X-bit labs

The Fast and Furious: ATI Radeon X1900 XTX Review (page 39)

Category: Video

by Anton Shilov , Alexey Stepin

[ 01/24/2006 | 08:28 PM ]

Futuremark 3DMark06

Total scores

The new Radeon X1900 XTX doesn’t look like an indisputable winner if we compare the overall 3DMark06 scores: it scores a mere 103 points more than the GeForce 7800 GTX 512. However, the results of the new benchmark from Futuremark should not only be considered wholly, but also separately, i.e. by the two sections, Shader Model 2.0 and Shader Model 3.0/HDR.

The Radeon X1800 XT’s 16 pixel shader processors don’t cope with the load the SM 2.0 graphics tests put on it. It is only with 32 such processors more that the Radeon X1000 architecture becomes as fast as the GeForce 7800 GTX 512. It seems that the involved shaders are not very complex for the GeForce 7 architecture, yet they are numerous enough for the number of computational devices to matter much.

The SM3.0/HDR graphics tests are more sophisticated and there is a gap between the Radeon X1900 XTX and the GeForce 7800 GTX 512, even though surprisingly small. It is probably due to the second SM3.0 graphics test which is rather simple compared with the first one.

Let’s examine the results of each test independently on the next page.