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, XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was 54.61% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 83.53% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT and 92.67% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro. Keep in mind that XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB was running at 400 MHz (core) and 800 MHz (memory), while its rival, Albatron GeForce 6600, was running at 300 MHz (core) and 500 MHz (memory).

XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 174.60% faster, ATI Radeon X1900 XTX, which was 165.48% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 158.14% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 146.05% faster, NVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 141.18% faster, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 117.95% faster, ATI Radeon X1600 XT, which was 89.77% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GS, which was 87.87% faster, HIS Radeon X1600 XT, which was 86.58% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GT, which was 72.51% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GTO, which was 63.54% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GT, which was 51.83% faster, Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, which was 9.73% faster and XFX GeForce 6600 GT, which was 9.20% faster.

At a resolution of 1280x1024 without any image quality enhancement, XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was 7.36% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 66.88% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 102.02% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 111.79% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT. Keep in mind that XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB was running at 400 MHz (core) and 800 MHz (memory) , while its rival, Albatron GeForce 6600, was running at 300 MHz (core) and 500 MHz (memory).

XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was beaten by ATI Radeon X1900 XTX, which was 218.85% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 210.99% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 188.77% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 164.35% faster, NVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 161.97% faster, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 125.61% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GS, which was 96.57% faster, ATI Radeon X1600 XT, which was 94.43% faster, HIS Radeon X1600 XT, which was 91.43% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GT, which was 78.25% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GTO, which was 65.59% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GT, which was 51.93% faster and Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, which was 7.23% faster.

At a resolution of 1600x1200 without any image quality enhancement, XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was 38.13% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 84.96% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600, 114.50% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 146.61% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT. Keep in mind that XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB was running at 400 MHz (core) and 800 MHz (memory), while its rival, Albatron GeForce 6600, was running at 300 MHz (core) and 500 MHz (memory).

XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) achieved a performance similar to Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro.

XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was beaten by ATI Radeon X1900 XTX, which was 273.02% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 235.74% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 207.62% faster, NVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 174.11% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 174.05% faster, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 125.14% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GS, which was 97.88% faster, ATI Radeon X1600 XT, which was 93.36% faster, HIS Radeon X1600 XT, which was 90.21% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GT, which was 77.03% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GTO, which was 63.57% faster and HIS Radeon X800 GT, which was 39.18% faster.

At a resolution of 1024x768 enabling image quality enhancements, XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was 59.60% faster than XFX GeForce 6600 GT, 97.88% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro, 119.68% faster than Albatron GeForce 6600 and 127.46% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT. Keep in mind that XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB was running at 400 MHz (core) and 800 MHz (memory), while its rival, Albatron GeForce 6600, was running at 300 MHz (core) and 500 MHz (memory).

XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was beaten by ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 230.48% faster, ATI Radeon X1900 XTX, which was 227.02% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 194.64% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 185.98% faster, NVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 170.64% faster, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 142.02% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GS, which was 100.00% faster, ATI Radeon X1600 XT, which was 98.25% faster, HIS Radeon X1600 XT, which was 93.28% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GT, which was 80.14% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GTO, which was 77.95% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GT, which was 71.52% faster and Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, which was 8.67% 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 XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was 100.37% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 276.94% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT.

XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was beaten by ATI Radeon X1900 XTX, which was 308.39% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 275.39% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 222.31% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 205.47% faster, NVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 189.87% faster, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 150.34% faster, ATI Radeon X1600 XT, which was 104.79% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GS, which was 104.23% faster, HIS Radeon X1600 XT, which was 99.81% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GT, which was 84.52% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GTO, which was 79.68% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GT, which was 56.00% faster and Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, which was 7.02% 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 XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was 113.75% faster than Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro and 269.21% faster than ATI Radeon X600 XT,

XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB (which is factory-overclocked) was beaten by ATI Radeon X1900 XTX, which was 396.66% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XT, which was 320.02% faster, ATI Radeon X1800 XL, which was 234.00% faster, MSI GeForce 7800 GTX, which was 231.06% faster, NVidia GeForce 7800 GT, which was 197.54% faster, ATI Radeon X850 XT P.E., which was 164.10% faster, ATI Radeon X1600 XT, which was 110.01% faster, HIS Radeon X1600 XT, which was 105.48% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GTO, which was 87.85% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GS, which was 77.52% faster, NVidia GeForce 6800 GT, which was 77.36% faster, HIS Radeon X800 GT, which was 54.73% faster and Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro, which was 9.13% faster.