Direct3D performance still lacks a benchmark that's on the level of Quake3 for OpenGL testing. Mad Onion's 3D Mark 2000 is the best one going. If you don't have it, you should go get it.

Most fans of 3dfx will instantly throw out the T&L bias line any time 3DMark2000 is used, but it's not NVIDIA's fault for including the T&L support in the test. However it is 3dfx's fault not including the T&L feature in their cards. Moreover, I notice sites (including ours) that have run the benchmark without the D3D T&L option enabled. I say in for a dime, in for a dollar. If it's there, I'm using it.

3D Mark 2000 does include the handy online result browser (ORB). I thought about setting up a spiffy table, but the ORB is so good I decided to use it.

3DMark2000 - 16-Bit Color Results

Yet another chart...

3DMark2000 - 32-Bit Color Results

Pay attention to the key numbers presented here. You can see the effects of memory bandwidth limitations by examining the 16-bit multi-texturing fillrates against the 32-bit results. However, despite the limitations, I have yet to see any other graphics chip beat 580MPixels/sec in 32 bit color.

Here comes the part on FSAA with a definition of playable resolution.

Next Page: Conclusion - Part Two