Our testing methods
Both the ATI and NVIDIA cards were left at their driver default settings for image quality, with the exception that we turned off vertical refresh sync on all cards.

Our test system was configured like so:

ProcessorAthlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz
System busHT 16-bit/800MHz downstream
HT 16-bit/800MHz upstream
MotherboardAsus A8V
BIOS revision1006
North bridgeK8T800 Pro
South bridgeVT8237
Chipset drivers4-in-1 v.4.51
ATA 5.1.2600.220
Memory size1GB (2 DIMMs)
Memory typeKingston HyperX DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
CAS latency2
Cycle time5
RAS to CAS delay2
RAS precharge2
Hard driveSeagate Barracuda V ATA/100 120GB
AudioIntegrated
Graphics Radeon 9800 XT 256MB AGP
Radeon X800 Pro 256MB AGP
Radeon X800 XT 256MB AGP
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 256MB AGP
GeForce 6800 128MB AGP
GeForce 6800 GT 256MB AGP
GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB AGP
GeForce 6800 Ultra "Overclocked" 256MB AGP
OSMicrosoft Windows XP Professional
OS updatesService Pack 2 RC2, DirectX 9.0c

We used NVIDIA's ForceWare 61.77 drivers for all of the GeForce cards, and we used ATI's CATALYST 4.9 beta drivers, intended for DOOM 3, with all the Radeon cards.

The test systems' Windows desktop was set at 1152x864 in 32-bit color at an 85Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests.

We used custom-recorded demos for testing. You can download both trdemo2 and trdm1.

If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.