Video cards

3DMark06 Advanced Performance

3DMark06 Advanced is the latest version of this popular 3DMark series of gaming benchmarks from Futuremark, and is the first to showcase new HDR/SM3.0 and SM2.0 graphics tests, as well as offering multi-core tailored CPU tests. The Feature tests have also been enhanced for the newest 3D support, and helps provide reliable measurements for game hardware of today and tomorrow. This is one very serious performance test, which punishes cards that do not fully support HDR/SM3.0 or SM2.0, and really puts video hardware to the next-generation test. In this review, we will be concentrating on the individual benchmark tests covering fill rate, vertex and pixel shading, SM2.0/SM3.0 results, and the individual Shader Particles and Perlin Noise SM3.0 tests.

3DMark06 Advanced Fill Rate Performance

The first part of our 3DMark06 Advanced testing utilizes the Feature Test portion of the benchmark (at the standard 1280x1024 resolution), and concentrates on the Fill Rate performance. This chart shows the cards ranked by Fill Rate performance, with the number displayed representing MTexels/second.

The Fill Rate benchmark tests have the Gigabyte GeForce 8500 GT 256MB posting a nice score in the single-texturing test, outperforming both the GeForce 7600 GS and Radeon X1650XT 256MB cards. The news isn't so good on the multi-texturing side, as the Gigabyte GeForce 8500 GT posts the lowest score of the group.

3DMark06 Advanced Vertex and Pixel Shader Performance

The 3DMark06 Advanced Pixel and Vertex Shader benchmark is another area that the advanced SM4.0 architecture of the Gigabyte GeForce 8500 GT could really pay off. The Pixel Shader scores are good for its class, but the Vertex Shader results are second only to the GeForce 8600 GTS.

3DMark06 Advanced SM2.0 & SM3.0/HDR Performance

The SM2.0 & SM3.0/HDR benchmark tests do not mimic the shader testing, but the Gigabyte GeForce 8500 GT 256MB still performs higher than its class, and competes well with the Radeon X1650 XT and GeForce 7600 GT.

3DMark06 Advanced Shader Particles & Perlin Noise SM3.0 Performance

The last 3DMark section includes the Shader Particles and Perlin Noise benchmarks, which are both SM3.0 shader tests. The Gigabyte GeForce 8500 GT 256MB posts a nice score in the Perlin Noise test, but finishes second next to the GeForce 8600 GTS in the Shader particles benchmark. Please note that the ATI Radeon X1000 cards cannot complete the Shader particles testing and are given an "n/a" rating.