3DMark06 is the latest version of 3DMark franchise, measuring Shader 3.0 (i.e., DirectX 9.0c) performance. We run this software on its default configuration (1280x1024 resolution with no image quality settings enabled), checking the CPU batch results for comparison.

To be honest, 3D performance nowadays depends much more on the video card used than on the system CPU. This is so true that Athlon 64 FX-62, Athlon 64 FX-60 and Athlon 64 X2 5000+ achieved the same performance level on this test, while Athlon 64 FX-62 was 17.41% faster than Athlon 64 3800+.

When comparing the results for the CPU tests alone, Athlon 64 FX-62 was 8.39% faster than Athlon 64 FX-60, 10.64% faster than Athlon 64 X2 5000+, 16.76% faster than Athlon 64 X2 4600+ and 124.66% faster than Athlon 64 3800+. Once again, this shows how the improvement on CPU performance won’t probably reflect on a higher 3D performance (however, as we’ve seen from the overall score, dual-core will reflect on a higher 3D performance compared to single-core technology).