3DMark05 is the latest version in the popular 3DMark series of gaming benchmarks, and is the first to require full DirectX 9.0 compatibility. The 3DMark05 program also offers a high-end selection of both gaming and CPU tests, while upping the ante in terms of jaw-dropping graphics and 3D feature support. 3DMark05 is not only a prime way of determining potential DirectX 9 game performance, but the individual CPU performance score also makes it a valuable tool in processor reviews and performance comparisons. This benchmark was performed at the standard 1024x768x32 resolution and color depth with no anti-aliasing or filtering.
The 3DMark05 CPU benchmark is another area that the Athlon 64 X2 gave AMD a real boost in, and actually allowed the company to post the highest overall scores. It's no different here, as even the Athlon 64 X2 4200+ manages to outperform the vaunted Pentium Extreme Edition 840. The 3DMark05 CPU test also doesn't give any noticeable advantage to the larger 1MB L2 cache of the AMD Toledo core, and instead emulates a pure CPU benchmark, rather than that of a specific 3D game.
AquaMark 3 is a relatively new DirectX 9 benchmark, and although it does not correspond to an actual game, it does use the same Krass engine as found in products such as Aquanox 2 and Spellforce. AquaMark 3 also supports new features such as Hyper-Threading, Pixel Shader and Vertex Shader 2.0, and uses a wide range of DirectX 9 effects and features. For this review, we've tested the basic performance benchmark in standard 1024x768 32-bit mode, and offer up the CPU scores.
AquaMark 3 follows the trends we saw in 3DMark05 almost perfectly, and the Athlon 64 X2 once again takes the overall performance lead over the Pentium EE 840 and Pentium D processors. We also see virtually no performance advantage for the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ and 4400+ over the Athlon 64 X2 4600+ and 4200+. Don't let the large numbers fool you, the AMD Manchester performed within 98-99% of the Toledo's AquaMark 3 CPU score.
Halo: Combat Evolved is a hot, action adventure game that not only features luscious indoor and outdoor graphics and a killer story, but some very innovative gameplay as well. Our Halo test uses the default timedemo, while also enabling 2.0 shaders for all benchmark testing.
Now that we've moved down to 800x600 for our Halo benchmarking, the results started showing more separation and producing larger gaps. The AMD dual core processors are still top dog when it comes to Halo, and while we do see some separation between the Toledo and Manchester cores, it's more muted than in some other games.
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