Testing – Futuremark
The first testing I did was with Futuremark gaming benchmarks. I used the Graphics test of PCMark05, 3DMark06, and 3DMark Vantage. I compared the Sapphire HD 5850 with a geForce GTX 260. The GTX 260 was significantly more powerful than the Radeon HD 4850, and cost about $150 more when released. Prices have dropped to below $200 for the reference models and this 1792MB version runs about $220. Yeah, it’s cheaper than the HD 5850, but uses more power and doesn’t support DX11. Plus, it was the graphics card I was using at the time. I ran the HD 5850 both at stock clock and at my overclock.
The Radeon HD 5850 beat the GTX 260 in all three tests. But, ATI cards seem to do better with Futuremark testing, so we’ll be able to tell more with the gaming tests.