3DMark 06 was split into Shader 2.0 and Shader 3.0 scores to avoid platform bias.

Link to 3DMark 06 overall score, provided by 3dmark.com compare function : LINK

Early Q/A post (I will copy my comment from later posts along side the question for easier search, will only work until I have edit option) :

Here's a question from me : Is the title OK ?
Or would this one be better : "20 cards tested in Windows XP : 3DMarks (01-06), with games : Quake III, Doom3, Far Cry, FEAR, Crysis" ?

Thank you.

I wanted to check what cheap options of early DX10/DX11 era can offer (under Windows XP)

Price difference between 9500GT and 9600GT (3650 and 3850) is negligible at this point. Sometimes it's cheaper.

Then again, X1800/X19xx are so robust that I still see bunches of them sold in perfect working condition. Which can't be told about GeForce 7600/7900 series.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-07-06, 17:17:

Price difference between 9500GT and 9600GT (3650 and 3850) is negligible at this point. Sometimes it's cheaper.

You are correct and if you want top performance under WinXP, you should definitely go for them instead (HD 3850/9600 GT) vs. anything tested here.

I had to limit scope of this test to not be crushed by massive charts though, and second reason is that there really is no point in it (DX9c cards will get crushed by either 3850/9600 GT or anything faster under Windows XP - especially later games for it).

I own a dead X1950 Pro + HD 3850 + 6800 Ultra + 7800 GT and 2x 7950 GX2 🙁

One dead Radeon vs 5 dead GeForces :3

Stock cooling on most older GPUs was horribly insufficient. Put good aftermarket cooling on them and also make sure the case temps stay within 2-3c of ambient temps and they last much much longer.

In more recent builds, I've gone as far as cutting 2x 120mm fan holes and mounted fans to feed cool air directly to the video card.

My latest build, which is still not quite finished, I have one of the Lian-Li 140mm card coolers that either exhausts or intakes air mounted above the card slots. Also replaced the fan with a much more powerful fan because the stock one moved almost no air.

In the last 20 years I've had exactly 1 GPU die on me and that was a GeForce 7900GS that artifacted when new with the stock cooling. I swapped out the stock cooler for a large Socket 7 heatsink and overvolted it and ran it with a 50% overclock for a year before it died.

I have a GeForce FX 5950U that I bought used with knowing both fans were dead. The heatsink was also crap soni replaced with with a Zalman heatpipe aftermarket cooler and it doesn't even get warm.

Also have a GeForce 8800 Ultra that ran insanely hot with the stock cooling. Replaced it with an aftermarket heatpipe cooler.. Zalman as well and it no longer even gets warm.

cyclone3d wrote on 2022-07-06, 17:57:

Stock cooling on most older GPUs was horribly insufficient. Put good aftermarket cooling on them and also make sure the case temps stay within 2-3c of ambient temps and they last much much longer.

Are aftermarket coolers still being sold? I had better luck finding them used, sometimes on a graphics card than finding anything decent for a 120W GPU new.