System setup and notes
Hardware
- ASUS Extreme EN5900 (PCX5900) 128MB, PCIe X16, 377/702
- ASUS Extreme AX600XT/HTVD 128MB, PCie X16, 499/742
- NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256MB, PCIe, 350/1000
- Intel Pentium 4 550 3.4GHz Prescott CPU, LGA775
- Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz Prescott CPU, S478
- DFI LANPARTY 925X-T2 Alderwood motherboard
- DFI LANPARTY 865PE Springdale motherboard with PAT-enabled BIOS
- 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair DDR2 Twin2X, 4-4-4-12 @ DDR533
- 1GByte (2x512MB Crucial Ballistix PC4000, 2-2-2-5 @ DDR400
- Samcheer 420w PSU
- Intel S478, LGA775 reference coolers
- WD 160JB 160GB hard drive (PATA)
- Dell P991 19" flat-faced CRT monitor
Software
- Windows XP Professional w/SP1
- NVIDIA ForceWare 61.77
- ATI CATALYST 4.8
- Intel 6.01.1006/5.02.1002 chipset drivers
- DirectX 9.0b Runtime
- 3DMark03 v340
- AquaMark3
- Unreal Tournament 2003 Retail (patched up to 2225 - HEXUS custom benchmark)
- Painkiller - HEXUS Custom benchmark
- Call Of Duty - HEXUS Custom benchmark
- Doom 3 - Timedemo 1 - Ultra quality
Notes
No problems to report during installation or operation. Both cards produced excellent 2D image quality via DVI. Benchmarks were conducted at 1024x768, 1280x1024, and 1600x1200. All three resolutions were also run with 4X AntiAliasing and 8X Anisotropic Filtering applied. I've also thrown in a top-end card that highlights what double the midrange cards' asking price offers in the way of increased performance.
