Alienware Aurora ALX Gaming System Review
3DMark06 and Vantage
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3DMark06 is a hard-core, forward-looking 3D rending benchmark that pushes a system and its GPUs to the limits. The test includes Shader Model 2.0, Shader Model 3.0, and HDR tests. To push the system, scenes are rendered with very high geometric detail and shader complexity, and with extensive use of lighting and soft shadows. The maximum shader length 3DMark06 supports is 512 instructions. The 3DMark06 Overall Score is a weighted average based on the SM 2.0 and HDR / SM3.0, and CPU scores. |
Sporting a pair of the fastest GPUs on the planet, we figured the Aurora ALX would score well in our gaming benchmarks. Our synthetic gaming results show the Aurora ALX easily outpacing the comparison systems in 3DMark06. Here, it beats the GTX 295 powered Gamer Extreme system by 11% and the Gamer Paladin by 19%.
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The latest version of Futuremark's synthetic 3D gaming benchmark, 3DMark Vantage, is specifically bound to Windows Vista-based systems because it uses some advanced visual technologies that are only available with DirectX 10, which isn't available on previous versions of Windows. 3DMark Vantage isn't simply a port of 3DMark06 to DirectX 10 though. With this latest version of the benchmark, Futuremark has incorporated two new graphics tests, two new CPU tests, several new feature tests, in addition to support for the latest PC hardware. We tested the graphics cards here with 3DMark Vantage's Performance preset option, which uses a resolution of 1280x1024 |
Here we have another strong showing for the Aurora ALX. Alienware's gaming system scored the highest overall 3DMark Vantage score in this group and beat the next fastest system by over 400 points. The huge difference in CPU score is due to the PhsX capabilities of the comparison systems which used NVIDIA-based videocards.
