Today we are testing a range of CPU’s with the GeForce GTX 280, to try and determine what kind of processing power is required to power Nvidia’s flagship graphics card. In total there are 40 CPU configurations tested, including processors from the Intel Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo series, along with a number of AMD Phenom X4 and Athlon64 X2 processors...
Recently we conducted a similar series of tests using the new Radeon HD 4870 X2, and the results were certainly very interesting. Past tests using Core 2 Duo processors with the GeForce 8800 GTX did not show much of a performance difference when going from 1.60GHz to 3.33GHz for example. However a similar frequency range when using the Radeon HD 4870 X2 with the Core 2 Duo processors showed a significant difference in performance.
In fact, almost all games tested proved that there was a significant performance advantage to be had when using a high-end processor. Many of the games tested also scaled right up to 3.60GHz, as the Radeon HD 4870 X2’s performance appeared almost limitless. Given that the Radeon HD 4870 X2 is a dual-GPU graphics card, we expected that it would demand a great deal of processing power, and it did.
However, this got a lot of readers asking “how would the GeForce GTX 280 perform using a range of CPUs?” Since the test beds were already setup and the processors were still available, we decided there was no better time to find out. So back I went to test the GeForce GTX 280 on 40 different configurations in 7 different games.
Now because we were focusing on games that performed well with Crossfire technology in the Radeon HD 4870 X2 article, Crysis was left out, which upset the apple cart. The GeForce GTX 280 on the other hand is the world’s fastest single GPU solution, and therefore we can really throw anything at it and still get maximum performance. Therefore Crysis has been included this time, along with World in Conflict.
As I just mentioned, we have again tested on 40 different configurations, meaning the Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Phenom X4, and even Athlon64 X2 processors have been tested. Something we will be keeping an eye on is how well the Athlon64 X2 processors perform. In the past they have been slower than the Core 2 Duo’s. However when testing with the Radeon HD 4870 X2 they were significantly slower, so it will be interesting to see how they fair when paired with a GeForce GTX 280...
