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, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 3.99% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX,  5.79% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 8.00% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 8.02% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 10.22% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 11.98% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 13.25% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 14.43% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 22.01% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 27.12% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 31.29% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 57.28% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 60.85% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 81.20% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1800 XT achieved a performance similar to ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 4.69% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 4.90% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 6.42% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 8.08% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 14.11% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 14.13% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 16.33% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 23.72% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 32.21% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 33.82% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 36.05% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 84.50% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 86.61% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 122.11% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1800 XT achieved a performance similar to ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 3.12% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 5.26% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 5.75% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 8.68% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 10.18% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 19.08% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 21.19% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 28.96% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 36.81% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 38.02% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 45.95% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 56.86% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 120.62% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 145.86% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 197.01% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1024x768 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 4.85% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 5.65% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 8.20% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 13.35% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 19.13% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 20.92% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 23.46% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 26.66% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 32.00% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 34.50% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 52.42% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 113.86% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 132.78% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 153.14% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1800 XT achieved a performance similar to ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 4.92% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 7.35% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 10.89% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 13.05% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 18.72% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 28.03% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 31.39% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 39.91% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 41.74% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 42.80% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 56.54% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 84.55% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 179.88% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 219.95% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 236.30% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 10.99% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 11.58% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 15.50% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 17.76% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 25.47% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 48.61% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 52.93% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 66.47% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 69.72% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 91.33% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 114.62% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 173.26% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 408.43% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 464.43% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 594.17% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.