3DMark 2001SE
3DMark 2001SE creates an excellent balance between the work done by the PC's subsystem and the graphics card, especially at 1024x768x32. It's still a solid tool for judging how one generation of card supercedes another. Firstly 1024x768x32.
In a few of the tests we are fundamentally CPU-limited. The 9800 Pro chalks up the very first victory with comparative ease. It's ~ 1100 mark increase over the 9700 Pro is almost exclusively down to the two GPU-intensive tests, Dragothic and Nature respectively. The lobby tests are almost identical, as one would expect, and the car tests gain a little from the extra horsepower of the 380/680-equipped 9800 Pro. I feel it's a pure clock speed gain here.
Now 1280x1024x32
The massive 500MHz core of the FX takes it past the standard 9700 Pro, as we're getting slowly card-limited here. The 9800 Pro, on the other hand, simply extends its lead due to a faster core and greater bandwidth on offer when compared to that of the 9700 series.
The more card-limited the test becomes (without AA or AF), the more the FX Ultra pulls away from the 9700 Pro. The 9800 Pro takes this benchmark with comparative ease.
