Futuremark 3DMark06 build 120

Although 3DMark06 is a more contemporary and more complex benchmark than 3DMark05, GeCube Radeon X1900 XTX yields to GeForce 7900 GTX with standard test settings. There is nothing really surprising about it: the fillrate of the Nvidia’s flagship product is much higher. As for the pixel shader processing speed, Nvidia’s solution ran mostly as fast as Radeon X1900 XTX 9and sometimes even faster). And as for FSAA, it is not enabled in 3DMark test suites by default. Besides, the total 3DMark06 score results from the SM2.0 and SM3.0/HDR test scores, which should be considered separately.

The SM2.0 tests cannot let Radeon X1000 architecture show its real best. The fillrate parameter is of primary importance here as well as shader 2.0 processing speed. As a result, GeForce 7900 GTX is a stable leader in this test, while GeCube Radeon X1900 XTX has to put up with the second prize.

The result in SM3.0/HDR is just the opposite, which is also quite logical keeping in mind the 48 pixel processors of the GeCube Radeon X1900 XTX solution. At the same time, Radeon X1900 XT that differs from our hero by slightly lower GPU and memory working frequencies, yields to GeForce 7900 GTX and sometimes even to GeForce 7800 GTX 512. Unfortunately, we cannot perform a totally fair comparison between ATI and Nvidia solutions in test modes with enabled FSAA, because Nvidia’s babies cannot use FSAA and HDR at the same time.

GeForce 7900 GTX beats GeCube Radeon X1900 XTX in the first two resolutions. The memory performance starts mattering more in 1600x1200, and this is an indisputable trump of the Radeon X1900 XTX. So, when it doesn’t outperform GeForce 7900 GTX, it at least retains convincing parity with the rival.

Unlike the first test, the second test is not so demanding to the texturing speed: the scene is not so big and the 24 TMUs of the GeForce 7900 GTX working at 650MHz frequency remain practically unused. GeCube Radeon X1900 XTX keeps its leading position in this test, although it is just a little bit – only 5% - ahead of the Radeon X1900 XT in 1600x1200 resolution.

So, looks like GeForce 7900 GTX owes its victory to the first benchmark that is more demanding to the fillrate.