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Though 3DMark 2006 may not be the defacto be-all, end-all test for a video card, the feature test does tell us a lot about the architecture of a card. Where one test may make one card shine, another may cause it to fall. Don't let these figures sway you in one direction or another -- they are simply meant to help determine the individual aspects of any given card. The real test comes with 3D gaming, but  3DMark always comes first.

Tsk, tsk 1650 Pro. A low fill rate will probably mean low frame counts in games. We'll just have to wait and see.

Now that's what I want to see! A high Perlin noise count means nice clouds, smoke and fire in games. Yes, Perlin noise pretty much handles fog-type effects, but can be useful for transparent water effects. This we like.

And another hit taken on the Pixel Shader front. Give a little, get a little I guess.

Our Vertex Shader score is a little more respectable, and actually contends with some of the big boys very well.

Let's now move on to the more realistic tests!