Test System Setup

Processor(s): Intel 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: Windows XP Professional SP2, Windows Vista SP1 64-Bit

Drivers: Catalyst 9.1, ForceWare 182.06

Since we're fortunate enough to have two of these cards with us today, we will be taking the time to see how they perform not only in single card form, but also in SLI.

As for comparisons, we will be seeing how the card goes against the new top card from NVIDIA, the GTX 295, which is essentially two GTX 260s on a single card. We'll also take the time to see how the single and dual-card setup compares against the HD 4870 and HD 4870 X2 from ATI.

So without further ado, let's get the benchmarks rolling.

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.

The Leadtek GTX 260 EXTREME+ performs well straight out of the gate compared to the HD 4870. With a second installed, performance jumps considerably higher again, offering the performance of a single GTX 295.