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. The results below are the average number of frames per second (FPS) achieved by each card.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1680x1050 - Low	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	170.0	6.25%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	164.9	3.06%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	160.4	0.25%
Radeon HD 4870 X2	160.0
GeForce 9800 GTX+	160.0	0.00%
GeForce GTX 260	157.0	1.91%
GeForce GTX 280	156.3	2.37%
GeForce 9800 GT	156.0	2.56%
GeForce 9800 GTX	153.8	4.03%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	151.0	5.96%
Radeon HD 3870	145.7	9.81%
GeForce 9800 GX2	136.8	16.96%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1920x1200 - Low	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	165.0	4.43%
Radeon HD 4870 X2	158.0
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	156.7	0.83%
GeForce GTX 280	156.3	1.09%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	155.0	1.94%
GeForce GTX 260	153.0	3.27%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	149.8	5.47%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	149.0	6.04%
GeForce 9800 GTX	146.9	7.56%
GeForce 9800 GT	143.0	10.49%
GeForce 9800 GX2	135.2	16.86%
Radeon HD 3870	120.1	31.56%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 2560x1600 - Low	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	156.0
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	147.0	6.12%
GeForce GTX 280	145.1	7.51%
GeForce 9800 GX2	130.6	19.45%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	129.7	20.28%
GeForce GTX 260	124.0	25.81%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	119.0	31.09%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	117.0	33.33%
GeForce 9800 GTX	107.9	44.58%
GeForce 9800 GT	96.0	62.50%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	93.9	66.13%
Radeon HD 3870	72.8	114.29%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1680x1050 - High	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	157.0
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	145.0	8.28%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	144.0	9.03%
GeForce 9800 GTX	137.9	13.85%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	126.1	24.50%
GeForce 9800 GX2	125.4	25.20%
GeForce GTX 260	121.0	29.75%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	116.2	35.11%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	94.0	67.02%
GeForce GTX 280	89.3	75.81%
GeForce 9800 GT	80.0	96.25%
Radeon HD 3870	68.3	129.87%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1920x1200 - High	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	157.0
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	131.0	19.85%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	124.0	26.61%
GeForce 9800 GTX	116.3	35.00%
GeForce 9800 GX2	111.1	41.31%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	106.5	47.42%
GeForce GTX 260	101.0	55.45%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	97.2	61.52%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	74.0	112.16%
GeForce GTX 280	70.3	123.33%
GeForce 9800 GT	63.0	149.21%
Radeon HD 3870	56.8	176.41%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 2560x1600 - High	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	130.0
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	75.0	73.33%
GeForce 9800 GTX	71.3	82.33%
GeForce GTX 260	61.0	113.11%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	58.4	122.60%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	50.6	156.92%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	46.0	182.61%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	39.0	233.33%
GeForce 9800 GX2	37.5	246.67%
GeForce 9800 GT	36.0	261.11%
GeForce GTX 280	35.5	266.20%
Radeon HD 3870	34.9	272.49%