So, we turn off color writes, but enable Z writes:

This mode puts no limits onto the GPUs and they are free to show us a fill-rate close to their theoretical maximum. It’s no wonder then that the RADEON 9600 XT wins the test as its core is working at 500MHz frequency. The GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, clocked at 475MHz, grabs at the second place.

This test program supports shaders, too, in all the three modes:

The Megahertz matter! The new GPUs are obviously faster than their predecessors.

No surprises here. The RADEON 9600 XT once again confirms its superiority.

When color writes are disabled, the situation changes dramatically. The NVIDIA cards don’t lose in performance anymore when executing a simple version 2.0 shader. The two new chips are again faster than their predecessors – high frequency is a thing to count for! Note the curious fact that the software optimization helped the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra to catch up with and even outperform the ATI RADEON 9600 PRO somewhere.