Futuremark 3DMark Vantage 1.0.1	Source: FutureMark

3DMark06 is the worldwide standard in advanced 3D game performance benchmarking. A fundamental tool for every company in the PC industry as well as PC users and gamers, 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3D game workloads to measure PC performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3D graphics tests, CPU tests, and 3D feature tests. 3DMark06 tests include all new HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, SM2.0 graphics tests, AI and physics driven single and multiple cores or processor CPU tests and a collection of comprehensive feature tests to reliably measure next generation gaming performance today.

Futuremark 3DMark Vantage 1.0.1 (no Physx) Performance Overall: (P) Points Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 9116 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 8852 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 8358 Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M 5579 MSI R4830 T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 5149 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB 6572 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB Crossfire 8383 Asus EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A 6327 ASUS EAH4550 512M 1184 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 8286 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 6600 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 9986 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 5335 GPU Score: Points Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 12983 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 12252 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 9471 Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M 5905 MSI R4830 T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 5269 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB 6701 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB Crossfire 9462 Asus EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A 6418 ASUS EAH4550 512M 932 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 9321 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 6694 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 12508 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 4266 CPU score: Points Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 4814 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 4830 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 6180 Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M 4786 MSI R4830 T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 4821 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB 6213 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB Crossfire 6246 Asus EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A 6070 ASUS EAH4550 512M 6197 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 6217 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 6334 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 6223 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 6255

3DMark Vantage again shows the Radeon HD 4890 videocard with a slight lead over the Sparkle Geforce GTX260. Running a pair of Geforce GTS 250 videocards in SLI or Radeon HD 4770s in crossfire also tend to be a little bit faster, due to 3DMark vantage's excellent scaling on multiple GPUs. In 3Dmark Vantage the Sparkle GTX260 manages an overall score of 8286 3DMarks!

Stalker Clear Sky	Source: GSC

Stalker: Clear Sky is a prequel to Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. The player assumes the role of Scar, a veteran Stalker mercenary who is rescued by Clear Sky, a faction looking to explore the ruins of the Chernobyl power plant and solve the mystery at the heart of the Zone. The Sun Shafts test is part of Stalker's benchmarking suite, which uses DirectX 10 graphics capabilites and can stress even the fastest videocards.

stalker clear sky - ultra hq, dx10 Sun Shafts Test 1600x1200 FPS Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 39.6 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 24.6 Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M 16.76 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB 20.7 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB Crossfire 31.5 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 25.1 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 17.28 Sun Shafts Test 1900x1200 FPS Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 34.3 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 21.6 Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M 14.8 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB 15.2 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB Crossfire 27.3 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 19.9 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 13.9

Crysis is a science fiction first-person shooter developed by Crytek. Crysis uses Microsoft's new API, DirectX 10 for graphics rendering, and includes the new engine—the CryEngine 2—that is the successor to Far Cry's CryEngine. CryEngine 2 is among the first engines to use the DirectX 10 framework of Windows Vista, but can also run using DirectX 9, both on Vista and Windows XP.

Crysis 1.2 - DirectX10 1280x1024 HQ FPS Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 40.46 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 39.7 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 39.105 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 39.4 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 58.54 Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M 40.835 MSI R4830 T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 36.55 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB 43.4 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB Crossfire 53.28 Asus EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A 40.86 ASUS EAH4550 512M 9.77 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 49.69 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 49.16 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 64.63 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 31.23 1600x1200 HQ FPS Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 38.2 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 34.2 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 37.17 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 33.8 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 46.35 Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M 30.79 MSI R4830 T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 27.46 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB 32.02 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB Crossfire 49.37 Asus EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A 30.87 ASUS EAH4550 512M 7.05 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 43.02 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 37.67 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 58.88 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 22.84 1920x1200 HQ FPS Ranking Palit HD4870 X2 2GB 35 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A 29.9 Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire) 34.07 MSI R3870X2-T2D1G-OC 29.7 Asus EAH4890 HTDI/1GD5/A 41.07 Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M 26.2 MSI R4830 T2D512-OC (Radeon 4830) 23.43 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB 28.68 Gigabyte GV-R477D5-512HB Crossfire 43.97 Asus EAH4770 HTDI/512MD5/A 27.78 ASUS EAH4550 512M 6.38 Sparkle GTX260 Core 216 36.91 ASUS ENGTS250 DK 33.56 ASUS ENGTS250 DK in SLI 50.4 Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 19.4

The Sparkle GTX 260 Core 216 videocard achieves respectable results in Crysis at high resolutions. While running midrance cards in SLI/Crossfire or a single Radeon HD 4890 do garner higher performance numbers in this real-world test, each of those solutions also costs a lot more than a single Geforce GTX 260 graphics card.