GeForce GTX 280 vs Radeon HD 4870 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the Radeon HD 4870 1GB, which features core speeds of 750 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 800(160x5) SPUs as well as 40 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Avatar

Settings:	Ultra High Quality
AA:	8x
AF:	none
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 280		38 FPS
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		33 FPS
	Difference: 5 FPS (15%)

Battlefield Bad Company 2

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 280		36 FPS
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		33 FPS
	Difference: 3 FPS (9%)

F.E.A.R. 2

Settings:	Maximum Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Unknown (Source)

Radeon HD 4870 1GB		78 FPS
GeForce GTX 280		73 FPS
	Difference: 5 FPS (7%)

Fallout 3

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 280		65 FPS
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		58 FPS
	Difference: 7 FPS (12%)

Fallout 3

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1680x1050
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

GeForce GTX 280		84 FPS
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		74 FPS
	Difference: 10 FPS (14%)

Left4Dead

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 4870 1GB		74 FPS
GeForce GTX 280		71 FPS
	Difference: 3 FPS (4%)

Left4Dead

Settings:	Very High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

GeForce GTX 280		89 FPS
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		80 FPS
	Difference: 9 FPS (11%)

Left4Dead 2

Settings:	Very High
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 280		80 FPS
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		80 FPS
	Difference: 0 FPS (0%)

Mass Effect 2

Settings:	Maximum Quality
AA:	none
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

GeForce GTX 280		117 FPS
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		98 FPS
	Difference: 19 FPS (19%)

Supreme Commander 2

Settings:	High
AA:	8x
AF:	16x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 4870 1GB		57 FPS
GeForce GTX 280		38 FPS
	Difference: 19 FPS (50%)

Tom Clancy's Endwar

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1920x1200
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Test Machine (Source)

Radeon HD 4870 1GB		30 FPS
GeForce GTX 280		28 FPS
	Difference: 2 FPS (7%)

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X

Settings:	High Quality
AA:	4x
AF:	8x
Resolution:	1680x1050
Test Machine:	Tom's Hardware Charts Test Rig (Source)

GeForce GTX 280		57 FPS
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		36 FPS
	Difference: 21 FPS (58%)

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GeForce GTX 280 wins

(Based entirely on the benchmarks listed above)

When combining all game benchmark scores on this page together, the GeForce GTX 280 wins overall, by 45 FPS. Please note that we do not have the results of every benchmark ever done for these cards, so the results may differ wildly in different games.

GeForce GTX 280		776 FPS
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		731 FPS
	Difference: 45 FPS (6%)

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 4870 1GB		150 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 86 Watts (57%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 280 should be 23% faster than the Radeon HD 4870 1GB in general, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		115200 MB/sec
	Difference: 26496 (23%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 should be quite a bit (about 61%) better at texture filtering than the Radeon HD 4870 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		30000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 18160 (61%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 280 is superior to the Radeon HD 4870 1GB, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 4870 1GB		12000 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7264 (61%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.