3DMark05 measures performance by simulating DirectX 9.0c games, i.e. using the new Shader 3.0 model. This programming model is used by Far Cry game and other games to be launched in the future. This new programming model is used by GeForce 6 and 7 series from nVidia and Radeon X1000 series from ATI.

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 benchmark, allowing direct comparison between them.

At a resolution of 1024x768 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 12.89% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 29.65% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 31.55% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 42.63% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 62.06% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 71.10% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 124.22% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 125.31% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 280.42% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 351.57% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 374.07% 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 11.61% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 7.51% faster, and MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 4.91% faster.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 17.17% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 35.96% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 38.95% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 48.30% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 74.00% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 82.82% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 146.52% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 183.80% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 341.14% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 434.04% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 459.88% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

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 17.64% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 13.04% faster, and MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 9.24% faster. 

At a resolution of 1600x1200 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 21.72% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 41.74% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 45.57% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 54.80% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 96.91% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 97.40% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 167.47% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 278.56% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 406.89% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 487.84% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 575.85% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

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 22.51% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 16.82% faster, and MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 12.25% faster.

At a resolution of 1024x768 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 5.67% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 18.17% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 40.86% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 44.25% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 58.76% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 66.73% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 83.33% aster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 163.17% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 356.41% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 465.90% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro, 528.24% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 550.50% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

ATI Radeon X1800 XL was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 15.56% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 6.86% faster, and MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 3.03% faster.

To run at 1280x1024 enabling image quality enhancements on 3DMark05 the video card must have at least 256 MB of memory, because of that some video cards couldn’t run this test. Here ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 5.38% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 22.02% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 48.71% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 49.17% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 65.54% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 95.82% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 97.63% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 185.42% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 512.08% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 745.96% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

ATI Radeon X1800 XL was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 22.89% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 10.05% faster, and MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 5.51% faster.

To run at 1600x1200 enabling image quality enhancements on 3DMark05 the video card must have at least 256 MB of memory, because of that some video cards couldn’t run this test. Here ATI Radeon X1800 XL was 12.25% faster than nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, 26.47% faster than ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., 55.45% faster than GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), 59.04% faster than ATI Radeon X1600 XT, 88.31% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 115.86% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 116.20% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 206.04% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 613.92% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 1.133.14% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

ATI Radeon X1800 XL achieved a performance similar to XFX GeForce 7800 GTX and MSI GeForce 7800 GTX.

ATI Radeon X1800 XL was beaten only by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 25.76% faster.