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	45.30%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	8725	8.39%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	8050
GeForce GTX 280	7695	4.61%
GeForce 9800 GX2	6990	15.16%
Radeon HD 4870	6193	29.99%
GeForce GTX 260	5898	36.49%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	5651	42.45%
Radeon HD 4850	4797	67.81%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	4499	78.93%
Radeon HD 4830	4220	90.76%
GeForce 9800 GTX	3805	111.56%
GeForce 9800 GT	3691	118.10%
Radeon HD 3870	2977	170.41%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1920x1200 - Performance	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	9472	49.05%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	6545	2.99%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	6355
GeForce GTX 280	6106	4.08%
GeForce 9800 GX2	5379	18.14%
Radeon HD 4870	4880	30.23%
GeForce GTX 260	4582	38.69%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	4336	46.56%
Radeon HD 4850	3725	70.60%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	3370	88.58%
Radeon HD 4830	3301	92.52%
GeForce 9800 GT	2951	115.35%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2891	119.82%
Radeon HD 3870	2269	180.08%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 2560x1600 - Performance	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	5542	32.05%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	4197
GeForce GTX 280	3549	18.26%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	3482	20.53%
GeForce 9800 GX2	2910	44.23%
Radeon HD 4870	2728	53.85%
GeForce GTX 260	2640	58.98%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	2382	76.20%
Radeon HD 4850	2050	104.73%
Radeon HD 4830	1837	128.47%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	1815	131.24%
GeForce 9800 GT	1638	156.23%
GeForce 9800 GTX	1557	169.56%
Radeon HD 3870	1244	237.38%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1680x1050 - Extreme	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	8405	22.54%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	6859
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	6195	10.72%
GeForce GTX 280	6005	14.22%
GeForce 9800 GX2	4858	41.19%
GeForce GTX 260	4531	51.38%
Radeon HD 4870	4360	57.32%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	3567	92.29%
Radeon HD 4850	3445	99.10%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	3201	114.28%
Radeon HD 4830	2982	130.01%
GeForce 9800 GT	2741	150.24%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2703	153.76%
Radeon HD 3870	1855	269.76%

3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1 - 1920x1200 - Extreme	Score	Difference
Radeon HD 4870 X2	6916	24.52%
Radeon HD 4850 X2	5554
GeForce GTX 280	4732	17.37%
GeForce 9800 GTX+ SLI	4415	25.80%
GeForce GTX 260	3576	55.31%
GeForce 9800 GX2	3508	58.32%
Radeon HD 4870	3490	59.14%
Radeon HD 4850	2753	101.74%
Sapphire Atomic Radeon HD 3870 X2	2669	108.09%
GeForce 9800 GTX+	2399	131.51%
Radeon HD 4830	2349	136.44%
GeForce 9800 GT	2136	160.02%
GeForce 9800 GTX	2038	172.52%
Radeon HD 3870	1439	285.96%