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	34.06%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	8725
GeForce GTX 280	7695	13.39%
GeForce 9800 GX2	6990	24.82%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	6193	40.88%
GeForce GTX 260	5898	47.93%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	5651	54.40%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	4797	81.88%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	4499	93.93%
GeForce 9800 GTX	3805	129.30%
GeForce 9800 GT	3691	136.39%
Radeon HD 3870	2977	193.08%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1920x1200 - Performance	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	9472	44.72%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	6545
GeForce GTX 280	6106	7.19%
GeForce 9800 GX2	5379	21.68%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	4880	34.12%
GeForce GTX 260	4582	42.84%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	4336	50.95%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	3725	75.70%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	3370	94.21%
GeForce 9800 GT	2951	121.79%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2891	126.39%
Radeon HD 3870	2269	188.45%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 2560x1600 - Performance	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	5542	59.16%
GeForce GTX 280	3549	1.92%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	3482
GeForce 9800 GX2	2910	19.66%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	2728	27.64%
GeForce GTX 260	2640	31.89%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	2382	46.18%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	2050	69.85%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	1815	91.85%
GeForce 9800 GT	1638	112.58%
GeForce 9800 GTX	1557	123.64%
Radeon HD 3870	1244	179.90%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1680x1050 - Extreme	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	8405	35.67%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	6195
GeForce GTX 280	6005	3.16%
GeForce 9800 GX2	4858	27.52%
GeForce GTX 260	4531	36.72%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	4360	42.09%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	3567	73.68%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	3445	79.83%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	3201	93.53%
GeForce 9800 GT	2741	126.01%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2703	129.19%
Radeon HD 3870	1855	233.96%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1920x1200 - Extreme	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	6916	56.65%
GeForce GTX 280	4732	7.18%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	4415
GeForce GTX 260	3576	23.46%
GeForce 9800 GX2	3508	25.86%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870	3490	26.50%
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850	2753	60.37%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	2669	65.42%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	2399	84.04%
GeForce 9800 GT	2136	106.69%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2038	116.63%
Radeon HD 3870	1439	206.81%