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Synthetic Benchmarks Following our usual approach, we will start of the benchmark analysis by going through the different benchmark suites coming from Futuremark, and also the discontinued AquaMark 3 program. These will provide us a good indication on the game play of today's games. First we will start with AquaMark 3, followed by the different gaming benchmark programs from Futuremark such as 3DMark03, 3DMark05 and last but not least 3DMark06. We will reboot our system each time for each of the four synthetic API's used and leave all processes running in the background. We put the Gainward GeForce GTX 260 edition accelerator against one of the fastest video cards on the market today, the GeForce 9800 GX2 card provided by Gainward as well, and analyze the performance figures.
Massive AquaMark 3 
One of the benchmark suites which was very popular and still is somehow, is known as AquaMark 3 which is a fully DirectX 9.0 compatible benchmark from Massive Development. And unfortunately the programmers don't exist anymore but that doesn't mean it isn't a great tool. To be able to see how well a certain graphics card is really performing and behaving under the challenging DirectX 9.0 environment, AquaMark 3 was developed. However it is not solely a DirectX 9.0 benchmark. If you are working with an older DirectX compatible graphics card, you will still be able to use it just with a lot of graphical features missing. Make no mistake though, AquaMark 3 is a DirectX 9.0 benchmark, as it is based on a real game engine it has fallbacks to previous DirectX versions. | Benchmark Results - 1280x1024 - E6700 3.00GHz - 2GB RAM | | GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB | AquaMark 3 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 163515 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 158316 | | GeForce GTX 260 896MB | AquaMark 3 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 165812 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 154689 | | Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. | |
| Benchmark Results - 1600x1200 - E6700 3.00GHz - 2GB RAM | | GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB | AquaMark 3 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 160442 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 150517 | | GeForce GTX 260 896MB | AquaMark 3 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 162657 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 144331 | | Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. |
We know this benchmark suite that has been discontinued for over a year now, but we can't just leave it out of our performance analysis. And you are correct, it doesn't have the most modern 3D engine but it is still able to show some really nice underwater scenery. As we are looking at two video cards featuring similar technology, or very close to say the least, the results are somehow similar, with the GeForce 9800 GX2 coming out on top. Now we have to somehow mention that this is a fixed victory as we can clearly see that the GX2 featuring two GPU's is just faster when we up the stakes by enabling anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. While using the most standard settings the GeForce GTX 260 is each time a bit faster. So that leaves us with a mixed feeling on which one to call the champion, though the GeForce GTX 260 being a single GPU version does have a better price to performance ratio. | Benchmark Results - 2560x1600 - E6700 3.00GHz - 2GB RAM | | GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB | AquaMark 3 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 145333 | | 4x AA/8x AF | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 132030 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 114321 | | GeForce GTX 260 896MB | AquaMark 3 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 143273 | | 4x AA/8x AF | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 127454 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 105166 | | Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. |
Well we up the stakes and go for a higher resolution the logic applies as before with the scores being quite impressive. In fact if we look at the results we don't see a major drop with the lower resolution, which does mean that both graphics cards have quite some decent rendering power to rely on. Though once again the GeForce 9800 GX2 version is able to outperform the newer GeForce GTX 260 version, and does show to be faster as such. Since the GeForce 9800 GX2 is comes actually with two GPU's it doesn't really surprise us that it can keep up the performance a bit better at the high definition gaming resolution. This also means that a single card SLI solution is able to meet the high gaming power needs. The Gainward version follows the reference design and therefore has a quite okay price tag, which can easily compete with their competitors though currently are lacking their favorite Golden Sample editions.
FutureMark 3DMark03 
We first look back to an older benchmark suite from Futuremark. By combining full DirectX 9.0a support with completely new game tests and sharper graphics, 3DMark03 continues the legacy of being the industry standard benchmark. The high quality game tests, image quality tests, sound tests and others give you an extremely accurate overview of your system's current gaming performance. So the synthetic analysis begins by taking a spin with 3DMark03 which is build around the DirectX 9.0 specifications, although still using quite some DirectX 8.1 features. This is actually the first gamers' benchmark that could really be called this name, and actually earned it since it was released. | Benchmark Results - 1280x1024 - E6700 3.00GHz - 2GB RAM | | GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB | 3DMark03 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 51002 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 20433 | | GeForce GTX 260 896MB | 3DMark03 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 38202 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 16886 | | Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. | |
| Benchmark Results - 1600x1200 - E6700 3.00GHz - 2GB RAM | | GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB | 3DMark03 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 42684 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 16114 | | GeForce GTX 260 896MB | 3DMark03 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 32133 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 13400 | | Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. |
Once more we are making the comparison with the previous generation GeForce 9800 GX2 top performer which is well known, though came at high price tag. The config build around the GeForce GTX 260 clocks down some great scores but it can't really overtake the previous king of the hill, and has to recognize that the GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card is still the faster part to reign the high-end graphics card segment. Though we can imagine that the GeForce GTX 280 could make a difference, as it does have a bit more stream processors going for it. Since 3DMark03 is somehow CPU depending, the scores delivered by both cards are depending somehow a bit on the system itself and are not only related to the graphics accelerator unit. However it also clearly shows that the GT200 based GeForce GTX 260 version does a very nice job and also when we enabled the anti-aliasing settings. | Benchmark Results - 2560x1600 - E6700 3.00GHz - 2GB RAM | | GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB | 3DMark03 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 27522 | | 4x AA/8x AF | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 13483 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 600/2000MHz (Ref - Single) | 8579 | | GeForce GTX 260 896MB | 3DMark03 Score | | 0x AA/Optimal | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 21434 | | 4x AA/8x AF | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 11936 | | 8x AA/16x AF | 576/1998MHz (Ref - Single) | 7596 | | Results Interpretation: Higher index values are better. |
You got that right, some high definition gaming input as well as we are now using one of these lovely widescreen 30inch LCD displays that feature an awesome resolution of 2560x1600 to experience just that extra more. And actually NVIDIA is quite a fan of these high definition resolutions as they call it the extreme high definition experience. Once more we put both our setups against each other, with once again the GeForce 9800 GX2 config taking the lead. In the end it doesn't come that much as a surprise as 3DMark03 is not a full blown DirectX 9.0c benchmark suite, but rather limited to the lower versions. And to that extend the GX2 version just has better specifications and raw power to get the job done. The Gainward GeForce GTX 260 version is made to please the hardcore gamers who are no longer pleased with standard screen resolutions and can deliver some great gaming experience at a reasonable price tag. 
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GLY GTX275 (OC) PCIe 0896MB - Rev 01
