Dell XPS M1710 Notebook
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;) 3DMark05 |
3DMark05 is the part of a long line of synthetic 3D graphics benchmarks, dating back to late 1998. 3DMark05 is a synthetic benchmark that requires a DirectX 9.0 compliant video card, with support for Pixel Shaders 2.0 or higher, to render all of the various modules that comprise the suite. To generate its final "score", 3DMark05 runs three different simulated game tests and uses each test's framerate in the final tabulation. Fillrate, Memory bandwidth, and compute performance especially all have a measurable impact on performance in this benchmark. We ran 3DMark05's default test (1,024 x 768) on all of the cards and configurations we tested, and have the overall results posted for you below. |
One glimpse at the results above and we quickly begin to see the true performance differences between the GeForce Go 7900 GS and the flagship GeForce 7900 GTX. Here, the XPS M1710's single GeForce Go 7900 GTX delivers a final score which is more than 2,000 points higher than the Alienware system featuring a single GeForce Go 7900 GS. Only when two GeForce Go 7900 GS GPU's are present in an SLI configuration can the Dell system be bested in terms of performance. As expected, the systems featuring lesser GPU's or integrated graphics are blown out of the water by these high performance notebooks.
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;) 3DMark06 |
Futuremark recently launched a brand-new version of their popular benchmark, 3DMark06. The new version of the benchmark is updated in a number of ways, and now includes not only Shader Model 2.0 tests, but Shader Model 3.0 and HDR tests as well. Some of the assets from 3DMark05 have been re-used, but the scenes are now rendered with much more geometric detail and the shader complexity is vastly increased as well. Max shader length in 3DMark05 was 96 instructions, while 3DMark06 ups the number of instructions to 512. 3DMark06 also employs much more lighting, and there is extensive use of soft shadows. With 3DMark06, Futuremark has also updated how the final score is tabulated. In this latest version of the benchmark, SM 2.0 and HDR / SM3.0 tests are weighted and the CPU score is factored into the final tally as well. |
Given the added complexity and texture sizes 3DMark06 has over its predecessor, it is not surprising to see the Dell XPS M1710 giving the Alienware SLI notebook a serious run for its money. Here, the GeForce Go 7900 GTX's 512MB of memory combines with the architectural and clock speed advantages over the GeForce Go 7900 GS to turn in a score which is nearly 5,000 points. Were we able to have accessed a driver which could hold overclocked frequencies without resetting to default speeds, we are positive we could have broken the 5,000 point barrier with the Dell system.
