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3DMark 2001 and 3DMark03 |
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Synthetic Gaming |
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For our next series of tests, we chose Futuremark's 3DMark 2001 SE and the newer
3DMark03. Both of these benchmarks render a variety
of scenes, using DirectX 8 and 9 vertex and pixel shaders. We ran
both of these benchmarks on each configuration at a resolution of 1024x768 with 32-bit color, with all other settings left at their defaults.
The MSI 865PE Neo2 takes a
surprising lead in both versions of 3DMark, surpassing the
Asus P4P800 by a few percent in each test. The
placement of the boards was the same after that, with the
Abit IS7 placing third, then the Albatron 865PE Pro II,
and finally the Chaintech 9PJL. The grouping of the
scores in 3DMark03 was very close, as the rating is highly
dependent on the video card used. 3DMark 2001 showed
a little more disparity, with 750 points separating the
first and last boards, a 6% delta in performance.
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More Gaming: Comanche 4 and Quake 3 |
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Some "In-Game" Numbers... |
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Now that we
have seen some synthetic gaming benchmarks, we felt it was
time to try the "real thing". That is, we took two
games that have built-in testing modes, which will show us
the average frame rate during game play. Comanche 4
is a DirectX benchmark that is highly CPU and Memory
bandwidth dependent. For testing purposes, we ran
the Demo version at 800x600x32, but disabled the audio.
Quake 3 Arena is everyone's favorite OpenGL benchmark,
used in reviews seemingly since the dawn of time.
Although a bit dated, it still can be used to give
reliable comparisons of system performance. Since
the frame rates can get quite high, we maxed out the
graphical settings, and ran "demo four" at a resolution of
1024x768 with 32-bit color and textures.
The Comanche 4 benchmark
greatly benefits from the high memory bandwidth that the
Abit and Asus boards provide. In fact, the bar
graph for this benchmark mirrors the PCMark and Sandra
memory tests with the Asus and Abit numbers 1 and 2,
respectively, followed next by the MSI and Albatron
boards, and Chaintech bringing up the rear.
Performance wise, the Asus P4P800 is three frames faster
that the Chaintech 9PJL, translating to a 6% faster frame
rate.
Quake 3 had MSI return back to the top of the gaming
charts, over three frames per second faster than the close
grouping of the three 'A's; Asus, Albatron, and Abit.
Once again, Chaintech was seen at the lower end of the
spectrum.
The Ratings and our
top choice
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