By
combining DirectX8 support with completely new graphics, it continues to provide
good overall system benchmarks. 3DMark2001 SE has been created in cooperation
with the major 3D accelerator and processor manufacturers to provide a reliable
set of diagnostic tools. The suite demonstrates 3D gaming performance by using
real-world gaming technology to test a system's true performance abilities.
Tests include: DirectX8 Vertex Shaders, Pixel Shaders and Point Sprites, DOT3
and Environment Mapped Bump Mapping, support for Full Scene Anti-aliasing and
Texture Compression and two game tests using Ipion real-time physics. Higher
3DMark scores denote better performance.
3DMark2001 tends to do well on just about every platform
here. The systems are scoring around 22k at stock speeds, which is pretty
sweet!
AquaMark3
is a powerful tool to determine reliable information about the gaming
performance of a computer system. Because the benchmark extensively utilizes
DirectX9, DirectX8 and DirectX7 functionality, it represents the requirements of
typical gaming applications in 2003 and 2004.
At stock speeds the motherboards perform essentially the
same in Aquamark3. It's funny to see the Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939 board score a
little lower in the processor portion of the benchmark, yet higher in the
overall portion.