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 next section, we've taken all the cards through the UT 2003 wringer and show benchmark charts for both of the game tests.
The UT 2003 Botmatch benchmark is a right up there with Comanche 4 for sheer CPU-dependence, so naturally this benchmark shows very little difference between the Radeon 9800 XT standard and OD modes. Even at 1600x1200 there isn't a lot of gap between all the Radeon 9800-based cards, and this UT 2003 Botmatch test doesn't make full use of clock speed increases, and really only identifies performance gaps between differing architectures.
The Unreal Tournament 2003 Flyby testing is a better test for video card-centric comparisons, especially those where higher clock speeds enter into the equation. Once again, this benchmark shows the Radeon 9800 XT in a different class, and both the standard and OD modes are the only two to hit the 200 fps level at 1280x1024.
The higher detail AA and AF settings start to extend the gap between the ATI cards, as the video portion is now working alongside the CPU. The Radeon 9800 XT does break away from the pack, and the OD score is again slightly ahead of the standard one.
The Unreal Tournament 2003 Flyby AA and AF testing is right on the same trend line, and only the actual framerates have shrunk from standard 3D testing.
