Testing (continued):
The tests to be executed include one synthetic benchmark, five benchmarks integrated with 3D games, thermal testing, and power consumption testing. Each card was run through the following tests, and the system was rebooted between each run.
» FutureMark 3DMark Vantage
» Devil May Cry
» PT Boats - Knights of the Sea
» Company of Heroes - Opposing Fronts
» Call of Juarez
» Track Mania Nations Forever
» Thermal Testing
» Power Consumption Testing
FutureMark 3DMark Vantage:
First up is the latest 3D gaming benchmark from
FutureMark; 3DMark Vantage. The complete suite of tests was executed at a resolution of 1280x1024, at high settings, and in "Performance" mode (higher is better for all results). What we see from the data below is that the HD4870 easily outscores a single (overclocked) HD3870, but that the two GPUs on the HD3870 X2 are enough to squeak out a victory in this test, at these settings.
Devil May Cry:
Devil May Cry is a fast paced 3D game from Capcom set around a demon hunting main character. A benchmark is available to test the game's DirectX 10 performance, and it was used to compare the three cards on hand. The benchmark runs through four scenes from the game and outputs the average frame rate values achieved in each one (higher is better). The results here (achieved at a resolution of 1280x1024, 8x anti-aliasing, and high settings) seem to mimic what was seen in 3DMark Vantage. It takes two HD3870 GPUs to out-muscle a single HD4870 GPU, and the factory overclocked single core HD3870 is left in the dust.
