3DMark Vantage is the latest addition to the 3DMark series, measuring Shader 4.0 (i.e., DirectX 10) performance and supporting PhysX, a programming interface developed by Ageia (now part of NVIDIA) to transfer physics calculations from the system CPU to the video card GPU in order to increase performance. Mechanical physics is the basis for calculations about the interaction of objects. For example, if you shoot, what exactly will happen to the object when the bullet hits it? Will it break? Will it move? Will the bullet bounce back? Notice that we didn’t upgrade the PhysX to the latest version, which would make the physics calculations for CPU Test 2 to be made by the GPU instead of the CPU on NVIDIA video cards (since we aren't considering CPU or 3DMark scores this change wouldn't produce any increase in our results anyway).

We ran this program at three 16:10 widescreen resolutions, 1680x1050, 1920x1200, and 2560x1600. First we used the “Performance” profile, and then we used the “Extreme” profile (basically enabling anti-aliasing at 4x, anisotropic filtering at 16x, and putting all detail settings at their maximum or “extreme” value. The combination of 2560x1600 resolution with extreme settings didn’t produce reliable results according to the program, so we aren’t going to add them here. The results being compared are the “GPU Scores” achieved by each video card.

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1680x1050 - Performance	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	11697
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	8725	34.06%
GeForce GTX 280	7695	52.01%
GeForce 9800 GX2	6990	67.34%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	6193	88.87%
GeForce GTX 260	5898	98.32%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	5651	106.99%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	4797	143.84%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	4499	159.99%
GeForce 9800 GTX	3805	207.41%
GeForce 9800 GT	3691	216.91%
Radeon HD 3870	2977	292.91%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1920x1200 - Performance	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	9472
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	6545	44.72%
GeForce GTX 280	6106	55.13%
GeForce 9800 GX2	5379	76.09%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	4880	94.10%
GeForce GTX 260	4582	106.72%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	4336	118.45%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	3725	154.28%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	3370	181.07%
GeForce 9800 GT	2951	220.98%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2891	227.64%
Radeon HD 3870	2269	317.45%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 2560x1600 - Performance	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	5542
GeForce GTX 280	3549	56.16%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	3482	59.16%
GeForce 9800 GX2	2910	90.45%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	2728	103.15%
GeForce GTX 260	2640	109.92%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	2382	132.66%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	2050	170.34%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	1815	205.34%
GeForce 9800 GT	1638	238.34%
GeForce 9800 GTX	1557	255.94%
Radeon HD 3870	1244	345.50%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1680x1050 - Extreme	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	8405
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	6195	35.67%
GeForce GTX 280	6005	39.97%
GeForce 9800 GX2	4858	73.01%
GeForce GTX 260	4531	85.50%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	4360	92.78%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	3567	135.63%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	3445	143.98%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	3201	162.57%
GeForce 9800 GT	2741	206.64%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2703	210.95%
Radeon HD 3870	1855	353.10%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1920x1200 - Extreme	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	6916
GeForce GTX 280	4732	46.15%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	4415	56.65%
GeForce GTX 260	3576	93.40%
GeForce 9800 GX2	3508	97.15%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	3490	98.17%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	2753	151.22%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	2669	159.12%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	2399	188.29%
GeForce 9800 GT	2136	223.78%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2038	239.35%
Radeon HD 3870	1439	380.61%