Futuremark Launches 3DMark Cross-Platform Benchmark

Today we’re happy to announce a new Futuremark benchmark for everyone to torture their hardware with!

futuremark_logo_color_horiz_preferred

 

Presents….

3dmark_logo_color_preferred

If you’ve been waiting for this benchmark for a while, you’re not alone. There were a lot of previews sent out. We published the first one that said this was coming in 2012 (missed that one, didn’t they?). Then another trailer came out in early December. That was followed by a couple more, but there was never a definite release date. Folks ended up becoming just a little frustrated, especially on HWBot.

Now the wait is OVER!  Like the post title says, the new 3DMark is a cross-platform benchmark. It comes with three tests – Ice Storm, Cloud Gate & Fire Strike. There will be three tiers of 3DMark much like past benchmarks – Basic Edition (free on all platforms), Advanced Edition (a paid version, there are more options for enthusiasts) and a Professional Edition (for business users and costs a pretty penny).

System Requirements

The system requirements are actually reasonably light for such a new benchmark. Of course, the frames may be crawling by on your screen, choppy as they can be, but it’ll run!

Windows System Requirements
Windows System Requirements
The Fine Print
The Fine Print

Being the first cross-platform bench, they also have minimum requirements for mobile devices. This includes phones and tablets.

Mobile System Requirements
Mobile System Requirements

There’s also a handy dandy quick reference for test compatibility.

Test Compatibility
Test Compatibility

Now, on to the benchmarks!

Ice Storm

This is the first (and least intense) test in 3DMark, meant for mobile devices:

Ice Storm is a cross-platform benchmark for mobile devices. Use it to test the performance of your smartphone, tablet, ultra-portable notebook or entry-level PC. Ice Storm includes two graphics tests focusing on GPU performance and a physics test targeting CPU performance. On Windows, Ice Storm uses a DirectX 11 engine limited to Direct3D feature level 9, making it the ideal modern benchmark for all DirectX 9 compatible devices. On Android and iOS, Ice Storm uses OpenGL ES 2.0. The test content, settings and rendering resolution are the same on all platforms and scores can be compared across Windows, Windows RT, Android and iOS.

  • Cross-platform benchmark for mobile devices.
  • Includes two graphics tests and a physics test.
  • Compare scores across Windows, Windows RT, Android and iOS.

Ice Storm, Courtesy Futuremark
Ice Storm, Courtesy Futuremark

Ice Storm, Courtesy Futuremark
Ice Storm, Courtesy Futuremark

Ice Storm, Courtesy Futuremark
Ice Storm, Courtesy Futuremark

Ice Storm, Courtesy Futuremark
Ice Storm, Courtesy Futuremark

Ice Storm isn’t intense, but it’s still a good looking bench. It’s the only one of the three to support DirectX 9.

Cloud Gate

The next test is for older hardware, notebooks and “typical home PCs”:

Cloud Gate is a new test designed for Windows notebooks and typical home PCs. Cloud Gate includes two graphics tests and a physics test. The benchmark uses a DirectX 11 engine limited  to Direct3D feature level 10 making it suitable for testing DirectX 10 compatible hardware. Cloud Gate will be available only in the Windows editions of 3DMark initially.
  • Designed for typical home PCs and notebooks.
  • DirectX 11 engine supporting DirectX 10 hardware.
  • Includes two graphics tests and a physics test.

Cloud Gate - Courtesy Futuremark
Cloud Gate – Courtesy Futuremark

Cloud Gate - Courtesy Futuremark
Cloud Gate – Courtesy Futuremark

Cloud Gate - Courtesy Futuremark
Cloud Gate – Courtesy Futuremark

Cloud Gate - Courtesy Futuremark
Cloud Gate – Courtesy Futuremark

Cloud Gate - Courtesy Futuremark
Cloud Gate – Courtesy Futuremark

Cloud Gate - Courtesy Futuremark
Cloud Gate – Courtesy Futuremark

Cloud Gate - Courtesy Futuremark
Cloud Gate – Courtesy Futuremark

Cloud Gate - Courtesy Futuremark
Cloud Gate – Courtesy Futuremark

Cloud Gate is….bright, very bright. It supports DirectX 10.

