gainward geforce fx 5900 ultra 1600XP 256mb golden sample

Test Setup:

Hardware:
Gainward Geforce FX 5900 Ultra 256Mb
ATI and Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb (for comparison results using Catalyst 3.7)
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (333fsb) at 2088mhz
Abit NF7-S rev 2.0
2x256mb DDR 333 (Twinmos)
IBM Deskstar 120gxp 40GB 7200rpm Hard Drive connected via ABIT Serillel ATA.
Sony CRX300E DVD/CDRW
Sony Floppy Drive
Mercury 400W PSU
AOC 19” 9GLR CRT

Software:
Windows XP, SP1a
Direct X 9.0b
Detonator 45.23 WHQL
Nforce driver’s v2.45
3d Mark 2001SE
3d Mark 2003 build 330
Splinter Cell V1.2
Unreal Tournament 2003 build 2225
Elite Force 2
Tomb Raider : Angel Of Darkness v49
Aquamark3

The test system was built from scratch, a format of the hard drive was performed (NTFS) and then Windows XP was installed. Following the completion of the install the N-force drivers were installed. The only updates applied were SP1a and Direct X 9.0b. Following a reboot the detonator 45.23 drivers were installed and all graphics options were set to best image quality. Next the benchmarking tools were installed and finally the hard drive was de-fragmented.

For all tests the ATI and Nvidia drivers were set to best image quality.

Good Benchmarking Practice:
Each benchmark was performed 3 times and the middle result for each resolution/setting is shown in the tables which follow. After changing any Anti-Aliasing (AA) or Anisotropic Filtering (AF) setting and before a benchmark was run the system was rebooted.

BENCHMARKING:
3dmark2001 SE is a very popular benchmark that has been broadly used to evaluate Microsoft's Direct X 8.0 and 8.1 graphics hardware. This test is primarily composed of fixed-function DX7-style rendering, with a selection of DX8-style pixel shaders included on a few specific tests.

	Settings	1024x768 0aa0af	1024x768 2aa8af	1280x960 0aa0af	1280x960 2aa8af	1600x1200 0aa0af	1600x1200 2aa8af
*Card*
5900 Ultra		13040 Marks	10875 marks	11796 marks	9438 marks	10359 marks	7823 marks
9800 Pro		14674 Marks	12702 Marks	13610 Marks	10294 marks	11455 marks	8213 marks

At all settings the Radeon was well ahead off the 5900 Ultra in this benchmark, at some points almost 2000 3DMarks separated the two cards.

click image to visit Futuremark

3dmark03 is the newest benchmark from Futuremark, and the only benchmark in common use that is designed specifically for Direct X 9.0 graphics hardware.

This test is especially challenging in that it exerts a heavy pixel shader and vertex shader load on the graphics adapter. Today's popular game titles still tend to use a fixed-function DX7 style of rendering, with a few optional shaders thrown in for special effects. While the current crop of game-based benchmarks can be made to create a heavy fillrate load (by increasing resolution and adding AA and/or AF), they do not stress the portions of the graphics processor that will become critical in next-generation titles - the shader engines.

3dmark03 contains multiple scenes that are completely shader-driven and as such is highly valuable as a forward-looking benchmark test.

	Settings	1024x768 0aa0af	1024x768 2aa8af	1280x960 0aa0af	1280x960 2aa8af	1600x1200 0aa0af	1600x1200 2aa8af
*Card*
5900 Ultra		5494 Marks	3769 marks	4445 marks	2884 marks	3442 marks	2093 marks
9800 Pro		5496 Marks	3731 Marks	4261 Marks	2825 marks	3209 marks	2097 marks

Some interesting results in the 3dmark03 tests, the Radeon scores higher than the FX at lowest and highest settings however the FX is well ahead at 1280x960 and 1600x1200 with no AA or AF.

As a side issue, it will be interesting to see how futuremarks recent announcement about driver optimisations affects the results in future drivers.
http://www.futuremark.com/pressroom/pressreleases/?092303