Test System Setup

Processor(s): Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.8GHz (190MHz x 20)
Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P (Supplied by Noctua)
Motherboard(s): GIGABYTE EX58-UD5 (Supplied by GIGABYTE)
Memory: 3 X 2GB OCZ Technology PC-12800 DDR-3 8-8-8-24 (OCZ3G1600LV6GK)
Hard Disk(s): Western Digital 300GB Velicorapter (Supplied by Western Digital)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 64-Bit
Drivers: ATI Catalyst 9.9 and ATI Catalyst 9.8

With no performance promises and a small list of bug fixes we're not expecting heaps from this driver release.

Windows 7 and the 5800 series are just around the corner so we hope that ATI's focus is on that at the moment.

3DMark Vantage

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.0.1
Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmarkvantage/
Buy It Here

3DMark Vantage is the new industry standard PC gaming performance benchmark from Futuremark, newly designed for Windows Vista and DirectX10. It includes two new graphics tests, two new CPU tests, several new feature tests, and support for the latest hardware.

3DMark Vantage is based on a completely new rendering engine, developed specifically to take full advantage of DirectX10, the new graphics API from Microsoft.

HD 4850: In our P test we can see a bump in performance.

HD 4870 X2: We see a small jump in the X test and a bigger one in the P test.

HD 4890: While we see a slight jump in performance in our X test we see a bigger one in our P test.