The second test mostly loads the vertex processors of the card as there’s a lot of dynamically generated vegetation here. The PowerColor can do geometry processing well enough: its 6 vertex processors clocked at 540MHz easily beat the GeForce 6800 Ultra in both test modes.

The third test is terribly difficult both math1ematically and texturally. There are reflections, refractions and depth fog on the water surface. The walls of the canyon are generated with a shader that uses up almost all of the Shader Model 2.0 specification. The realistic shadows are just the last drop to knock out any graphics card, maybe save for the new-generation GeForce 7800 GTX solution.

Well, the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP is fast enough, outperforming the GeForce 6800 Ultra in the “pure speed” mode.

The PowerColor isn’t brilliant in the “eye candy” mode, but doesn’t lose this test to the GeForce 6800 GT, nonetheless.

The overall result is correct again: the PowerColor X850 XT Platinum Edition AGP wins all the three game tests of 3DMark05.