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
GeForce GTX 295	13992
Radeon HD 4870 X2	11697	19.62%
EVGA GeForce GTX 285 FTW	10420	34.28%
GeForce GTX 285	9391	48.99%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	8050	73.81%
GeForce GTX 280	7695	81.83%
GeForce 9800 GX2	6990	100.17%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	6467	116.36%
Radeon HD 4870	6193	125.93%
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	5898	137.23%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	5651	147.60%
Radeon HD 4850	4797	191.68%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	4499	211.00%
Radeon HD 4830	4220	231.56%
GeForce 9800 GTX	3805	267.73%
GeForce 9800 GT	3691	279.08%
Radeon HD 3870	2977	370.00%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1920x1200 - Performance	Score	Difference
GeForce GTX 295	11317
Radeon HD 4870 X2	9472	19.48%
EVGA GeForce GTX 285 FTW	8292	36.48%
GeForce GTX 285	7384	53.26%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	6355	78.08%
GeForce GTX 280	6106	85.34%
GeForce 9800 GX2	5379	110.39%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	5084	122.60%
Radeon HD 4870	4880	131.91%
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	4582	146.99%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	4336	161.00%
Radeon HD 4850	3725	203.81%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	3370	235.82%
Radeon HD 4830	3301	242.84%
GeForce 9800 GT	2951	283.50%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2891	291.46%
Radeon HD 3870	2269	398.77%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 2560x1600 - Performance	Score	Difference
GeForce GTX 295	6474
Radeon HD 4870 X2	5542	16.82%
EVGA GeForce GTX 285 FTW	4756	36.12%
GeForce GTX 285	4259	52.01%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	4197	54.25%
GeForce GTX 280	3549	82.42%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	2927	121.18%
GeForce 9800 GX2	2910	122.47%
Radeon HD 4870	2728	137.32%
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	2640	145.23%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	2382	171.79%
Radeon HD 4850	2050	215.80%
Radeon HD 4830	1837	252.42%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	1815	256.69%
GeForce 9800 GT	1638	295.24%
GeForce 9800 GTX	1557	315.80%
Radeon HD 3870	1244	420.42%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1680x1050 - Extreme	Score	Difference
GeForce GTX 295	11091
Radeon HD 4870 X2	8405	31.96%
EVGA GeForce GTX 285 FTW	8093	37.04%
GeForce GTX 285	7253	52.92%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	6859	61.70%
GeForce GTX 280	6005	84.70%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	5055	119.41%
GeForce 9800 GX2	4858	128.30%
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	4531	144.78%
Radeon HD 4870	4360	154.38%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	3567	210.93%
Radeon HD 4850	3445	221.94%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	3201	246.49%
Radeon HD 4830	2982	271.93%
GeForce 9800 GT	2741	304.63%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2703	310.32%
Radeon HD 3870	1855	497.90%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1920x1200 - Extreme	Score	Difference
GeForce GTX 295	8727
Radeon HD 4870 X2	6916	26.19%
EVGA GeForce GTX 285 FTW	6420	35.93%
GeForce GTX 285	5745	51.91%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	5554	57.13%
GeForce GTX 280	4732	84.43%
GeForce GTX 260 (216 Proc.)	3954	120.71%
GeForce GTX 260 (192 Proc.)	3576	144.04%
GeForce 9800 GX2	3508	148.77%
Radeon HD 4870	3490	150.06%
Radeon HD 4850	2753	217.00%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	2669	226.98%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	2399	263.78%
Radeon HD 4830	2349	271.52%
GeForce 9800 GT	2136	308.57%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2038	328.21%
Radeon HD 3870	1439	506.46%