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	12.58%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	164.9	9.21%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	160.4	6.23%
Radeon HD 4870 X2	160.0	5.96%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	160.0	5.96%
GeForce GTX 260	157.0	3.97%
GeForce GTX 280	156.3	3.51%
GeForce 9800 GT	156.0	3.31%
GeForce 9800 GTX	153.8	1.85%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	151.0
Radeon HD 3870	145.7	3.64%
GeForce 9800 GX2	136.8	10.38%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1920x1200 - Low	Score	Difference
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	165.0	10.74%
Radeon HD 4870 X2	158.0	6.04%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	156.7	5.17%
GeForce GTX 280	156.3	4.90%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	155.0	4.03%
GeForce GTX 260	153.0	2.68%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	149.8	0.54%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	149.0
GeForce 9800 GTX	146.9	1.43%
GeForce 9800 GT	143.0	4.20%
GeForce 9800 GX2	135.2	10.21%
Radeon HD 3870	120.1	24.06%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 2560x1600 - Low	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	156.0	6.12%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	147.0
GeForce GTX 280	145.1	1.31%
GeForce 9800 GX2	130.6	12.56%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	129.7	13.34%
GeForce GTX 260	124.0	18.55%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	119.0	23.53%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	117.0	25.64%
GeForce 9800 GTX	107.9	36.24%
GeForce 9800 GT	96.0	53.13%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	93.9	56.55%
Radeon HD 3870	72.8	101.92%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1680x1050 - High	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	157.0	8.28%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	145.0
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	144.0	0.69%
GeForce 9800 GTX	137.9	5.15%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	126.1	14.99%
GeForce 9800 GX2	125.4	15.63%
GeForce GTX 260	121.0	19.83%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	116.2	24.78%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	94.0	54.26%
GeForce GTX 280	89.3	62.37%
GeForce 9800 GT	80.0	81.25%
Radeon HD 3870	68.3	112.30%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1920x1200 - High	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	157.0	19.85%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	131.0
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	124.0	5.65%
GeForce 9800 GTX	116.3	12.64%
GeForce 9800 GX2	111.1	17.91%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	106.5	23.00%
GeForce GTX 260	101.0	29.70%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	97.2	34.77%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	74.0	77.03%
GeForce GTX 280	70.3	86.34%
GeForce 9800 GT	63.0	107.94%
Radeon HD 3870	56.8	130.63%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 2560x1600 - High	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	130.0	182.61%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	75.0	63.04%
GeForce 9800 GTX	71.3	55.00%
GeForce GTX 260	61.0	32.61%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	58.4	26.96%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	50.6	10.00%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	46.0
GeForce 9800 GTX+	39.0	17.95%
GeForce 9800 GX2	37.5	22.67%
GeForce 9800 GT	36.0	27.78%
GeForce GTX 280	35.5	29.58%
Radeon HD 3870	34.9	31.81%