Doom 3 Graphics Deathmatch

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.