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 X1600 XT was 6.63% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 11.10% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 14.74% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 37.45% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 40.57% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 58.35% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved a performance similar to HIS Radeon X800 GT and nVidia GeForce 6800 GT.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which  was 15.80% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which  was 14.43% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which  was 10.03% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which  was 8.17% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which  was 5.95% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which  was 5.93% faster, and GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), which  was 3.82% faster.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1600 XT was 6.87% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 8.17% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 9.97% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 49.13% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 50.83% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 79.53% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 23.72% faster, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 22.72% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 18.18% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 17.94% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 16.25% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 14.47% faster, nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, which was 8.42% faster, GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), which was 8.40% faster, and HIS Radeon X800 GT, which was 6.35% faster.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1600 XT was 5.75% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 13.66% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 59.85% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 78.14% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 115.20% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved a performance similar to PowerColor Radeon X800 GT.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 38.02% faster, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 33.84% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 31.12% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 30.52% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 26.99% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 25.27% faster, nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, which was 15.90% faster, GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), which was 13.88% faster and HIS Radeon X800 GT, which was 7.02% faster.

At a resolution of 1024x768 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1600 XT was 6.92% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 8.94% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 23.46% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 73.22% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 88.55%  faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 105.04% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved a performance similar to nVidia GeForce 6800 GT and HIS Radeon X800 GT.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 23.46% faster than, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 21.20% faster than, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 17.75% faster than, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 16.85% faster than, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 14.10% faster than, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 8.92% faster than and GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), which was 3.63% faster than.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1600 XT was 11.88% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 31.91% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 100.04% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT, 128.68% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 140.36% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved a performance similar to HIS Radeon X800 GT and PowerColor Radeon X800 GT.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 39.91% faster, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 33.36% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 30.33% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 26.17% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 23.76% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 17.85% faster, nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, which was 9.28% faster and GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), which was 6.48% faster.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1600 XT was 27.33% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 136.90% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 163.00% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 223.45% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 114.62% faster, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 93.37% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 92.35% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 85.82% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 82.25% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 71.05% faster, GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked), which was 44.42% faster, nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, which was 40.34% faster, PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, which was 28.92% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GT, which was 26.46% faster and Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, which was 12.17% faster.