X-bit labs

NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX: Monstrous Gaming Performance Unleashed (page 19)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin

[ 06/23/2005 | 04:11 PM ]

Futuremark 3DMark05 build 120

Two new records in 3DMark05, too: more than 7,000 points as a single card and 10,000 points in the “SLI” nomination. Such numbers have only been available to inveterate overclockers until today who would use liquid or even Freon-based cooling systems for their experiments.

The first test from 3DMark05 is a typical sci-fi 3D shooter. Dynamic shadows of this test are generated using a normal map with 2048x2048 resolution. Also used are Normal Mapped Bump-mapping and per-pixel lighting. There are eight light sources in total. The test is relatively simple, so the GeForce 7800 GTX isn’t far ahead of the RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition in the “pure speed” mode.

By the way, it is the first time we see a playable frame rate in 3DMark05 – all thanks to the GeForce 7800 GTX SLI solution. If this scene were a real shooter, you would even be able to play it with 4x FSAA – made possible by the combined power of two new-generation graphics cards from NVIDIA!

The second test mostly loads the vertex processors of the graphics card: there is rich vegetation on screen here, with dynamic shadows and various lighting effects. The GeForce 7800 GTX is much better than the RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition. The test is more complex than the first one, so even the SLI configuration of two GeForce 7800 GTX cannot deliver even 40fps.

The third test shows a scene with a fantastic airship flying over a water surface and it is the hardest of all 3DMark05’s tests. Realistic reflections and refractions are created for the water along with the so-called depth fog effect (objects deep in water look more blurry). This alone puts a huge load on the pixel processors, but there are also the canyon walls in the scene, and it takes almost all instructions from Shader Model 2.0 to render them. The walls aren’t smooth, so there are also shadows to be rendered. The entire scene is created in six passes – no wonder it can bring any graphics card to its knees.

But the GeForce 7800 GTX has prodigious mathematical skills. The card easily handles even this scene and leaves its opponents far behind. The efficiency of SLI technology reaches its zenith here: the total power of 48 pixel processors would make this scene comfortably playable if it were to occur in a real game.