3Dmark2001 SE measures video card performance simulating DirectX 8.1 games. It is very effective software for evaluating the performance from previous-generation games, programmed using DirectX 8. In this software we run six tests. We run the software in three resolutions, 1024x768x32, 1280x1024x32 and 1600x1200x32, first without antialiasing and with no frame buffer, then we put the antialiasing at 4 samples and the frame buffer at triple-buffering. This improves the video quality but lowers the performance. We were willing to see how much performance we lost by putting the VGA to run at the maximum possible image quality. It is important to notice that ATI chips can run at 6x antialiasing. Since nVidia chips cannot run at this configuration, we had to use 4x antialiasing to use a configuration that is valid to all video cards included in our bechmarks, allowing direct comparison between them.

You may be asking yourself why we added an old program in a review of a latest generation  video card. To us, it is as important to know the performance of a video card with the latest games as it is to know its performance in an older game. That’s why we kept this software in our methodology.

At a resolution of 1024x768 without any image quality enhancement, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX was 4.86% faster than GeForce 6800 GT, 12.97% faster than Radeon X700 Pro, 17.71% faster than GeForce 6600 GT, 45.72% faster than Radeon X600 XT, 48.93% faster than GeForce 6600 and 67.77% faster than Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was beaten only by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 9.30% faster.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 without any image quality enhancement, GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was 8.79% faster than GeForce 6800 GT, 27.57% faster than Radeon X700 Pro, 29.69% faster than GeForce 6600 GT, 75.88% faster than GeForce 6600, 77.90% faster than Radeon X600 XT and 111.74% faster than X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was beaten only by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 4.05% faster.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 without any image quality enhancement, GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX achieved performance similar to Radeon X850 XT P.E. and was 12.61% faster than GeForce 6800 GT, 38.02% faster than GeForce 6600 GT, 48.34% faster than Radeon X700 Pro, 108.63% faster than GeForce 6600, 132.50% faster than Radeon X600 XT and 180.87% faster than Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1024x768 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX achieved performance similar to Radeon X850 XT P.E. and was 15.33% faster than GeForce 6800 GT, 25.89% faster than Radeon X700 Pro, 45.38% faster than GeForce 6600 GT, 103.97% faster than Radeon X600 XT, 122.02% faster than GeForce 6600 and 141.44% faster than Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was 14.45% faster than GeForce 6800 GT, 41.16% faster than Radeon X700 Pro, 66.43% faster than GeForce 6600 GT, 152.39% faster than Radeon X600 XT, 188.53% faster than GeForce 6600 and 203.27% faster than Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was beaten only by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 5.70% faster.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 enabling image quality enhancements, GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was 32.41% faster than GeForce 6800 GT, 65.56% faster than Radeon X700 Pro, 136.60% faster than GeForce 6600 GT, 340.22% faster than GeForce 6600, 388.71% faster than Radeon X600 XT and 501.04% faster than Radeon X600 Pro.

GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX was beaten only by Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 4.06% faster.