Testing – Full Games
Here we are, then! Real-world, real performance, reliable information on how the ASUS GeForce GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II Top is going to perform. Whenever I read hardware reviews, this is my favorite section, simply because it conveys just how good (or perhaps not so) the card really is.

Onwards!

Battlefield 3
Remaining one of the most popular games of 2012, Battlefield 3 is both pretty and extremely fun. Online play is stellar with a multitude of game modes, DLC packs, and weapons, keeping the gameplay fresh and exhilarating at every turn.

We set the graphics preset to Ultra and benchmarked a selection of the first “real” mission of the game, Operation Swordbreaker. We chose this sequence because it is constant.  By choosing a small constant sequence (real gameplay, though, no cutscenes!), we’re able to accurately compare graphics card performance between models.

Here is the benchmarking sequence:

Here’s the results:

Metro 2033
Ahh, Metro. Metro 2033 is a first person shooter/survival horror game, based on the book of the same name by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Set in a post-nuclear Moscow, there are tons of elements to the game that can absolutely annihilate your hardware.. which is why we chose it. It is one of if not the most hardware intensive game available.

Set to DirectX 11 settings at a 1920×1080 resolution, “High” quality preset, MSAA 4x, AF 16x with DOF (Depth of Field) On. We make sure PhysX is disabled in order to provide a fair playing field for AMD GPU’s.

We use Metro 2033’s built-in Benchmarking tool to do this for us, it keeps everything constant for fair and accurate benchmarking and graphics card comparison.

Crysis II
Next up is Crysis II, the successor to the hugely popular Crysis (obviously.) Crysis was an extremely hardware intensive game when it was released, demanding even for the most high-end gaming machines at the time. But then came Crysis II. Although the game itself was not as popular as its predecessor, by utilizing CryEngine 3, it pushed your hardware just as hard – if not harder – than the original game.

We used a modified benchmarking.bat file that does a time demo through the Liberty level.  The test is run twice and FPS is recorded.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The depth of Bethesda’s latest offering is staggering. A true open world, with the ability to pursue whatever quest line you wish, in whatever order you wish.. or maybe you just want to run off and kill things; you can do that too. Everything you see in Skyrim you can explore, and if you set the draw distance to maximum you can see quite a bit.

Set at the ultra preset, at a 1920×1080 resolution with Depth of Field enabled, we chose to benchmark the opening sequence. We chose this for the same reasons we chose the other scenes – consistency. As the cart always moves throughout the same terrain, with the same weather, characters and forestry, the scene is always the same. We used FRAPS for 180 seconds (3 minutes.)

Here is the scene:

The results: