System setup and notes
Hardware
| Graphics cards | Force3D HD 4870 Black Edition 512MB | Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 TOXIC 512MB | Force3D HD 4870 512MB | BFG GTX 260 (216) MAXCORE OC | ZOTAC GTX 260 896MB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current pricing, including VAT | £196 | £210 | £175 |
£257 | £190 |
| Shader model | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Stream processors | 800 | 800 | 800 | 216 | 192 |
| GPU clock speed (MHz) | 770 | 780 | 750 | 655 | 576 |
| Shader clock speed (MHz) | 770 | 780 | 750 | 1,404 | 1,242 |
| Memory clock speed (MHz) | 3,800 | 4,000 | 3,600 | 2,250 | 1,998 |
| Memory bus width (bits) | 256 | 256 | 256 | 448 | 448 |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 LGA775 (3.0GHz, 12MB L2 cache, quad-core) | ||||
| Motherboard | MSI X48 Platinum | EVGA CK-132 NF79 (nForce 790i Ultra SLI) | |||
| Motherboard BIOS | v2.3 (07/07/2008) | P06 |
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| Mainboard software | Intel Inf 9.0.0.1008 | nForce
15.17 |
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| Memory | 4GB (2x 2GB) Corsair XMS3 DHX DDR3-1333 | ||||
| Memory timings and speed | 9-9-9-24 1T @ 1,333MHz | ||||
| PSU | Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1,000W | Enermax Galaxy DXX 850W | |||
| Monitor | Dell 30in 3007WFP - 2,560x1,600 | ||||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 500GB - 32MB cache - SATAII (ST3500320AS) | ||||
| Graphics driver | Catalyst 8.8 | Catalyst 8.8 | Catalyst 8.8 | 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 Race Driver: GRID v1.2 - custom-recorded benchmark - ultra quality Call Of Duty 4 v1.7.568 custom HEX benchmark: DX10 - highest quality |
|---|
Notes
It's a pre-overclocked jamboree that features another pre-overclocked Radeon HD 4870 in the form of the Sapphire TOXIC and a heavily-overclocked GeForce GTX 260 (216-core) from XFX.
With respect to HD 4870s, Sapphire should have the benchmark edge with higher core and memory speeds, and the Black Edition's performance should fall between it and a standard-clocked card, also from Force3D. The interesting comparison will be with the two NVIDIA GTX 260 cards.Real-world gaming benchmarks were run at 1,680x1,050, 1,920x1,200 and 2,560x1,600, although the highest resolution wasn't run with Race Driver: GRID due to substantial slowdowns in the game, leading to inconsistent and unrepeatable results via our FRAPS-recording method. We've also added in decent amounts of image quality, too.
