with the R9 380 just edging out the GTX 960.
