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	80.87%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	8050	24.48%
GeForce GTX 280	7695	18.99%
GeForce 9800 GX2	6990	8.09%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	6467
Radeon HD 4870	6193	4.42%
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	5898	9.65%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	5651	14.44%
Radeon HD 4850	4797	34.81%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	4499	43.74%
Radeon HD 4830	4220	53.25%
GeForce 9800 GTX	3805	69.96%
GeForce 9800 GT	3691	75.21%
Radeon HD 3870	2977	117.23%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1920x1200 - Performance	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	9472	86.31%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	6355	25.00%
GeForce GTX 280	6106	20.10%
GeForce 9800 GX2	5379	5.80%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	5084
Radeon HD 4870	4880	4.18%
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	4582	10.96%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	4336	17.25%
Radeon HD 4850	3725	36.48%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	3370	50.86%
Radeon HD 4830	3301	54.01%
GeForce 9800 GT	2951	72.28%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2891	75.86%
Radeon HD 3870	2269	124.06%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 2560x1600 - Performance	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	5542	89.34%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	4197	43.39%
GeForce GTX 280	3549	21.25%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	2927
GeForce 9800 GX2	2910	0.58%
Radeon HD 4870	2728	7.29%
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	2640	10.87%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	2382	22.88%
Radeon HD 4850	2050	42.78%
Radeon HD 4830	1837	59.34%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	1815	61.27%
GeForce 9800 GT	1638	78.69%
GeForce 9800 GTX	1557	87.99%
Radeon HD 3870	1244	135.29%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1680x1050 - Extreme	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	8405	66.27%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	6859	35.69%
GeForce GTX 280	6005	18.79%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	5055
GeForce 9800 GX2	4858	4.06%
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	4531	11.56%
Radeon HD 4870	4360	15.94%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	3567	41.72%
Radeon HD 4850	3445	46.73%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	3201	57.92%
Radeon HD 4830	2982	69.52%
GeForce 9800 GT	2741	84.42%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2703	87.01%
Radeon HD 3870	1855	172.51%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1920x1200 - Extreme	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	6916	74.91%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	5554	40.47%
GeForce GTX 280	4732	19.68%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	3954
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	3576	10.57%
GeForce 9800 GX2	3508	12.71%
Radeon HD 4870	3490	13.30%
Radeon HD 4850	2753	43.63%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	2669	48.15%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	2399	64.82%
Radeon HD 4830	2349	68.33%
GeForce 9800 GT	2136	85.11%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2038	94.01%
Radeon HD 3870	1439	174.77%