Doom 3 Graphics Deathmatch

by Derek Wilson on August 3, 2004 8:05 AM EST

The Test

We decided to focus solely on how graphics card selection impacts the framerate of Doom 3 using the built in timedemo utility and prerecorded demo1.demo benchmark. This was done in the interest of getting useable data out as soon as possible. We are currently playing with recording our own demos and testing other aspects of the game. From what we've seen so far, it seems like demo1 and the timedemo utility report an accurate picture of performance.

In order to eliminate as much bottleneck as possible from the system, we went with our overclocked FX53 in the 939 platform. After having gathered data for this and other reviews we are working on, our overclock may have had more impact if we had pushed the RAM of the system rather than the multiplier of our processor. But that's another article.

 Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s): AMD Athlon 64 FX53 (oc to 2.6GHz)
RAM: 2 x 512Mb OCZ 3500 Platinum Ltd (2:3:2:10)
Hard Drives Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM (8MB Buffer)
Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers VIA Hyperion 4.51
Video Card(s): NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT
NVIDIA GeForce 6800
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950
ATI Radeon X800 XT Platinum Ed.
ATI Radeon X800 Pro
ATI Radeon 9800 XT
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
ATI Radeon 9600 XT
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500
ATI Radeon 9200
NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4400
Video Drivers: ATI Catalyst 4.7
NVIDIA ForceWare 61.77
Operating System(s): Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboards: MSI MS-6702E (VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset)


Our tests are divided into sections that reflect the general performance capabilities of the cards tested. For example, High End consists of current generation cards such as the X800 Pro and 6800, Low end consists of much older or very low performance cards like the GF4 Ti 4400 and the Radeon 9200. Midrange is essentially everything in between and is the largest category with the most tests.

Index High End Tests: Tourney
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  • edge929 - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link

    I think I'll wait about a YEAR for prices to come down to reasonable levels, then I'll get a 6800 Ultra and play it the way it's suppose to be played.
  • VortigernRed - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link

    Derek,

    There is def something wrong with your figures here.

    http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2146...

    You have a Geforce 6800 ontperforming a X800XTPE by about 70% on the top graph "high quality med res" also theX800 Pro scores are identical to the R9800 Pro. Maybe you have left a higher quality setting on with the X800s (AA or something)

    Gibhunter: Geforce4 MX is nothing like a GF3 TI 200. GF4 MX offers a similar featureset as the GF2 and pretty much the GF256 before it, however it has a better memory controller and so offers performance similar to the higher end Geforce2s ie Pro and Ultra. GF3 offers PS and VS.

    Reflex: JC always said that Doom3 targeted the Gefore256s featureset. However that does not mean the Geforce256s performance of course.
  • Koing - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link

    Thanks for report Derek.

    I probaly own't be playing it for ages as I'm notmuch of a pc gamer but that is that.

    Koing
  • Reflex - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link

    #36: Huh? GF3 was always the minimum spec for it...
  • unclebud - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link

    "John Carmack has spoken of possible issues when overclocking a graphics card with Doom 3,"
    sounds like Mr C is trying to excuse his code bloat (to me).
    what happened to "voodoo 3 2000 will be able to run doom 3 fine"?
  • araczynski - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link

    reminds me a lot of Deus Ex 2, cept more atmospheric and more responsive.
  • araczynski - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link

    on my system 2.4@3.3/1GB/5900(128) the game plays very nicely with everything maxed (AA off) at 1024x768. the game is very good, especially in terms of atmosphere and graphics, the sound isn't as good as i think it could've been, but still very nice. also some issue with it not seeing 7.1 setups as surround, have to downgrade in windows to 5.1.

    worth teh wait i think, at least singleplayer is, don't really care about the multiplayer from this type of genre so won't try it.
  • gibhunter - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link

    #27, GF4MX is more like GF3 Ti 200. GF2MX was more on par with the original Geforce video card.

    I am interested to see if the Radeon 9200 loses any frames per second on a slower CPU. My guess is that it doesn't take a very powerful cpu to max it out hence it should hover right around 20fps on even a P4 2GHz.
  • maverick81 - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link

    I have a laptop with a AMD mobile 64 3200 and a ATI mobility 9600 with 64 mb. I have been using it for ganes until my x800 gets here. Only been playing doom 3 for about 4 hours. It seems to run fine, not as good as a desktop but playable.
  • thebluesgnr - Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - link

    Derek,

    do you have a FX5200 or 5500 with a 64-bit memory interface to test?

    also, I'd like to see the Radeon 9550 results.

    Thanks,

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