The baseline performance numbers to consider are the Radeon HD 4870
1,024MB and GeForce GTX 260 896MB: both cards currently vie for the
£150-£175 market space.
Call of Duty 4: MW (high-end) 1,680x1,050 4xAA 16xAF
XFX HD 4890 OC 1,024MB
BFG GTX 260 896MB
NVIDIA GTX 275 896MB
BFG GTX 285 1,024MB
Sapphire HD 4890 XT 1,024MB
Sapphire HD 4870 1,024MB
88.55
77.5
87.75
93.33
85.3
78.44
Call of Duty 4: MW (high-end) 1,920x1,200 4xAA 16xAF
XFX HD 4890 OC 1,024MB
BFG GTX 260 896MB
NVIDIA GTX 275 896MB
BFG GTX 285 1,024MB
Sapphire HD 4890 XT 1,024MB
Sapphire HD 4870 1,024MB
74.8
66.37
75.8
82.73
72.55
66.15
Call of Duty 4: MW (high-end) 2,560x1,600 4xAA 16xAF
XFX HD 4890 OC 1,024MB
BFG GTX 260 896MB
NVIDIA GTX 275 896MB
BFG GTX 285 1,024MB
Sapphire HD 4890 XT 1,024MB
Sapphire HD 4870 1,024MB
49.5
44.8
52.65
55.73
47.95
43.75
The Radeon HD 4890 OC is around three per cent faster than the XT part,
which, in turn, is some 10 per cent faster than good, old HD 4870
1,024MB.
Looking across in Call of Duty 4, GTX 275 is some 15 per cent faster
than GTX 260, and it's very slightly faster than both new Radeons. It
also gets impressively close to GTX 285 at 2,560x1,600 - a card that
costs £100 more. More to do with R185 drivers than with
architecture, we guess.
