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
Radeon HD 4870	170.0	6.92%
Radeon HD 4850	164.9	3.71%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	160.4	0.88%
Radeon HD 4870 X2	160.0	0.63%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	160.0	0.63%
Radeon HD 4830	159.0
GeForce GTX 260	157.0	1.27%
GeForce GTX 280	156.3	1.73%
GeForce 9800 GT	156.0	1.92%
GeForce 9800 GTX	153.8	3.38%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	151.0	5.30%
Radeon HD 3870	145.7	9.13%
GeForce 9800 GX2	136.8	16.23%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1920x1200 - Low	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870	165.0	19.57%
Radeon HD 4870 X2	158.0	14.49%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	156.7	13.55%
GeForce GTX 280	156.3	13.26%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	155.0	12.32%
GeForce GTX 260	153.0	10.87%
Radeon HD 4850	149.8	8.55%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	149.0	7.97%
GeForce 9800 GTX	146.9	6.45%
GeForce 9800 GT	143.0	3.62%
Radeon HD 4830	138.0
GeForce 9800 GX2	135.2	2.07%
Radeon HD 3870	120.1	14.90%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 2560x1600 - Low	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	156.0	85.71%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	147.0	75.00%
GeForce GTX 280	145.1	72.74%
GeForce 9800 GX2	130.6	55.48%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	129.7	54.40%
GeForce GTX 260	124.0	47.62%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	119.0	41.67%
Radeon HD 4870	117.0	39.29%
GeForce 9800 GTX	107.9	28.45%
GeForce 9800 GT	96.0	14.29%
Radeon HD 4850	93.9	11.79%
Radeon HD 4830	84.0
Radeon HD 3870	72.8	15.38%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1680x1050 - High	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	157.0	55.45%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	145.0	43.56%
Radeon HD 4870	144.0	42.57%
GeForce 9800 GTX	137.9	36.53%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	126.1	24.85%
GeForce 9800 GX2	125.4	24.16%
GeForce GTX 260	121.0	19.80%
Radeon HD 4850	116.2	15.05%
Radeon HD 4830	101.0
GeForce 9800 GTX+	94.0	7.45%
GeForce GTX 280	89.3	13.10%
GeForce 9800 GT	80.0	26.25%
Radeon HD 3870	68.3	47.88%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 1920x1200 - High	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	157.0	84.71%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	131.0	54.12%
Radeon HD 4870	124.0	45.88%
GeForce 9800 GTX	116.3	36.82%
GeForce 9800 GX2	111.1	30.71%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	106.5	25.29%
GeForce GTX 260	101.0	18.82%
Radeon HD 4850	97.2	14.35%
Radeon HD 4830	85.0
GeForce 9800 GTX+	74.0	14.86%
GeForce GTX 280	70.3	20.91%
GeForce 9800 GT	63.0	34.92%
Radeon HD 3870	56.8	49.65%

Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 2560x1600 - High	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	130.0	154.90%
Radeon HD 4870	75.0	47.06%
GeForce 9800 GTX	71.3	39.80%
GeForce GTX 260	61.0	19.61%
Radeon HD 4850	58.4	14.51%
Radeon HD 4830	51.0
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	50.6	0.79%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	46.0	10.87%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	39.0	30.77%
GeForce 9800 GX2	37.5	36.00%
GeForce 9800 GT	36.0	41.67%
GeForce GTX 280	35.5	43.66%
Radeon HD 3870	34.9	46.13%