We have made significant changes to the rating calculation method for several reasons. Firstly, there was a number of math errors, so we decided to use geometrical average for all test results. Secondly, the quality value had little to no influence on the results. This was unacceptable due to newer games, in which AA or AF are very important. Thus we made AA and AF influence floating. The geometrical average performance is divided by 60 FPS (as a standard of average minimal sufficient performance) to obtain a coefficient of suitable performance. It's multiplied by a pre-fixed AA or AF coefficient that depends on certain card specs. This gives us a coefficient of card's AA or AF potential, that we finally take into consideration. Otherwise top-end cards would be underestimated, because when you spend $400-500, you get not only the FPS in existing games, but some potential for some higher quality in the future. Otherwise $10 cards made in 2002 could get high marks due to their low price.

Usability ratings are calculated by the following formula:

Kuse = ((K-no-AAA * K-with-AAA) ^ (1/54))^ 0.6 * (Poss ^ 0.4)) / (Price)) * 10000

where:

K-no-AAA - considers performance without AA+aniso.

K-no-AAA = (C10xp * C12xp * C16xp) *
      (HL110xp * HL112xp * HL116xpxp) *
      (SC10xp * SC12xp * SC16xp) *
      (FC110xp * FC112xp * FC116xp) *
      (D310xp * D312xp * D316xp) *
      (G110xp * G112xp * G116xp) *
      (G210xp * G212xp * G216xp) *
      (G310xp * G312xp * G316xp) *
      (F10xp * F12xp * F16xp) *
      (CR110xp * CR112xp * CR116xp)

K-with-AAA - considers performance with AA+aniso. Calculated using the same formula considering AA+aniso performance values.

The similar calculation (just for the 1600x1200 resolution) indicates the prospect of a videocard. The formula contains the same indexes as those used for usability rating calculations, but accelerator's price isn't considered. So, this rating indicates the capabilities of the current 3D cards in the current applications and future games.

You can also compare two ratings to see the correspondence of product prices to their capabilities and features.

Legend:

• Kuse - usability rating. The higher it is, the better card's mark is.
• Kpro - prospect rating. The higher it is, the better card's mark is.
• HL110xp - Half Life 2 (demo ixbt01) at 1024x768x32 (Windows XP) at max. quality
• HL112xp - Half Life 2 (demo ixbt01) at 1280x1024x32 (Windows XP) at max. quality
• HL116xp - Half Life 2 (demo ixbt01) at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP) at max. quality
• FC110xp - FarCry (RESEARCH level) at 1024x768x32 (Windows XP);
• FC112xp - FarCry (RESEARCH level) at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• FC116xp - FarCry (RESEARCH level) at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• D310xp - DOOM III (demo ixbt01) at 1024x768x32 (Windows XP);
• D312xp - DOOM III (demo ixbt01) at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• D316xp - DOOM III (demo ixbt01) at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• G110xp - 3DMark05 Game1 at 1024x768x32 (Windows XP);
• G112xp - 3DMark05 Game1 at 1280x1024x32 (Windows XP);
• G116xp - 3DMark05 Game1 at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• G210xp - 3DMark05 Game2 at 1024x768x32 (Windows XP);
• G212xp - 3DMark05 Game2 at 1280x1024x32 (Windows XP);
• G216xp - 3DMark05 Game2 at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• G310xp - 3DMark05 Game3 at 1024x768x32 (Windows XP);
• G312xp - 3DMark05 Game3 at 1280x1024x32 (Windows XP);
• G316xp - 3DMark05 Game3 at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• F10xp - F.E.A.R. at 1024x768x32 (Windows XP);
• F12xp - F.E.A.R. at 1280x1024x32 (Windows XP);
• F16xp - F.E.A.R. at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• SC10xp - SCCT at 1024x768x32 (Windows XP);
• SC12xp - SCCT at 1280x1024x32 (Windows XP);
• SC16xp - SCCT at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• CR110xp - Chronicles of Riddick (demo 44) at 1024x768x32 (Windows XP);
• CR112xp - Chronicles of Riddick (demo 44) at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• CR116xp - Chronicles of Riddick (demo 44) at 1600x1200x32 (Windows XP);
• Price - card price for the end of the month taken from price lists of a number of companies (for an average card);
• Poss - estimated functional potential and quality of a videocard (see remarks below);

Poss is calculated by the following formula:

Poss = ((AF * AA) ^ (1/2) * (Driver * VS * PS) ^ (1/3)) / 100

Where:

• Driver - estimated drivers quality (including installation difficulties, etc.) on the 10-mark scale.
• AF - anisotropic filtering:
  • = 500 * (K-with-AAA ^ (1/27)) / 60 fps - depends on relative performance.

• AA - antialiasing (on condition of minimal gameplay):
  • = 500 * (K-with-AAA ^ (1/27)) / 60 fps - MSAA;
  • = 1000 * (K-with-AAA ^ (1/27)) / 60 fps - MSAA+SSAA;
  • = 1500 * (K-with-AAA ^ (1/27)) / 60 fps - MSAA+SSAA+TAA;

• VS - hardware vertex shaders:
  • = 20 - version 3.0;
  • = 15 - version 2.0b;
  • = 5 - version 2.0;

• PS - hardware pixel shaders:
  • = 20 - version 3.0;
  • = 15 - version 2.0b;
  • = 5 - version 2.0;

P.S. We understand that such way of making ratings is not perfect, therefore we await suggestions and comments from our readers to be considered in our next 3Digest.