Call of Duty 4 is a DirectX 9 game implementing high-dynamic range (HDR) and its own physics engine, which is used to calculate how objects interact. For example, if you shoot, what exactly will hapen to the object when the bullet hits it? Will it break? Will it move? Will the bullet bounce back? It gives a more realistic experience to the user.

We ran this program at three 16:10 widescreen resolutions, 1680x1050, 1920x1200, and 2560x1600, maxing out all image quality controls (i.e., everything was put on the maximum values on the Graphics and Texture menus). We used the game internal benchmarking feature, running a demo provided by NVIDIA called “wetwork.” We are putting this demo for downloading here if you want to run your own benchmarks. The game was updated to version 1.6. The results below are the average number of frames per second (FPS) achieved by each card.

Call of Duty 4 - 1680x1050 - Maximum	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	134.6	46.62%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	120.0	30.72%
GeForce 9800 GX2	106.2	15.69%
GeForce GTX 280	105.3	14.71%
Radeon HD 4870	93.4	1.74%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	91.8
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	91.0	0.88%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	75.7	21.27%
Radeon HD 4850	72.4	26.80%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	72.2	27.15%
GeForce 9800 GTX	69.1	32.85%
Radeon HD 4830	65.8	39.51%
GeForce 9800 GT	61.3	49.76%
Radeon HD 3870	43.0	113.49%

Call of Duty 4 - 1920x1200 - Maximum	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	120.6	49.44%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	105.7	30.98%
GeForce 9800 GX2	94.5	17.10%
GeForce GTX 280	91.7	13.63%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	80.7
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	77.1	4.67%
Radeon HD 4870	76.4	5.63%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	61.3	31.65%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	59.5	35.63%
Radeon HD 4850	59.1	36.55%
GeForce 9800 GTX	57.7	39.86%
Radeon HD 4830	52.6	53.42%
GeForce 9800 GT	50.8	58.86%
Radeon HD 3870	35.4	127.97%

Call of Duty 4 - 2560x1600 - Maximum	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	83.8	51.54%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	70.5	27.49%
GeForce 9800 GX2	64.8	17.18%
GeForce GTX 280	64.8	17.18%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	55.3
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	53.5	3.36%
Radeon HD 4870	48.1	14.97%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	40.6	36.21%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	39.7	39.29%
GeForce 9800 GTX	38.3	44.39%
Radeon HD 4850	36.7	50.68%
Radeon HD 4830	33.4	65.57%
GeForce 9800 GT	33.3	66.07%
Radeon HD 3870	22.4	146.88%