3DMark03
- Author: MadOnion/Futuremark
- DirectX Class: 9.0
- Pixel and Vertex Shaders: Yes (all tests) PS1.1/1.4/2.0
Performance parity at the default resolution with no AA or AF applied, a slight performance win for the ASUS V9980 when things get a little tougher to render. I don't use the v340 patch or 53.03 Forceware drivers here, make note. Performance takes a dip for 5950 Ultra using that combination of patch and driver set, handing the easy win to 9800XT.
Given that 3DMark03 is pretty prophetic in terms of giving us a performance running order, despite synthetic benchmark roots, analysis over time has shown it to stand up well. Here are the Pixel Shader 2.0 test results.
Don't be fooled, the pixel shader performance of the V9980 isn't that impressive in the real world. NV38's pixel shader problems are well documented and with v340 and 53.03, PS2.0 performance drops in this test, but Vertex Shader performance gets a decent boost.
Given the increasing number of games that are making good use of the effects afforded to developers, by means of DX9's PS2.0 shader spec (as well as the fragment shader ARB extension when using OpenGL), 5950 Ultra won't be as competitive in future titles, compared to 9800XT. ATI's GPU remains the future looking GPU of choice for most. Not too bad though, and NVIDIA's shader compiler still seeks to optimise for the GPU in future revisions, providing NVIDIA stick to their own recent rules about optimising shaders.