Fire Strike

This is where most overclockers will be focusing. Designed to torture the highest of high-end computers (and then some, if you run the Extreme preset), it is the most intense of the three tests:

Fire Strike is our new showcase DirectX 11 benchmark for high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today.

Using a multi-threaded DirectX 11 engine, Fire Strike includes two graphics tests, a physics test and a combined test designed to stress the CPU and GPU at the same time. 3DMark Advanced and Professional Editions include an additional Extreme preset for high-end systems with multiple GPUs. Fire Strike will be available only in the Windows editions of 3DMark initially.

  • Designed for high-performance gaming PCs.
  • Extreme preset for multi-GPU systems.
  • Stunning DirectX 11 showcase graphics.

Fire Strike - Courtesy Futuremark
Fire Strike – Courtesy Futuremark

Fire Strike - Courtesy Futuremark
Fire Strike – Courtesy Futuremark

Fire Strike - Courtesy Futuremark
Fire Strike – Courtesy Futuremark

Fire Strike - Courtesy Futuremark
Fire Strike – Courtesy Futuremark

Interesting side note – you can see how they used motion capture to make that tech demo here.

Fire Strike is where our team spent their time since receiving the benchmark last week. We were able to throw together a quick comparison for you with a few high-end GPUs. One thing we were struck by was the fact that threads don’t really matter to this benchmark. There is a large difference in Physics score, but relatively little in overall score. Here is a comparison between a 3770K @ 4.0 GHz and a 3960X @ 4.0 GHz, both with HD 7970s clocked at 1100 / 1500.

If you want to delve more deeply on what you’ll need to increase your 3DMark score, you can check out page 26 of the 3Dmark Technical Guide, which outlines how the scores are calculated.

3770K + HD 7970 - 7365
3770K + HD 7970 – 7365

3960X + HD 7970 - 7482
3960X + HD 7970 – 7482

Our comparison graph all ran on our standard GPU benchmarking platform with a 3770K at 4.0 GHz and RAM at DDR3-1866, 9-9-9-24. The only change was to the GPU.

3DMark - Fire Strike Comparison
3DMark – Fire Strike Comparison

So far, it looks like AMD is going to be the way to go in 3DMark for now. Either the bench favors AMD overall or AMD’s recent drivers just rock for rendering this bench. I did run Fire Strike with the 3960X at 3.9 GHz (ASUS “stock”) and the HD 7970 at its original stock clocks (925/1325), which scored 6626. Accounting for the 3960x-to-3770K difference, (call it 100 points), that’s still over 700 marks better than the GTX 680 with the HD 7970 at stock.

CrossfireX and SLI scaling aren’t doing so well with 3DMark yet. After speaking with Futuremark about it, this appears to be a driver problem only. The software is fine, but Fire Strike is a very complex scene and multi-GPU setups are currently struggling. MattNo5ss tried a GTX 680 & GTX 670 in hybrid SLI, but the score was no better than with a single GTX 670. As you can see, CrossfireX scales pretty well with two GPUs (though there are flickering issues inside the scenes, which Futuremark says is all driver). However, once you put a third HD 7970, the score drops right back down to where it was with only one HD 7970. So far, it looks like CrossfireX with two GPUs works, but that’s it. Tri-fire and Hybrid SLI both failed to do anything.

This wouldn’t be overclockers if we didn’t throw down the gauntlet of course, so here’s a challenge – beat the best score I came up with: 14313. This is with a 3770K @ 4.8 GHz, RAM at DDR3-2600 / 10-12-12-31 and 2 x HD 7970s at 1270 / 1750.

3770K @ 4.8 + ASUS ARES II - 14313
3770K @ 4.8 + ASUS ARES II – 14313

Now, go download the bench and let’s see what your systems are made of!

– Jeremy Vaughan (hokiealumnus)

About Jeremy Vaughan 197 Articles
I'm an editor and writer here at Overclockers.com as well as a moderator at our beloved forums. I've been around the overclocking community for several years and just love to sink my teeth into any hardware I can get my paws on!

