Synthetic Benchmarks
To start off our benchmarking and testing, we employed our two favourite synthetic benchmarks: 3DMark06 and 3DMark Vantage. Starting off with 3DMark06, which is a full on DirectX 9 benchmark, we achieved a composite score of 9705 with our GIGABYTE HD 4850 while the Sapphire ATOMIC HD 3870 put down 7807. On the 3DMark Vantage, which is a full on DirectX 10 benchmark, the GIGABYTE HD 4850 takes the lead again with a score of 2709 versus the 1203 of the Sapphire ATOMIC HD3870, in the GPU portion of the High Quality benchmark. As we can see, the DX9 tests are quite a bit closer than the DX10 benchmarks so it will be interesting to see how this holds up in the game benchmarks.
Game Benchmarks
In order to see what kind of performance this card brings us, we ran a number of benchmarks on games that we actually play. First we’ll throw down some benchmarks to see how the HD 4850 compares to the HD 3870 that we have on hand, then we’ll bring in our comments on the actual game play experience. Afterall, we don’t play benchmarks, we play games.
Unreal Tournament III
Starting off with the DirectX 9 titles, we take on Unreal Tournament III to see how this new GPU performs. We used HardwareOC’s UT3 benchmark tool to run our tests. We ranked the resolution to 1920×1200 and used the highest settings for quality. As the 3DMark06 benchmark foretold, the race would be fairly tight and we were able to see a score of 32 FPS emerge from the SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 3870 after an average of three loops using the HALO 3 looking Containment benchmark map with BOTS enabled.
The GIGABYTE HD 4850 threw down and came away with a slightly higher score of 34 FPS after a three run average. Gaming performance in real world play was difficult to distinguish as the the difference in frames per second was so minimal. We’d have to call this battle a draw. However, both cards offered smooth performance in real world playing.
Half Life 2: Episode 2
The super solid Source engine used in Half LIfe 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal, and the upcoming Left4Dead was the basis of our next round of benchmarks. It is also a DirectX9 based game so it will be interesting if the 3DMark06 predictions hold true. Using HardwareOC’s Half Life 2: Episode 2 benchmark, we cranked the settings up and the resolution to 1920×1200 and let’er rip. As foretold by 3DMark06, the scores were going to be pretty close. The SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 3870 put down 67.8 FPS after a total of three runs while the GIGABYTE HD 4850 put down 68.4 FPS. Again, I’d call this a tie as a quick game with either GPU showed little to no differences in actual game play performance.
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes will test the DirectX 10 performance of our two cards. So far, 3DMark06 has correctly predicted the outcome of our DirectX 9 titles, so let’s see how well the new 3DMark Vantage does at its performance predictions. Like all our other tests, we ran at a resolution of 1920×1200 and we used max quality settings. We used the in-game benchmark to carry out our tests and took an average of three runs to come up with our numbers.
Starting with the SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 3870, we pull down an average FPS of 21, a max FPS of 49.5 and a min score of 10.3 FPS. This is below the average 30 FPS sweetspot that should allow smooth gameplay. The GIGABYTE HD 4850 pulled down an average score of 28.7 FPS, a max FPS of 60.2, and a minimum FPS score of 15.5. Real world play confirmed that the GIGABYTE, with its 28.7 FPS average, was quite a bit smoother in gameplay than the SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 3870.
Crysis
When it comes to GPU punishment, Crysis cannot be ignored. This game has really pushed GPUs and has helped AMD’s competior, NVIDIA, sell a lot of GPUs at ridiculous prices in the quest of being able to reach a playable frame rate. We employ the help of HardwareOC’s Crysis Benchmark Tool to carry out our testing. We ran all tests at 1920×1200 and at all four quality settings: Low, Medium, High and Very High. We took an average of three runs to compute our results with each card and we were pretty surprised by the results.
- SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 3870 – Low: 30.09 / Medium: 17.07 / High: 13.45 / Very High: 9.26
- GIGABYTE HD 4850 – Low: 29.97 / Medium: 16.72 / High: 13.68 / Very High: 10.79
So the results don’t look so clear unfortunately. While the 3DMark Vantage score agrees with the Company of Heroes score in DX10, Crysis has completely confused us. The scores are so close that we’ll have to call this one a tie on the single GPU side.
Supreme Commander
For our Real Time Strategy testing, we chose Supreme Commander. Supreme Commander’s in-game benchmarking tool allows us to easily compare the performance of our two GPU’s by spitting out a composite score. The lower the score, the better the performance. Though RTS titles are typically more CPU and memory dependant, the GPU does have influence in the overall performance.
As a DX9 title and as foretold by our previous results, the SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 3870 put down a composite score of 40.6 while the GIGABYTE HD 4850 put down a score of 35.7. This is in keeping with our expectations of the sort of gap we’d end up with. In our short gaming sessions on both GPUs, we weren’t able to discern any real world differences in gameplay. Both GPU’s produced very playable results in the real world.
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
To see how things shape up in the MMORPG world, we took on Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. This MMORPG is visually enthralling and we wanted to see just how well it would do in this demanding game. Though currently a DX9 title, plans are underway to push out a patch that will give it DX10 features. But for now, it’s all DX9.
Using FRAPS, we ran from the gate located outside the war torn settlement outside of Conarch Village to the first enemy camp on the other side of the battlefield. Since MMORPG’s are heavily influenced by how congested the interwebs are, we made sure that we took off at the same latency and the same frame rate as measured by the game’s built in meter. Our results were taken from an average of three runs with each GPU.
Our SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 3870 gave us an average frame rate of 18 FPS and a max framerate of 25 FPS. The GIGABYTE HD 4850 put down an average of 22.9 FPS with a max frame rate of 30 FPS. A quick thirty minute MMORPG break with both cards put the GIGABYTE HD 4850 ahead of the SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 3870 in real world game play. Though lag might have some bearing on the results, the overall experience with the HD 4850 was noticeably smoother.
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