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To test today we are using our long standing Core i7 970 system, which is overclocked. We have a variety of hardware benchmarked on this system this year which will make for an interesting market comparison.
Main Test System:
Processor: Core i7 970 @ 4.6ghz
Graphics: Sparkle Calibre X680 Captain
Cooling: Coolit Vantage
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10 GT
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200
Memory: 6GB ADATA @ 2133mhz 9-10-9-32
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB Gen 2 SSD (Storage) / Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (OS boot)
Monitor: Dell U3011.
We also change the system later in the review to test Eyefinity across three 24 inch screens.
Ultra High End System (For 3 screen testing):
Processor: Core i7 3960 X Extreme Edition @ 4.6ghz
Cooler: Antec 920 H20
Memory: 16GB G.Skill 2,400mhz @ 10-11-10-30
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme
Power Supply: Enermax Platimax 1200W
Optical Drive: Asus BluRay Drive
Chassis: Lian Li PC-A77FR Aluminium Red Full Tower Case
Boot Drive: Patriot WildFire 120GB
Secondary Drive: 1TB Samsung
Monitors: Dell U2410 x 3.
Comparison Cards:
Asus GTX680
Asus GTX670 Direct CU II TOP
Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition (1200mhz core)
HD7970
HIS HD7970 IceQX² Turbo
HIS HD7950 IceQ
MSI R7950 Twin Frozr III 3GD5/OC
HD7950
Sapphire HD7870 Overclock Edition
HD7870
HD7850
HD6990 (880 core)
HD6970
HD6950
HD6870
Sapphire HD7770 Vapor X Overclock Edition
XFX HD7770 Black Edition S CFx
HD7770 CFx
HD7770
Sapphire HD7750 Ultimate Edition
HD6790
GTX590 SLi
GTX590
GTX580 SLi
GTX580
GTX570
Software:
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark
Games:
Alien V Predator
Tom Clancy HAWX 2
Resident Evil 5
Far Cry 2
F1 2011
Total War: Shogun 2
Battlefield 3
Dirt Showdown
All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.
Some game descriptions are edited from Wikipedia.
Wasn’t expecting this. I dont see anyone in UK stocking these however?
unusual design for a high end card. never really heard of the company to be honest. far east brand?
I always wondered why this design wasn’t used more often (fans under cooler). it should in theory lower noise as the main fan noise is behind a rack of fins and air will be sucked in. good idea.
Are Sparkle linked to Gainward? the cooler looks very like the phantom cooler they had out a while ago. (was a good cooler, not a bad thing).
very impressive card, would you guys say its better than the KFA2 3 fan cards though?
Thats a good question. If you like the KFA2 white PCB and want the slightly higher clocks then they are good options. They are slightly louder and more expensive however.
One of my good friends once told me that Sparkle and Gainward are a sister company. I believe him now.
Thank you all for reading the review, can I clarify that Sparkle are an independent company and in no way related to Gainward.
The use of similar coolers in pure coincidence
Sparkle are an independent company and in no way related to Gainward.