Quake 3 is the de facto 3D game benchmark here at Sharky Extreme, and due to its highly repeatable results, it is still one of the most popular methods of comparing different video cards. In this test suite we match up the video cards using version 1.30 and the included demo Four. Quake 3 benchmarks were run with the default High Quality options and the in-game detail levels ramped to maximum in our MAX setting.
The Radeon 9800 XT performed quite well in our Quake 3 MAX testing, and although the extra power really didn't help at 1024x768, once we hit 1600x1200, the ATI flagship card outpaced the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra.
Once we move to the far more-demanding anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering benchmarking, the Radeon 9800 XT once again shows its stuff against the Radeon 9800 Pro 256-MB. The AF results are extremely high, and although it falls behind NVIDIA in AA testing, the Radeon 9800 XT is still able to post the highest AA/AF results at the ultra-demanding 1600x1200 resolution.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein is another Quake engine game, but with some notable differences. The basic game engine may be the same, but the graphics, gameplay and the stress it puts on a 3D card are very different. Until Doom III appears, RtCW is the next best way to determine high-end Quake engine performance. We have employed the Checkpoint MP demo for our testing, using the default High Quality settings.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a more advanced test than Quake 3, so it gives another peek at 3D FPS performance. The Radeon 9800 XT and GeForce FX 5900 Ultra are at a dead-heat in this benchmark, though the newer ATI card does breeze past the Radeon 9800 Pro 256-MB.
The Return to Castle Wolfenstein anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering scores are almost an exact duplicate of the Quake 3 ones, with a few exceptions. The Radeon 9800 XT is still the performance king in terms of AF, and while it does take second place behind the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra in pure AA mode, the overall crown goes to ATI in the high-end 4X AA/8X AF benchmarking.