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Avatar of trekky
trekky

1

1,813 messages 4 likes

HWbot should soon add this to make points hopefully

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Avatar of wagex
wagex

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6,422 messages 58 likes

now they just need to make it work on xbox and ps to make them console junkies shut it about power lol, like ps3 and their "7 core" cpu that is so powerful :D

that is what i was thinking when they said cross-platform lol.

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Avatar of EarthDog
EarthDog

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75,806 messages 2,641 likes

HWbot should soon add this to make points hopefully

As with all new benchmarks, it takes time. People are going to try to find ANYTHING to get the best score out of it so that stuff needs to be tested... so, I imagine it will be, just dont expect it soon if their history is anything to go off of. :thup:

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Avatar of trekky
trekky

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1,813 messages 4 likes

true true think i can run one now and than turn it in later?

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Avatar of EarthDog
EarthDog

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75,806 messages 2,641 likes

Id imagine so, it depends on their requirements for it (as far as GPUz, CPUz, details of the bench, etc) but why not just run it when it is actually a boint receiving benchmark.

EDIT: I do wonder if the SLI scaling would be better with like cards as opposed to the Hybrid config tested though? Clearly its an issue from the AMD side, I just wonder if the Hybrid 'hack' has anything to do with it.

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Avatar of hokiealumnus
hokiealumnus

1

16,560 messages 25 likes

In my brief conversation with Futuremark, NVIDIA needs as much work on their drivers as AMD does to get multiple-card scaling to work properly.

One thing I think I forgot to mention in the article that's nifty - 3DMark has the ability to detect when you turn Tessellation off in Catalyst. If you do so, it will tell you your run was invalid. Thus, all runs listed here were run with Tessellation (and detail, for that matter) at default.

The same cannot be said about LoD. I don't have a green card at the moment, so I can't test whether LoD makes any difference, but 3DMark can't detect that because of the way it's implemented.

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Avatar of EarthDog
EarthDog

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75,806 messages 2,641 likes

There is an ATI LOD app as well.. I dont recall the name but I think its in the LBB. ;)

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Avatar of trekky
trekky

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1,813 messages 4 likes

its called SetLOD it works Meh

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Avatar of Bobnova
Bobnova

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20,964 messages 1 likes

Futuremark's been able to tell about tessellation for a while now, 3d11 has that ability too. It just shows up on the Orb though, not in the main window.

For myself, I'd rather they didn't add yet another benchmark you have to pay for to HWBot, especially when it's not testing any new features (3d11 for instance added DX11, Vantage added DX10).

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Avatar of hokiealumnus
hokiealumnus

1

16,560 messages 25 likes

I doubt they'll be adding this to the bot very soon.

Side note - we received an email with pricing info and (most importantly) announcing a 25% discount for the advanced edition if you already have a 3DMark 11 license. :)

WINDOWS EDITIONS AND PRICING

3DMark Basic Edition - FREE
- Includes all three tests: Ice Storm, Cloud Gate and Fire Strike.
- Test everything from tablets to gaming PCs.
- Easy to use, no technical know-how needed.
- Free online account to manage your results.

3DMark Advanced Edition - $24.99
- Run each test individually for faster benchmarking.
- Unlock the Fire Strike Extreme preset for extreme hardware.
- Explore your PC's performance limits with custom settings.
- Use benchmark looping for stability testing and burning in.
- Get in-depth insights with interactive performance graphs.
- Automatically save your results offline.

3DMark Professional Edition -$995.00
- Licensed for business and commercial use.
- Command line automation.
- Image Quality Tool.
- Private offline results option.
- Export results as XML.

SPECIAL LAUNCH OFFERS

Save 25% in the Futuremark store
People who own 3DMark 11 Advanced Edition can get a 25% discount when they buy 3DMark Advanced Edition from the Futuremark store. http://www.futuremark.com/3dmark

Save 25% with Steam
3DMark is also available on Steam. For the first week only, you can save 25% when you buy 3DMark Advanced Edition from Steam.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/223850/

Get 3DMark free with MSI
Look for specially marked MSI brand motherboards and video cards from MSI in stores and get 3DMark Advanced Edition free.
http://www.futuremark.com/msi-offer

Get 3DMark free with Galaxy
Look for specially marked Galaxy brand components in stores and get 3DMark Advanced Edition free.
http://www.futuremark.com/galaxy-offer

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