21. the first DirectX 9 3dmark is the 2003 version with mother nature as the only test for directx 9. Default settings first!
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

22. 3dmark 2003 - 1280*1024 max details:
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

23. 3dmark 2003 - 1600*1200 maxed out!
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

Nforce4 marches on and leads the pack in 3dmark 2003 which is the only version to include 3 sound tests: no sound and 24 sound that any AC97 codec is capable of and 60 sounds for which you need a Creative live or other hardware accelerated audio card! All 4 systems use realtek ALC658 codec but still NV8 manages to come out first!
We are half way through the tests and NVIDIA nforce4 won every single one! Sure sometimes the margins were microscopic but what I like is consistency - being always first is something!

26 & 27 & 28. Synthetic 3d tests are over it is now time to test general system performance with PCMARK. The first version is the 2002 one; ULI and nforce4 system have an additional 74gb raptor drive installed as you can see in the screenshots with the system details so all 4 platforms are tested with the same hard drive.

A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

For the first time nforce4 fails to secure the first place! It's got the best CPU score however the memory score is behind both ULI AND via systems! ULI wins the best memory score; all 4 platforms are really close to each other - within 2%.
nforce3 and VIA got exceptionally close hard disk drive scores; for the first time nforce4 finishes last as the hard drive performance is, strangely, very poor!

29 & 30 & 31 & 32. PCMARK 2004 is next:

A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

nforce4 is back on top with the best CPU and memory scores; graphics score shows a divide between nforce3 - weak AGP implementation - and ULI - tremendous problems with drivers when using bridged AGP radeons - and VIA - the best AGP implementation among socket 754 chipsets and nforce4 - excellent PCI-express performance for what is the first generation of chipsets with this interface! Hard drive: raptor scores about the same on VIA, ULI and nforce4, only nforce3 drops behind the other 3 - this is repeatable!

33 & 34 & 35 & 36. PCMARK 2005 is the last version:
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

NFORCE4 finishes first with the best CPU and memory scores however the difference is actually really small between all 4 systems as it should be - integrated memory controller "normalizes" all CPU and RAM related variables.
nforce3 weak AGP performance is already something to be expected as it was from the get go when we tested AGP only platforms with the geforce 7800gs. What is different now is the catastrophe that had befallen ULI: modifying the AGP latency timer in the BIOS to enable compatibility with the radeon x1950 pro has as a side effect a serious performance drop in graphic performance department! That and the fact that omega drivers are based off the 7.XX family of drivers while the other 3 platforms benefit from using the 10.2 driver that provides the best performance for radeon X1K family! We shall see if that stands true when we reach the games.

55. Before going into the game results let's finish synthetic tests with 2 CPU benchmarks:
Super pi 1m
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

No surprises here; technically nforce4 wins as it got the lowest time!

56. Cinebench 2003 - this is oldest version I could find:
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

nforce4 breaks the 300 points barrier and takes this test - practically all 4 systems are within 4% of each other!

37. And we reach the "juicy"part: games! First is Unreal tournament 2004, one of the last and best looking DirectX 8 games. Because I could not make Umark to run I used fraps 3.4.7 for 1 minute benchmark across all the resolutions on the death match map Antalus which was a very popular map to test with back in the day! I waited 1 minute after starting the match in which I played as a spectator before pressing F11; after fraps finished I changed the resolution and waited 1 minute before testing again and so on. Repeated 3 times, the last runs are the actual results that I kept. Tested with sound enabled and all details maxed out!

1024*768 resolution is first:

A. nforce3
2025-08-10 17:48:11 - UT2004
Frames: 6852 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 114.200 - Min: 64 - Max: 187

B. VIA
2025-08-18 07:08:23 - UT2004
Frames: 7656 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 127.600 - Min: 89 - Max: 200

C. ULI
2025-07-14 06:59:19 - UT2004
Frames: 7427 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 123.783 - Min: 83 - Max: 187

D. nforce4
2025-09-25 13:01:39 - UT2004
Frames: 7701 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 128.350 - Min: 80 - Max: 221

38. 1280*1024 is the next resolution:

A. NFORCE3
2025-08-10 17:46:37 - UT2004
Frames: 6696 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 111.600 - Min: 69 - Max: 181

B. VIA
2025-08-18 07:09:46 - UT2004
Frames: 7516 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 125.267 - Min: 78 - Max: 181

C. ULI
2025-07-14 07:00:44 - UT2004
Frames: 7050 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 117.500 - Min: 77 - Max: 181

D. NFORCE4
2025-09-25 13:05:27 - UT2004
Frames: 7552 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 125.867 - Min: 78 - Max: 224

39. 1600*1200 is the last resolution tested:

A. NFORCE3
2025-08-10 17:45:01 - UT2004
Frames: 6595 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 109.917 - Min: 72 - Max: 158

B. VIA
2025-08-18 07:11:10 - UT2004
Frames: 6934 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 115.567 - Min: 77 - Max: 176

C. ULI
2025-07-14 06:57:45 - UT2004
Frames: 6477 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 107.950 - Min: 64 - Max: 171

D. NFORCE4
2025-09-25 13:00:14 - UT2004
Frames: 6815 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 113.583 - Min: 74 - Max: 173

Nforce3 AGP performance relegates it to last place. ULI compatibility problems put it just in front of nforce3. VIA K8T800 and NVIDIA nforce4 are dueling it out with neither of them having a clear advantage over the other!

40 & 41 & 42. FARCRY is the next game to be tested. Highly CPU bound it is one of the most demanding games for early DirectX 9 video cards. The powerful X1950 PRO should be more than enough to run it at max details including AA = 8X!

A. NFORCE3
B. VIA

C. ULI
D. NFORCE4

And now the entire forum: wait, whaaat??? How is that possible??

The scores for Abit NV8 are extraordinary! It practically wipes the floor with the competition. Not even VIA can keep up. I retested - that is second NV8 with a second raptor and everything installed all over again. The frame rates of the nforce4 system are very high compared to the rest. The pci-express platform kills off all AGP competition in FARCRY!

Please note that the radeon is extremely CPU limited. X1950 PRO is capable of over 100 FPS even at 1600*1200 with everything maxed out. Unlike the geforce 7800gs which is perfectly balanced with the Athlon 64 3400, radeon needs a far stronger CPU to really show what is capable of!