3DMark 2001SE and 3DMark03
3DMark 2001SE b330 first. Backed up by the enormous gaming power of the Athlon 64 Model 3400+ CPU, even midrange cards can crash through the 15,000-mark barrier.3DMark 2001SE b330
- Author: MadOnion/Futuremark
- DirectX Class: 8.1
- Pixel and Vertex Shaders: Yes (Nature test) PS1.1/1.4
Not quite 15,000 marks at the default test here. Remember that the Radeon 9600XT is now positioned to retail at just over the £100 mark. We'd also look towards midrange cards doing well at 1024x768x32 and 4x antialiasing and 8x anisotropic filtering. This is the kind of setting they were designed for. 3DMark 2001SE is a DirectX8.1 test, and, as such, doesn't punish the GPU quite as heavily as newer benchmarks. That job is admirably taken up by 3DMark03, so let's take a look.
3DMark03 b340
- Author: MadOnion/Futuremark
- DirectX Class: 9.0
- Pixel and Vertex Shaders: Yes (all tests) PS1.1/1.4/2.0
Talk about a close grouping of results. We find it difficult to tell a 20% final mark difference visually, so all three cards are inseparable. If performance is similar, value for money becomes far more important, and the PowerColor Radeon 9600XT Bravo scores points here, especially with its nod towards VIVO functionality.
