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3DMark 2003/2005 Professional The latest in the 3DMark benchmark series built by Futuremark Corporation (formerly known as MadOnion.com). More than 5 million benchmark results have been submitted to Futuremarks Online ResultBrowser database. It has become a point of great prestige to be the holder of the highest 3DMark score. A compelling, easy-to-use interface has made 3DMark very popular among game enthusiasts. Futuremarks latest benchmark, 3DMark03, continues this tradition by providing a Microsoft DirectX 9 benchmark.
The introduction of DirectX 9 and new hardware shader technologies put a lot of power in the hands of game developers. Increasingly realistic 3D games will be available over the next year and a half. The use of 3D graphics will become more accessible to other applications areas and even operating systems. In this new environment, 3DMark03 will serve as a tool for benchmarking 3D graphics.
This benchmark is not based on any game. Please remember this, never buy a graphics card based solely on the 3DMark score. I'm not bashing the 3D Mark suite here, it's good software but definitely not the sole basis for you to make an informed decision for buying a graphics card. Especially after what happened in 2003. For the sake of it I'm including a few scores. Well you have to admit, the importance of these results can be discussed in many way and varieties, yet according to one of our recent polls what you want to see are the scores and the scores are simply fantastic.
| 3DMark03 | default | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200 |
| 6800 128 MB | 9248 | 4861 | 3330 | 2396 |
| x800Pro PowerColor | 10460 | 5639 | 4195 | 3257 |
| 6800GT | 11548 | 6639 | 4758 | 3660 |
| 6800U | 12282 | 6804 | 5082 | 3913 |
| x800XT | 12343 | 6848 | 5143 | 3982 |
Since these results divert from FPS results let me explain how to read them. Default is the standard 1024x768 test run from FutureMark. Then you'll see 1024x768 up-to 1600x1200. These are the numbers measured with 4xAA and 8xAF enabled. The card is exactly where it should be.
As you know 3DMark05 has been released also. At this point we are still trying out a lot of things with that new software. I'm in conflict wether or not we should use the unofficial beta drivers as supplied by ATI or not. We setup the policy to use WHQL Reference drivers only. With reference drivers you'll see a score of 4000, with the new beta's roughly 4500. GeForce 6800 GT will result in roughly 4500 and the Ultra in 5000.
More 3DMark05 results in future tests.
