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 XL was 17.12% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 23.24% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 40.55% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 43.90% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 54.76% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 63.16% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 80.18% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 171.18% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 218.41% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 279.01% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

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

ATI Radeon X1800 XL was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 18.92% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 17.73% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 14.15% faster and nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 4.69% faster.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 3.46% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 20.77% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 27.60% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 51.60% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 53.69% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 58.21% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 76.64% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 99.42% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 201.61% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 256.89% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 325.65% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1800 XL was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 22.25% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 18.43% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 14.69% faster and nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 3.06% faster.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 3.95% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 22.38% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 29.68% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 65.12% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 67.49% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 71.97% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 88.43% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 122.02% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 226.47% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 310.28% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 386.53% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1800 XL was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 22.97% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 20.29% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 15.83% faster and nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 12.34% faster.

At a resolution of 1024x768 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 3.62% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 15.01% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 34.77% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 51.58% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 87.32% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 95.74% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 98.70% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 123.25% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 173.38% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 292.14% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 374.31% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 457.05% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1800 XL was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 17.84% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 10.46% faster, and MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 6.48% faster. 

At a resolution of 1280x1024 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 5.96% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 15.47% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 40.16% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 61.70% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 93.46% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 106.94% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 108.60% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 184.61% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 195.40% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 384.24% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 436.57% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 498.10% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1800 XL was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 24.84% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 10.64% faster, and MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 6.68% faster.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 15.59% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 44.52% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 65.39% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 118.64% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 124.56% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 126.57% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 221.72% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 238.21% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 465.43% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 693.31% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 748.98% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1800 XL achieved a performance similar to nVidia GeForce 7800 GT.

ATI Radeon X1800 XL was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 26.81% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 11.16% faster, and MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 5.87% faster.