3D Performance Results

Once we completed our CPU test suite, we took some time to play some games with the TPU community to get an overall feel for gaming on the Z68A-GD65(G3). After a couple of days we settled in to complete our 3D benchmarking, feeling confident that the Gigabyte G1.Sniper2 was going to put on a good show. Let's take a look at what numbers the board provided.

3DMark11

Once we ran 3DMark11, we were very surprised, with the very best numbers yet offered by the Gigabyte G1.Sniper2, and we think this is 100% expected, as this board is clearly intended for gaming uses, with pure CPU focus taking a backburner to a gamer's real priorities.

Civilization 5

Our first real-world 3D performance test comes in the form of Civilization 5, using the included benchmark. We let the game recommend us settings, and then disabled V-SYNC and AA to eliminate bottlenecks introduced by the GPU itself. We weren't disappointed in the Gigabyte G1.Sniper2 as it managed to duplicate average numbers given by the boards we've looked at earlier. The Civilization 5 benchmark does serve to show that everything is working as it should, as any deviations from the average numbers here indicates a problem, and the Gigabyte G1.Sniper2 showed no issues, and managed once again to show up the PCIe 3.0 MSI board.

F1 2010

Our second real-world 3D performance test comes from CodeMasters, in the form of the "F1 2010" included benchmark. We let the game recommend us settings, which included 8xAA with our HD 6950 2 GB from Sapphire. Again we find the numbers a bit higher than what we expected, beating out every other board by 2.2 FPS. There's no denying that the Gigabyte G1.Sniper2 is the top of its class when it comes to gaming.