Radeon HD 4870 1GB vs. GeForce GTX 260+ 896MB

It may seem a little strange that we’re going to ‘go early’ and tell you which of these two graphics cards is the best option for you right now, but there was a massive amount of data recorded for the purposes of this article and quite a bit of it hasn’t been graphed to keep things as simple as possible.

There were a total of 76 game benchmarks run per configuration which, when totalled up, equates to around 33 percent more than the total number of benchmarks we ran to compile our Summer 2008 Graphics Performance Roundup. What’s more, in that article we tested three more configurations than we have here.

So, instead of expecting you to work your way through pages and pages of graphs, we’ve compiled a direct comparison between probably the two hottest graphics cards this Christmas in both single and mutli-GPU configurations just for good measure.

The graphs below may seem a little daunting at first, but they are really quite simple to understand – a bar that is coloured red represents a performance advantage in favour of the Radeon HD 4870 1GB, while a green bar means the GeForce GTX 260+ 896MB had the upper hand.

In any tests where neither configuration delivered a playable frame rate (at least 30 frames per second, but higher in some cases), the performance advantage was neglected because an advantage – whether big or small – is only a benefit if the game is playable at those settings.




Generally speaking, any advantage of less than three percent isn't really an advantage - at 30 frames per second, that equates to less than a single fps and in a real-world gaming scenario, you are not going to be able to tell the difference between the two in a blind taste test. With that in mind, there are only a few games where the two are discernable from each other at 1,680 x 1,050 and the split seems to be fairly even.

Crysis and Call of Duty: World at War are particularly strong for Nvidia, while Fallout 3 and Race Driver: GRID swing in favour of the Radeon. Left 4 Dead is quite a bit quicker on a single Radeon HD 4870 1GB, but then a pair of GTX 260 216 cards manage to close the gap in a CrossFire vs. SLI scenario. The same is true with Fallout 3 as well, although GRID remains an ATI stronghold even with a pair of cards working together.

Moving up to 1,920 x 1,200, the Radeon seems to stretch its legs further and although it doesn’t catch up in either Crysis or World at War, it does add S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky to the list of games showing a benefit. However, it’s worth mentioning here that Clear Sky is right on the ragged edge of playability on the Radeon HD 4870 1GB, while it’s not playable on the GeForce. Some will not find the Radeon’s frame rates acceptable, although I’m sure many will be reasonably content with them.

Finally, at 2,560 x 1,600, Nvidia continues its strong showing in Crysis and World at War, but most of the benefits are limited to SLI at this resolution because of the low frame rates. The GTX 260+ also adds Left 4 Dead at 2,560 x 1,600 4xAA 16xAF with both single and multiple GPUs and Brothers in Arms ekes out an 18 percent advantage in SLI mode too.

GRID and Fallout 3 remain ATI strongholds in both single and multi-GPU configurations, while Clear Sky and Far Cry 2 in DX9 mode are strong points for CrossFire. The standout though is Fallout 3 with 8xAA enabled, where the Radeon HD 4870 1GB literally covers the GTX 260+ in a luxurious festive double cream. Damn!