Performance in Semi-Synthetic Benchmarks

Aquamark3

Aquamark3 is not a very hard trial, and graphics cards do not have to argue which is better at executing complex pixel shaders here. More important for this benchmark is the ability to remove invisible surfaces and the performance of the GPU?s vertex processors. The PowerColor X800 GTO VIVO is everywhere a little slower than the GeForce 6800 GS because the GPU of the latter card has only 5 vertex processors against 6 in the R430. The RADEON X1600 XT performs but poorly. Although ATI improved the invisible surface removal algorithm in the RV530, they also equipped that GPU with only four texture-mapping units which become a bottleneck in many applications. Moreover, the RADEON X1000 architecture is generally oriented at executing complex version 3.0 pixel shaders which do not occur in Aquamark3.