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	7.59%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	164.9	4.37%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	160.4	1.52%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	158.0
GeForce GTX 260	157.0	0.64%
GeForce GTX 280	156.3	1.09%
GeForce 9800 GTX	153.8	2.73%
Radeon HD 3870	145.7	8.44%
GeForce 9800 GX2	136.8	15.50%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1920x1200 - Low	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	165.0	5.10%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	157.0
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	156.7	0.19%
GeForce GTX 280	156.3	0.45%
GeForce GTX 260	153.0	2.61%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	149.8	4.81%
GeForce 9800 GTX	146.9	6.88%
GeForce 9800 GX2	135.2	16.12%
Radeon HD 3870	120.1	30.72%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 2560x1600 - Low	Score	Difference
GeForce GTX 280	145.1	5.91%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	137.0
GeForce 9800 GX2	130.6	4.90%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	129.7	5.63%
GeForce GTX 260	124.0	10.48%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	117.0	17.09%
GeForce 9800 GTX	107.9	26.97%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	93.9	45.90%
Radeon HD 3870	72.8	88.19%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1680x1050 - High	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	144.0	7.46%
GeForce 9800 GTX	137.9	2.91%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	134.0
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	126.1	6.26%
GeForce 9800 GX2	125.4	6.86%
GeForce GTX 260	121.0	10.74%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	116.2	15.32%
GeForce GTX 280	89.3	50.06%
Radeon HD 3870	68.3	96.19%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1920x1200 - High	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	124.0	9.73%
GeForce 9800 GTX	116.3	2.92%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	113.0
GeForce 9800 GX2	111.1	1.71%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	106.5	6.10%
GeForce GTX 260	101.0	11.88%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	97.2	16.26%
GeForce GTX 280	70.3	60.74%
Radeon HD 3870	56.8	98.94%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 2560x1600 - High	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	75.0	8.70%
GeForce 9800 GTX	71.3	3.33%
XFX GeForce GTX 260 640M XXX (OC)	69.0
GeForce GTX 260	61.0	13.11%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	58.4	18.15%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	50.6	36.36%
GeForce 9800 GX2	37.5	84.00%
GeForce GTX 280	35.5	94.37%
Radeon HD 3870	34.9	97.71%