3DMark 2001
As one of the few benchmarks that can really take advantage of all the features that the GeForce3 has to offer, 3DMark 2001 provides a good across-the-board test of a video card's performance in DirectX 8. Amazingly, I haven't gotten sick of watching the incredible Nature test run—not yet, at least.

Turning down the resolution just a little, the Titan 3 puts in an impressive showing in this victory over a stock GeForce3.

With default 3DMark settings, the Titan 3 obviously wins again. It's worth noting here just how well both cards perform, regardless of their clock speeds. As expected, though, the Titan 3 isn't going to quite be able to convert all of its theoretical fill rate and memory bandwidth into actual performance.

Vulpine GLMark
Vulpine GLMark takes us from a synthetic DirectX benchmark to a synthetic OpenGL test.

The gains here are a little more pronounced than what we saw with 3DMark, and the nature of the GLMark test probably has a lot to do with that. Unlike 3DMark, GLMark lacks any real feature-specific tests, so its results are possibly more indicative of overall real-world performance.

Bumping up the resolution, we see another modest but solid victory for the Titan 3. As you've noticed by now, the results certainly aren't overwhelming; the Titan 3 by no means shames a stock GeForce3. However, if you're thinking about eking out all the performance you can out of your purchase, the Titan 3's higher clock speed does make it a clear winner.

Quake III: Team Arena
Despite its age, id's Quake III: Team Arena engine can still crank out some impressive visuals and thoroughly stress a video card's capabilities. Given the number of upcoming games that will use the Team Arena engine, Quake III timedemos are still relevant.

Unlike other tests we've run thus far, the scores match exactly. We're probably seeing a system-level bottleneck, not just a video card performance constraint, with Team Arena's High Quality setting.

I pushed Team Arena's resolution and graphics settings to their limits at 1600x1200. With all the eye candy turned on, our bottleneck no longer constrains performance, and the Titan 3 regains its customary lead.