System setup and notes
Hardware
| Graphics cards | Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 | Sapphire Radeon HD 3650 512MB | Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 256MB | XFX GeForce 9500 GT | ZOTAC GeForce 9600 GT | XFX GeForce 9600 GSO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current pricing, including VAT | £50* | £35 | £65 | £45 | £70 | £68 |
|
| Shader model | 4.1 | 4.0 | |||||
| Stream processors | 320 | 120 | 320 | 32 | 64 | 96 | |
| GPU clock speed (MHz) | 750 | 725 | 666 | 550 | 650 | 550 | |
| Shader clock speed (MHz) | 750 | 725 | 666 | 1,400 | 1,625 | 1,375 | |
| Memory clock speed (MHz) | 2,000 | 1,600 | 1,656 | 1,600 | 1,800 | 1,600 | |
| Memory bus width (Bits) | 128 | 128 | 256 | 128 | 256 | 192 | |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz, 1,333MHz FSB, dual-core) | ||||||
| Motherboard | Foxconn P45A-S | XFX nForce 780i | |||||
| Motherboard BIOS | P05 | P01 | |||||
| Mainboard software | Intel Inf 9.0.0.1008 | NVIDIA device driver 15.17 | |||||
| Memory | 4GB (2x 2GB) Corsair DOMINATOR PC8500 | ||||||
| Memory timings and speed | 5-5-5-15 2T @ 1066MHz | ||||||
| PSU | Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W | ||||||
| Monitor | Dell 24in 2405FPW - 1,920x1,200px | ||||||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 500GB - 32MB cache - SATAII (ST3500320AS) | ||||||
| Graphics driver | Radeon HD 4670 press driver (8.53-080805a-067874E-ATI) | Radeon HD 4670 press driver | Radeon HD 4670 press driver | ForceWare 177.79 | ForceWare 177.79 | ForceWare 177.79 | |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business SP1, 64-bit | ||||||
Software
| 3D Benchmarks | Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
v2.301: DX10 - ultra quality Enemy Territory: Quake Wars v1.5 (demo_00010.dem, map Valley): OpenGL - vhq GRID v1.2 - custom-recorded benchmark - ultra quality Call Of Duty 4 v1.7.568 custom HEX benchmark: DX10 - highest quality |
|---|
Notes
We're looking at the performance of the Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 against a bunch of cards that surround its estimated £50-£55, including VAT, pricing.Coming in lower is the Radeon HD 3650 512MB, currently available for around £35. Another tenner buys you the NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT, and then jumping up a significant amount - some 40 per cent - sees Radeon HD 3850 and GeForce 9600 GT and GSO duke it out.
The rationale for including the more-expensive cards lies with the potent nature of the Radeon HD 4670, and we're intrigued to see how close it can get to cards costing vastly before.
Benchmarks were run at 1,280x1,024 and 1,680x1,050 with varying degrees of image-quality enhancement.
