XFX GTX 280 Review

Testing:

3DMark06 is one of the benchmarks that always comes up when a bragging contest breaks out. 3DMark06 presents a severe test for many of today's hardware components. Let's see how this setup fares. The settings we will use are listed below.

Settings:

• SM2.0 Graphics Tests: GT1- Return to Proxycon, GT2- Firefly Forest
• CPU Tests: Cpu1- Red Valley, CPU2- Red Valley
• HDR/SM3.0 Graphics Tests: HDR1- Canyon Flight, HDR2- Deep Freeze

There is no comparison between the GTX 280 and the single GPU cards tested. The G92-based 9800GTX and 8800GTS come close at the lowest resolution, but after that, it's a bloodbath. Unfortunately, the GTX 280 was beaten at every resolution by the dual GPU cards, but on a positive note, it was only 530 points behind the 9800GX2 at 1920x1200. The 3870X2 had a very strong showing and increased its performance with a newer driver. Overall, the GTX 280 just blows away the single GPU cards at higher resolutions and puts up a tough fight against the multi GPU cards. Pretty impressive for a single GPU card!