System setup and notes
| Graphics cards | XFX GeForce GTX 280 1,024MB |
Inno3D GeForce GTX 260 OC |
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 2,048MB |
GIGABYTE Radeon HD 4870 1,024MB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current pricing, including VAT | £261.37 | £244.78 | £249.96 | £236.29 |
| Shader model | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| Stream processors | 240 | 216 | 1,600 | 800 |
| GPU clock speed (MHz) | 602 | 620 | 625 | 750 |
| Shader clock speed (MHz) | 1,296 | 1,242 | 625 | 750 |
| Memory clock speed (MHz) | 2,214 | 2,100 | 1,986 | 3,600 |
| Memory bus width (Bits) | 512 | 448 | 512 (2 x 256) | 256 |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 LGA775 (3.0GHz, 12MB L2 cache, quad-core) | |||
| Motherboard | EVGA CK132 -NF79 (nForce 790i Ultra SLI) | MSI X48 Platinum (X48+ICH9R) | ||
| Motherboard BIOS | P06 | V2.3 | ||
| Mainboard software | NVIDIA device driver 15.17 | Intel Inf 9.0.0.1008 | ||
| Memory | 4GB Corsair XMS3 DHX (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1,333 | |||
| Memory timings and speed | 9-9-9-24 1T @ DDR3-1333 | |||
| PSU | GIGABYTE Odin GT 800W | |||
| Monitor | Dell 30in 3007WFP - 2,560x1,600px | |||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (3Gb/s mode) | |||
| Graphics driver | ForceWare 180.48 | Catalyst 9.1 beta | ||
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business SP1, 64-bit | |||
Software
| 3D Benchmarks | Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts v2.103: DX10 - very high quality Far Cry 2 v1.01 - very high quality Enemy Territory: Quake Wars v1.5, HEXUS custom-recorded benchmark. OpenGL - very high quality Race Driver: GRID v1.2, HEXUS custom-recorded benchmark - ultra quality Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare v1.7, HEXUS custom-recorded benchmark: DX9 - very high quality |
|---|
Notes
At the £235-£245 mark, this is a straightforward head-to-head match up between Inno3D's GeForce GTX 260 OC and GIGABYTE's Radeon HD 4870 1GB.
To make things a touch more interesting, however, we throw in the next available upgrade from both AMD and NVIDIA. In the AMD camp, it's Sapphire's Radeon HD 4850 X2 - a noteworthy inclusion at "just" £250. In NVIDIA's corner, it's a GeForce GTX 280 that's now priced at around £260 following the introduction of the new-and-improved GeForce GTX 285.
Whilst aware that cards such as the Radeon HD 4870 X2 and GeForce GTX 295 leave all the aforementioned in their wake, we've opted to exclude them from any graphs this time around. We're looking strictly at the sub-£260 bracket to see what's on offer for the enthusiast with a budget.
Real-world gaming benchmarks were run at 1,680x1,050, 1,920x1,200 and 2,560x1,600. We've also added in decent amounts of image quality, too.
The listed retail prices for the Inno3D GeForce GTX 260 OC and GIGABYTE Radeon HD 4870 1GB are correct at the time of writing. However, please be aware that day-to-day pricing in today's economy is subject to intense fluctuation.