Fallout 3 8xAA

Fallout 3 Performance 1920x1200
Card	Min FPS	Max FPS
GeForce GTX 280	35	65
GeForce GTX 260	29	57
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216	31	58
GeForce 9800 GTX+	22	40
GeForce 9800 GTX	19	34
GeForce 880 Ultra	27	44
GeForce 8800 GTX	24	40
Radeon HD 4870 X2	44	85
Radeon HD 4870 1GB	31	60
Radeon HD 4870 512MB	25	43
Radeon HD 4850 512MB	18	38

Notes

The Radeon 4870 X2 continues to be CPU-bound under 8xAA. Again, this is very impressive considering the graphics settings we’re running as well as the Intel CPU we’re using for testing. The GeForce GTX 280 also delivers very playable frame rates under 8xAA at 1600x1200 and 1920x1200, although by 2560x1600 performance begins to become too choppy.

ATI’s Radeon 4870 1GB puts up a stronger showing under 8xAA. It now runs faster than both GeForce GTX 260 GPUs, and nearly performs evenly with the GTX 280 at 2560x1600. The GTX 260 Core 216 then runs 3-11% slower than the 4870 1GB. The GTX 260 continues to run around 3% slower than the 216-core GTX 260 GPU.

Interestingly enough, we see a pretty significant performance gap between the Radeon 4870 512MB and the 1GB board. At just 1600x1200 with 8xAA the margin is a surprising 9% and it grows from there. At 1920x1200 the gap grows to 24%. The Radeon 4850 also puts up a stronger showing under 8xAA, outrunning the 9800 GTX in our testing. Despite their age, the GeForce 8800 cards also continue to perform well.