Introduction
S1
ATI rolled out a unified driver for Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows
7 Beta last week, intimating Vista-matching performance for the new
operating system whose release candidate is scheduled for the end of
May 2009.
Windows 7 uses an updated driver model, WDDM v1.1, and ATI's confident
that its drivers are up to scratch right now.
We
took a look at Vista
and 7 performance on an ultra-high-end Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB
card,
finding that, in our gaming suite at least, ATI's claims were borne
true.
Choosing the twin-GPU 'X2 as a worst-case driver scenario, comparing it
against the GeForce GTX 295, ATI's performance was more consistent.
However, these £300-plus cards are few and far between, so,
today, we take another look at Vista vs. 7 performance, but with a
Radeon HD 4870 1GB vs. GeForce GTX 260 896MB - with both cards now shipping
at around £175.
Read on to find out who is better in the real enthusiast gaming space.