Indy3D is an OpenGL MCAD (Mechanical Computer Aided Design) benchmarking application which is geared toward animation and visual simulation professionals.

The Annihilator Pro and the GeForce SDR run neck-in-neck with the MCAD40, MCAD150, and Animation benchmarks probably due to the large number of polygons present in the tests. However, in the Simulation test, where only 7,260 polygons are used, the Annihilator Pro shows a 44% increase in frame rate, from 51 to 73 fps, over the GeForce SDR.

The Annihilator Pro easily overtook the GeForce SDR in the fill rate tests.

Update: February 5, 2000

I've added additional benchmark results for the Annihilator Pro based on adding spotlights to the MCAD40 and MCAD150 tests. The results, which appear towards the bottom of this page, show that after adding a third spotlight, polygon throughput decreased over 30% and 50% respectively in the MCAD40 and MCAD150 tests. After adding a sixth spotlight, polygon throughput decreased over 100% in both tests.

The Indy3D benchmarks used in this review consist of the following tests all of which are rendered in a 1024x768@24bpp window:

• MCAD40 - consists of approximately 42,267 meshed, z-buffered, Gouraud-shaded, lit polygons.
• MCAD150 - consists of approximately 150,248 meshed, z-buffered, Gouraud-shaded, lit polygons.
• Animation - illustrates a human animation via a "walking man" figure created by Westwood Studios. Each figure consists of 22,342 meshed, z-buffered, Gouraud-shaded, bilinear filtered, fogged, lit polygons.
• Simulation - simulates a sailboat, designed by SENSE8, moving through the San Francisco Bay. The default test consists of 7,260 meshed, z-buffered, Gouraud-shaded, translucent, fogged, trilinear filtered, MIP mapped lit polygons.
• Fill Rate - consists of 3 seperate tests of fill rate by rendering polygons with various texture modes.

MCAD 40	MCAD 150
Animation	Simulation

The GeForce SDR and Annihilator Pro failed the Indy3D fixed rate tests. Also, the Annihilator Pro provided results for the polygon rate test whereas the GeForce SDR didn't. These are more than likely the result of driver related issues.

Indy3D also generates a web page for benchmark results:

GeForce SDR Results

Annihilator Pro Results

Indy3D Benchmark Results - 1024x768@24bpp

Indy3D Fill Rate Results - 1024x768@24bpp

Measured in Mpixels/sec

To stress the GeForce's lighting processor on the Annihilator Pro, spotlights were added to each MCAD40 and MCAD150 scene. Indy 3D supports a maximum of 6 spotlights and these results are reported in polygons rendered per second.

Unlike the official Indy 3D results, where 1/3 of the MCAD scores are based on running in an antialiased wireframe mode, this test is based entirely on polygon throughput.

MCAD40 - 3 Spotlights

MCAD40 - 6 Spotlights

Indy 3D Lighting Stress - 1024x768@24bpp

Measured in Polygons/sec per # of Spotlights

Next Page: Expendable Benchmarks