Research Level

As noted before, advanced render paths have little effect on performance of our demo that reflects the gaming process. While it is possible to record a sequence to exaggerate the effect of Shader Model 2.0b and Shader Model 3.0 render paths, we believe it makes more sense to learn the real effect rather than a kind of synthetic result.

Note: minimal fps are marked with white numbers on the diagrams, black numbers represent average fps.

Neither of the RADEON X800-series graphics processors got any substantial performance boost with the more technology-advanced rendering method. As a result, we have no surprises here: RADEON X800 XT leads all the way, GeForce 6800 Ultra and GeForce 6800 GT follow the leader, while the RADEON X800 PRO is behind all. Performance of the GeForce 6800 drops as a result of slow memory amid not very effective RAM management, as a consequence, the RADEON 9800 XT is a bit faster.