Futuremark 3DMark06 build 1.0.2

It is the Radeon X1950 XTX CrossFire system that has the highest 3DMark06 score, outperforming the GeForce 8800 GTX by 199 points. Let’s examine this in more detail.

The GeForce 8800 GTX, GeForce 7900 GTX SLI and Radeon X1950 XTX CrossFire have similar results in the SM2.0 tests, yet the new graphics card is somewhat slower than the others.

The SM3.0/HDR tests are a more favorable environment for the GeForce 8800 GTX and it takes second place here. It scores 218 points less than the leading Radeon X1950 XTX CrossFire.

The GeForce 8800 GTX is unrivalled here because the first SM2.0 test is similar to 3DMark05’s first game test and needs a high fill rate from the graphics card. As our theoretical tests showed, the new graphics card from Nvidia has no rivals in this parameter.

The GeForce 8800 GTX is slower than the Radeon X1950 XTX CrossFire in the second SM2.0 test in spite of our using FSAA. We can’t name the reason precisely, but we suspect that low performance of the GeForce 8800 in some tests may be due to incorrect operation of the scheduler that is responsible for allotting the streamed processors of the G80 chip for shaders of different types.

In the first SM3.0/HDR test the GeForce 8800 GTX cannot take first place among graphics solutions that support FSAA and FP HDR simultaneously.

It’s the same in the second SM3.0/HDR test: the Nvidia card is ahead of the single Radeon X1950 XTX, but slower than the Radeon X1950 XTX CrossFire system.

Thus, 3DMark06’s overall scores seem to be well deserved. It is only in the first SM2.0 test that the senior model from Nvidia’s new graphics card family takes first place. The ATI Radeon X1950 XTX CrossFire wins the rest of the tests.