Jedi Knight is the newest Quake 3-based game and some would say it is among the most resource hungry, giving us yet another excellent method of determining high-end 3D gaming performance. In this particular instance, the video cards have been tested using the version 1.04, the jk2ffa demo, and standard High Quality detail settings.
The Jedi Knight II scores are quite similar to the above tests, though the relative FPS differences are a bit more noticeable. Even so, there is little real-world difference between the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 256-MB and its 128-MB counterpart.
The Comanche 4 benchmark from Novalogic gives us an opportunity to use an actual flight sim for 3D video testing. This is a different game engine that we've ever used before, so don't be put off by the relatively low framerates. Just like the high fps of Quake 3, a card's relative position is the most important factor. These tests were run in 32-bit mode, with sound disabled.
Comanche 4 benchmarking is always a tight race, and given the performance similarities between the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 256-MB and the Radeon 9800 Pro 128-MB, this chart gives new meaning to a 3D video card photo finish.
Unreal Tournament 2003 includes a benchmark program that automatically tests two separate modes. One is Flyby, which takes a canned tour of the UT game world and then offers up a framerate score. The second is Botmatch, and this is a more game-oriented test than Flyby, but it also brings with it added CPU dependency. In this section, we've taken all the cards through the UT 2003 wringer and show benchmark charts for both of the game tests.
We can usually count on the demanding Unreal Tournament 2003 Flyby test to separate the men from the boys, but in this case, the results mimic those of previous benchmarks. It's an extremely close race between the two Radeon 9800 Pro-based cards, and the extra memory doesn't seem to hold any noticeable advantage.
The UT 2003 Botmatch benchmark is far more CPU-bound than the Flyby test, so it's hardly surprising to see a great deal of bunching between the scores.
