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 X1600 XT was 10.01% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 24.99% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 31.97% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 72.94% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 73.78% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 193.42% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 248.29% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 265.64% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved a performance similar to GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked).

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 44.70% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 39.39% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 36.02% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 29.65% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 27.09% faster and ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 14.85% faster.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1600 XT was 9.08% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 27.98% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 34.46% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 81.31% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 108.74% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 224.46% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 292.79% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 311.79% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved a performance similar to GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked).

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 59.95% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 53.68% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 48.52% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 35.96% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 34.74% faster and ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 16.03% faster.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 without any image quality enhancement, ATI Radeon X1600 XT was 9.22% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 38.93% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 39.27% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 88.71% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 167.09% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 257.63% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 314.74% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 376.84% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved a performance similar to GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked).

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT which was 73.64% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 65.58% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 59.09% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 41.77% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 41.74% faster and ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 16.44% faster.

At a resolution of 1024x768 enabling image quality enhancements, ATI Radeon X1600 XT was 10.05% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 15.58% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 27.09% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 82.44% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 216.39% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 292.29% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro, 335.51% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 350.94% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved a performance similar to GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked).

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT which was 66.70% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 54.15% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 48.62% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 44.25% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 36.52% faster and ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 22.08% 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 X1600 XT was 10.98% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 31.27% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 32.49% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 91.35% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 310.34% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 467.13% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

 ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved a performance similar to GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked).

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 83.31% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 64.16% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 57.39% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 49.17% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 41.55% faster and ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 22.25% 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 X1600 XT was 18.41% faster than nVidia GeForce 6800 GT, 35.73% faster than HIS Radeon X800 GT, 35.94% faster than PowerColor Radeon X800 GT, 92.43% faster than Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, 348.90% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 675.37% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

ATI Radeon X1600 XT achieved a performance similar to GeCube Radeon X800 GTO (which is factory-overclocked).

ATI Radeon X1600 XT was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 100.00% faster, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 63.77% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 59.04% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 57.64% faster, nVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 41.68% faster and ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 25.76% faster.