This extended test suite is only run on the latest generation GPUs (RTX 30-series and RX 6000 series), but we also run it on a Core i9-10900K PC and a Ryzen 9 5900X PC to show CPU scaling. It doesn't seem to matter much on HZD, but Valhalla very much favors AMD GPUs right now.

Two more games from 2020 ( Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Horizon Zero Dawn) complete the suite, with both being AMD promoted games.

Worth noting is that the DXR support in Dirt 5 is currently in beta/preview, so take it with an extra scoop of salt. Our second extended test suite includes the nine legacy games and then adds two ray tracing enabled games ( Dirt 5 and Watch Dogs Legion) - that's a heavily AMD-biased game, with an Nvidia-influence game, just to keep things a bit equal. We could certainly do more tuning, but that was sufficient to keep temperatures in check and still wasn't overly loud. Basically, we set the fan to a 50 percent minimum and gave it a steady ramp from 50 percent at 40C up to 100 percent at 80C. That last one is critical for maintaining a stable overclock, as sticking with a default fan curve tends to lead to periodic crashes. For the GPU, 150 MHz was nearly stable but crashed in two tests, so we dropped down to a 140 MHz overclock that completed the full test suite.īesides changing the memory and GPU clocks, we also increased the power limit to the maximum 110 percent and adjusted the fan curve. Eventually, we stuck with a 1000 MHz overclock on the RAM (the best-case maximum would be in the 1000-1250 MHz range, based on our testing), giving an effective data rate of 16Gbps. We were nearly able to max out the GDDR6 overclock at 16.5-17Gbps, but the EDR feature (Error Detection and Retry) meant performance was actually slower than a lesser RAM OC.

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