AquaMark3 and X²
AquaMark3- Author: Massive
- DirectX Class: 9.0
- Pixel and Vertex Shaders: Yes (mixed mode, PS1.4 and PS2.0)
- FSAA and AF set via application
AquaMark3 returns an interesting array of results. The NVIDIA-based cards do quite well at the default test setting of 1024x768, but become comparatively unstuck with 4x AA and 8x AF applied. AquaMark3 has always looked more favourably on ATI's DX9 implementation, though. Both AOpen's FX5900XT and the reference FX 5700 Ultra do redeem themselves at the highest, quality-based setting.
X² - The Threat
- Author: Egosoft
- DirectX Class: 9.0
- Pixel and Vertex Shaders: Yes (unknown versions or amount of effects)
- FSAA and AF set via control panel
ATI's Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB card ekes out a substantial advantage in X²- The Threat. The other cards are left to fight it out for second place. GPU speed appears to matter to a larger extent here, so the FX 5700 Ultra's 475MHz core makes up some of the gap that lesser memory bandwidth creates. Still, the AOpen Aeolus FX5900XT returns very decent performance from a sub-£150 card.
