Half-Life 2 is a popular franchise and we benchmark the video cards using Episode Two with the aid of HOC Half-Life 2 Episode Two benchmarking utility using the “HOC Demo 1” provided by this program. We ran the game in three 16:10 widescreen resolutions, 1680x1050, 1920x1200 and 2560x1600, under two scenarios. First with quality set to maximum, bilinear filtering and anti-aliasing set to x0. This configuration we are calling “low” on the charts and tables below. Then we maxed out image quality settings, enabling x16 anisotropic filtering and 16xQCS anti-aliasing. This configuration we are calling “high” on our charts and tables. We updated the game up to the June 9^th 2008 patch.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1680x1050 - Low	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	170.0
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	164.9	3.09%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	160.4	5.99%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	158	7.59%
GeForce GTX 260	157.0	8.28%
GeForce GTX 280	156.3	8.77%
GeForce 9800 GTX	153.8	10.53%
Radeon HD 3870	145.7	16.68%
GeForce 9800 GX2	136.8	24.27%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1920x1200 - Low	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	165.0
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	157.0	5.10%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	156.7	5.30%
GeForce GTX 280	156.3	5.57%
GeForce GTX 260	153.0	7.84%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	149.8	10.15%
GeForce 9800 GTX	146.9	12.32%
GeForce 9800 GX2	135.2	22.04%
Radeon HD 3870	120.1	37.39%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 2560x1600 - Low	Score	Difference
GeForce GTX 280	145.1	24.02%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	137.0	17.09%
GeForce 9800 GX2	130.6	11.62%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	129.7	10.85%
GeForce GTX 260	124.0	5.98%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	117.0
GeForce 9800 GTX	107.9	8.43%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	93.9	24.60%
Radeon HD 3870	72.8	60.71%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1680x1050 - High	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	144.0
GeForce 9800 GTX	137.9	4.42%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	134.0	7.46%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	126.1	14.20%
GeForce 9800 GX2	125.4	14.83%
GeForce GTX 260	121.0	19.01%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	116.2	23.92%
GeForce GTX 280	89.3	61.25%
Radeon HD 3870	68.3	110.83%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1920x1200 - High	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	124.0
GeForce 9800 GTX	116.3	6.62%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	113.0	9.73%
GeForce 9800 GX2	111.1	11.61%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	106.5	16.43%
GeForce GTX 260	101.0	22.77%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	97.2	27.57%
GeForce GTX 280	70.3	76.39%
Radeon HD 3870	56.8	118.31%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 2560x1600 - High	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	75.0
GeForce 9800 GTX	71.3	5.19%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	69.0	8.70%
GeForce GTX 260	61.0	22.95%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	58.4	28.42%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	50.6	48.22%
GeForce 9800 GX2	37.5	100.00%
GeForce GTX 280	35.5	111.27%
Radeon HD 3870	34.9	114.90%