Performance in Synthetic Benchmarks

Futuremark 3DMark03 build 360

As is known, the Game 1 test from 3DMark03 testing suite uses only fixed TnL functions, and the other two tests use dynamic stencil shadows, which puts GeForce 6/7 into more favorable conditions. Only high working frequencies help RADEON X1800 XT to perform close to GeForce 7800 GTX. But as for RADEON X1800 XL, it cannot boast the same weapon, so it loses about 1000 points to the 20-pipeline GeForce 7800 GT. Now let’s see how the new ATI solutions behave in each of the 3DMark03 tests.

The new graphics card family doesn’t show its best in the applications using the fixed TnL functions: if in 1024x768 RADEON X1800 XT manages to retain its leading position, then in higher resolutions its performance drops down to the level of GeForce 7800 GTX. This is only true for modes with disabled FSAA. Once FSAA is enabled, the newcomer catches up with GeForce 7800 GTX due to the new memory controller with Ring Bus architecture. As for the RADEON X1800 XL, throughout the entire test session it yields not only to GeForce 7800 GT, but also to GeForce 6800 Ultra.

It is evident that the new ATI graphics solutions do not feel quite at home in applications using pixel shaders 2.0 and up. I assume, however, that the situation might improve once the new CATALYST driver version is out.

Game 2 benchmark uses normal maps and dynamic stencil shadows. The maximum shader versions it supports are 1.4 and 1.1 for pixel and vertex shaders respectively. RADEON X1800 XT again wins only thanks to super high clock frequencies: this is the conclusion we make after checking out the RADEON X1800 XL results.

Nevertheless, the result close to GeForce 7800 GT is not such a bad result for the XL model, I should say. It has only 16 pixel pipelines against 20 by the NVIDIA solution.

In eye candy mode with enabled FSAA and anisotropic filtering both RADEON X1800 solutions feel much better already: for example in 1600x1200 RADEON X1800 XL runs as fast as GeForce 7800 GTX. Nothing to be surprised at, actually: work modes with enabled anti-aliasing have always been one of RADEON’s trumps, and now ATI’s solutions feel even more confident in these modes due to the new advanced memory controller.