Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²! (216) Edition

Written by Tim Smalley

October 22, 2008 | 08:24

Tags: #216 #260 #article #card #consumption #cores #edition #evaluation #geforce #gtx #overclocking #performance #power #processors #review #stream

Companies: #test #zotac

Half Life 2: Episode Two

Publisher: Valve

As one part of our game of the year 2007, Half-Life 2: Episode Two set a new high in narrative and gameplay for the series. Using Valve's widely used, albeit not overly hardware intensive, Source engine that also features as a part of legendary games like Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2 and Portal, we were keen to feature its performance here too.

The Source engine is the most scalable engine we test. While it still supports only DirectX 9.0, it features effects like dynamic lighting with HDR effects, motion blur, advanced Havok Physics and high model details.

Episode Two took Half-Life outside into large open environments for the first time and we test with Gordon running through a large open level that combines forest and houses, with explosions and physics.

All in game detail settings are set to their highest levels, with HDR enabled, and for anti-aliasing MSAA was used where both settings were set from inside the game.

Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²! (216) Edition Half-Life 2: Episode Two Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²! (216) Edition Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

1680x1050 4xAA, 16xAF, DX9, Maximum Detail

  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 280
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²!
  • BFG Tech GeForce GTX 260 OCX Maxcore
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260+
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP!
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
  • ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
  • ATI Radeon HD 4850
  • Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+
  • Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
    • 157.0
    • 147.0
    • 140.0
    • 140.0
    • 137.0
    • 134.0
    • 133.0
    • 131.0
    • 131.0
    • 115.0
    • 107.0
    • 105.0
    • 86.0
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
Frames Per Second
  • Average

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

1680x1050 8xAA, 16xAF, DX9, Maximum Detail

  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 280
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB
  • BFG Tech GeForce GTX 260 OCX Maxcore
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²!
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260+
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP!
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260
  • ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
  • ATI Radeon HD 4850
  • Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+
  • Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
    • 156.0
    • 129.0
    • 123.0
    • 121.0
    • 120.0
    • 119.5
    • 113.0
    • 111.0
    • 106.0
    • 106.0
    • 97.0
    • 80.0
    • 63.0
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
Frames Per Second
  • Average

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

1920x1200 4xAA, 16xAF, DX9, Maximum Detail

  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 280
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²!
  • BFG Tech GeForce GTX 260 OCX Maxcore
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260+
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP!
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260
  • ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
  • ATI Radeon HD 4850
  • Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+
  • Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
    • 148.0
    • 137.0
    • 130.0
    • 130.0
    • 124.0
    • 120.0
    • 116.5
    • 115.0
    • 115.0
    • 99.0
    • 92.0
    • 90.0
    • 72.0
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
Frames Per Second
  • Average

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

1920x1200 8xAA, 16xAF, DX9, Maximum Detail

  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 280
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB
  • BFG Tech GeForce GTX 260 OCX Maxcore
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²!
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP!
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260+
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260
  • ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
  • ATI Radeon HD 4850
  • Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+
  • Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
    • 146.0
    • 112.0
    • 108.0
    • 106.0
    • 104.0
    • 104.0
    • 98.0
    • 97.5
    • 92.0
    • 91.0
    • 83.0
    • 67.0
    • 53.0
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
Frames Per Second
  • Average

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

2560x1600, 4xAA, 16xAF, DX9, Maximum Detail

  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 280
  • BFG Tech GeForce GTX 260 OCX Maxcore
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²!
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP!
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260+
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
  • ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
  • Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+
  • ATI Radeon HD 4850
  • Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
    • 126.0
    • 101.0
    • 92.0
    • 90.0
    • 85.0
    • 84.0
    • 77.0
    • 75.0
    • 72.0
    • 64.0
    • 58.0
    • 57.0
    • 45.0
0
25
50
75
100
125
Frames Per Second
  • Average

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

2560x1600, 8xAA, 16xAF, DX9, Maximum Detail

  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 280
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB
  • BFG Tech GeForce GTX 260 OCX Maxcore
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²!
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
  • Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP!
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260+
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 260
  • ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
  • ATI Radeon HD 4850
  • Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+
  • Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
    • 116.0
    • 76.0
    • 69.0
    • 66.0
    • 64.0
    • 62.0
    • 62.0
    • 60.0
    • 56.0
    • 53.0
    • 49.0
    • 30.0
    • 23.0
0
25
50
75
100
125
Frames Per Second
  • Average

In Half-Life 2: Episode Two, we saw some reasonable gains over the standard GeForce GTX 260. At the settings where it matters most (at 2,560 x 1,600 8xAA where the frame rate is starting to drop), it's around 14 percent faster than the 192 stream processor version and seven percent faster than the 216 stream processor version.

Compared to the Radeon HD 4870 1GB, the Zotac GeForce GTX 260 AMP²! Edition is faster when only 4xAA is applied, but the additional 512MB of memory makes a difference when 8xAA is enabled on the Radeon. For this reason alone, the Radeon HD 4870 1GB is able to accelerate past the pre-overclocked GeForce GTX 260+ cards from Zotac and BFG, delivering roughly eight percent more performance at 2,560 x 1,600 8xAA.
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