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GeForce GTX 260/280 versus Radeon HD 4850/4870

Published August 11, 2008
By Steven Walton

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Test System Specs & 3Dmark Vantage

Test System Specs: Hardware
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.00GHz (LGA775)

- x2 Kingston HyperX 2GB PC2-8500 Module(s)

- ASUS P5Q Deluxe (Intel P45)

- OCZ GameXStream (700 watt)

- Seagate 500GB 7200-RPM (Serial ATA300)

- ASUS GeForce GTX 280 (1GB) - 177.41
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 260 (896MB) - 177.41
- Visiontek Radeon HD 4870 (512MB) - 8.7
- ASUS Radeon HD 4850 (512MB) - 8.7

Software
- Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
- Intel System Driver 8.4.0.1016
- Nvidia Forceware 177.41
- ATI Catalyst 8.7

The 3Dmark Vantage results show the Radeon HD 4870 and GeForce GTX 260 delivering very similar performance. The Radeon HD 4870 did have a slight edge over the GeForce GTX 260, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out when looking at real-world performance.

The Radeon HD 4850 was considerably slower than the GeForce GTX 260 in this synthetic test, while the GeForce GTX 280 was by far the fastest graphics card tested.