Shader Model 3.0

The very even performance of the GeForce 6800 and Radeon X800 has created somewhat of a lull. Although there is one thing that separates the cards: The Geforce 6800 Shader Model 3.0. Exactly how much of a difference it really makes has been debated heavily back and forth and now we can present an article showing you the actual difference between the 2.0 and 3.0 shaders.

“When nVidia released its GeForce 6800 there was a lot of talk about Shader Model 3.0. Lots of talk, but no action, so to speak. However this time we do have new information and three different tests that use Shader Model 3.0. This will be a first glance of how Shader Model 3.0 can affect our view of the GeForce 6 series.

The big star on the testbench is Far Cry 1.2. But not only that, we also have Shadermark 2.1 RCS where we test synthetic Pixel Shader 3.0 performance and D3D RightMark where we test synthetic Vertex Shader 3.0 performance.”

Update: We have just learned that Ubisoft has retracted the Far Cry 1.2 patch. You can read more about the retraction here.

Click here to read our Shader Model 3.0 article.