Test Setup

For the purposes of performance testing we'll compare the new Radeon X1800 boards against the X850 XT Platinum Edition to see how much the performance has moved on since ATI's last high end product, as well as an X800 XT, which has very similar performance specifications to the X1800 XL and should give a good gauge of architectural efficiency improvements between the two generations.

Test Systems
CPU AMD Athlon 64 FX-55
[Check Prices]
Motherboard (Reference) ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 Crossfire Edition
RAM 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 DDR400 RAM (OCZ Platinum Rev 2)
[Check Prices]
Network Integrated
PSU Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA
[Check Prices]
Video ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
[Check Prices]		 ATI Radeon X1800 XL 256MB
[Check Prices]		 ATI Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition 256MB
[Check Prices]		 ATI Radeon X800 XT 256MB
[Check Prices]
Video Drivers 8.173.1
OS Windows XP Professional SP2
[Check Prices]
DirectX Runtime DirectX9.0c

Benchmarks

Fill-Rate Benchmark

 Various Tests used
1024x768x32
D3D RightMark Multi-Texture Test
256x256 Texture Size
VS1.1, Fixed Function Pixel Pipeline
Bilinear Filtering
1024x768 Resolution
Geometry Test
High Geometry Profile
Difuse + Specular Lighting Profile
Windowed
Pixel Shader tests
Arithmetic Operation
1024x768 Resolution
ShaderMark V2.1
1024x768 Resolution
Default Settings
GL_Reme 1600x1200 Resolution
VillageMark Default Settings
3DMark03 Game Test 2

Games Benchmarks - DirectX
Unreal Tournament 2004
[Check Prices]		 Firingsquad Custom Demo used
Full Detail Settings
3323 Patch
Application Anisotropic Filtering
Control Panel FSAA
Far Cry
[Check Prices]		 Custom Firingsquad demo
V1.31
"Very High" Graphics Settings
Highest Applicable Shader Model
Application Anisotropic Filtering
Application FSAA (4x)

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
[Check Prices]

Lighthouse Timedemo
European Full Retail Version
V1.04 Patch
Settings as per benchmark guide
Application Anisotropic Filtering
Application FSAA
Half Life 2
[Check Prices]		 Internal Beyond3D Demo Recording V3 (*)
High Graphics Setting
Water Reflect All
"+r_fastzreject 1"
"-dxlevel 90"
Application Anisotropic Filtering
Application FSAA
All games benchmarks using 32bit colour and 32bit textures (where applicable)

Games Benchmarks - OpenGL
Doom 3
[Check Prices]		 Internal Beyond3D Demo Recording
Doom 3 Engine Version 1.2 (Doom 3: RoE)
Ultra Quality Settings
Application Anisotropic Filtering
Application FSAA
All games benchmarks using 32bit colour and 32bit textures (where applicable)

* Due to Half Life 2 patches altering the code a new demo has been recorded, hence this is not comparable with other Beyond3D reviews.