Pixel Shaders

Here we'll use some of 3DMarks shading tests to take a look at the comparative Pixel Shader performance of the 5900 Ultra in relation to the 5800 Ultra.

3DMark2001SE

Pixel Shader 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
5800 Ultra 258.4 258.6 253.1 199.8 145.1
5900 Ultra 258.5 260.1 253.4 195.7 141.8
Diff from 5800 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
FPS 0.1 1.5 0.3 -4.1 -3.3
% 0% 1% 0% -2% -2%

Under the pure PS1.1 Pixel Shader test the results of the 5900 Ultra are very similar to the 5800 Ultra, with the 5800 actually having a small performance advantage. This appears to be much in line with the Splinter Cell game benchmark results earlier, further indicating that the DX8 Pixel Shader performance hasn't changed significantly between the two chips, neither for the better or worse.

Nature 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
5800 Ultra 208.6 170.1 125.1 79.5 55.5
5900 Ultra 212.3 176.6 134.4 87.9 61.6
Diff from 5800 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
FPS 3.7 6.5 9.3 8.4 6.1
% 2% 4% 7% 11% 11%

The Nature test is actually quite bandwidth limited, and this could quite easily explain the up to 11% performance advantage the 5900 Ultra has over the 5800 Ultra.

Advanced Shader 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
5800 Ultra 216.8 176.6 133.9 95.8 72.4
5900 Ultra 218.6 180.2 138.0 99.7 75.7
Diff from 5800 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
FPS 1.8 3.6 4.1 3.9 3.3
% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5%

The Advanced Shader test uses DX8.1's PS1.4 functionality, and here we see that the 5900 Ultra has a slim performance advantage over the 5800 Ultra, although whether this is due to bandwidth demands from the overall scene, or due to shader performance is unclear.