Pixel-pushing power

  Core clock
(MHz)		Pixels/
clock		Peak fill rate
(Mpixels/s)		Textures/
clock		 Peak fill rate
(Mtexels/s)		 Memory
clock (MHz)		 Memory bus
width (bits)		 Peak memory
bandwidth (GB/s)
Radeon X1600 XT5904236042360138012822.1
GeForce 6800 3258260012390070025622.4
GeForce 6600 GT5004200084000100012816.0
Radeon X80040012480012480070025622.4
GeForce 6800 GS42583400125100100025632.0
GeForce 6800 GT350165600165600100025632.0
GeForce 7800 GS375830001660001200 256 38.4
Radeon X800 XL40016640016640098025631.4
GeForce 7800 GS OC400832001664001250 25640.0
GeForce 6800 Ultra425166800166800110025635.2
GeForce 7800 GT400166400208000100025632.0
All-In-Wonder X190050016800016800096025630.7
Radeon X1800 XL500168000168000100025632.0
Radeon X850 XT520168320168320108025634.6
Radeon X850 XT PE540168640168640118025637.8
XFX GeForce 7800 GT450167200209000105025633.6
Radeon X1800 XT62516100001610000150025648.0
Radeon X1900 XT62516100001610000145025646.4
GeForce 7800 GTX4301668802410320120025638.4
Radeon X1900 XTX65016104001610400155025649.6
GeForce 7800 GTX 5125501688002413200170025654.4

Like I said, the 7800 GS's combination of hardware resources and clock speeds is not bad—not overwhelming, but in the ballpark with the GeForce 6800 Ultra. The 7800 GS has more memory bandwidth than the Radeon X850 XT but not nearly the theoretical peak pixel filling and texturing capacity. The trick for the 7800 GS will be using its GeForce 7-class pixel shaders, its support for Shader Model 3.0, and its overall architectural efficiency to make up the difference.

3DMark's synthetic fill rate tests illustrate the problem, especially the multitexturing test. The Radeon X800 XT PE, like the Radeon X850 XT, has gobs of texturing capacity thanks to its very high clock speeds. The 7800 GS OC can't keep up in terms of pure fill rate.