Quake 3 is still the de facto 3D game benchmark, and represents the most common method of comparing 3D video card performance. In this test suite we match up the NVIDIA cards against Quake 3 using the default Normal and High Quality settings, as well as ramping up the detail levels in our special MAX setting.

In the Quake 3 Normal benchmarking, we see something a bit strange taking place. The Gladiac 920 falls behind all of the GeForce2 competition at 640x480 and continues to struggle against the GeForce2 ULTRA even up to 1600x1200. The lower Normal detail setting doesn't seem to task the GPU or memory bandwidth much, making this test much better suited to raw video power.

When moving up to the High Quality setting, the situation changes quite significantly. At 640x480 the Gladiac 920 still falls slightly behind, but cruises past its GeForce2 rivals at all of the higher resolutions. By jacking up the Quake 3 detail and resolution, it gives the GeForce3 a greater opportunity to use its enhanced memory architecture and achieve much higher framerates.

Finally, the MAX detail setting proves beyond a doubt that as the detail and resolution increase, the Gladiac 920 continues to excel. Although remaining a bit slower at 640x480, the higher resolutions clearly show off the GeForce3 performance advantages.