3DMark03 measures performance by simulating games written to DirectX 9, which are contemporary games. We run this program in three resolutions, 1024x768x32, 1280x1024x32 and 1600x1200x32, first without antialiasing and anisotropic filtering, and then configuring antialising at 4x and anisotropic filtering also at 4x. 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.

At a resolution of 1024x768 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 4.18% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 13.60% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 18.92% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 22.29% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 39.28% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 46.56% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 67.14% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 71.13% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 84.05% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 94.03% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 114.27% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 222.49% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 278.66% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 350.72% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1800 XT achieved a performance similar to XFX GeForce 7800 GTX.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 3.22% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 6.59% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 18.62% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 22.25% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 26.48% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 47.63% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 55.98% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 85.32% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 87.89% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 93.40% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 115.94% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 143.79% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 268.71% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 336.29% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 420.34% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 6.16% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 9.46% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 22.97% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 27.82% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 50.49% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 59.46% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 103.04% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 105.96% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 111.47% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 131.70% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 173.01% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 301.46% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 404.50% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 498.27% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1800 XT achieved a performance similar to XFX GeForce 7800 GTX.

At a resolution of 1024x768 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 6.69% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 10.68% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 17.84% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 22.11% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 35.53% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 58.82% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 78.62% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 120.75% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 130.67% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 134.16% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 163.08% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 222.16% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 362.11% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 458.95% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 556.45% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 12.84% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 17.03% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 24.84% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 32.29% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 44.15% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 74.98% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 101.87% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 141.53% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 158.35% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 160.43% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 255.32% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 268.79% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 504.54% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 569.87% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 646.70% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1800 XT was 14.08% faster than XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, 19.78% faster than MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, 25.39% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 26.81% faster than ATI Radeon X1800 XL, 46.58% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 83.28% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 109.74% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 177.26% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 184.76% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 187.32% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 307.98% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 328.89% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 617.04% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 906.01% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 976.61% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.