3DMark Vantage Preview @ PC Perspective

[WiCKeD]

PC Perspective overviews the changes in the latest version of Futuremark’s 3D benchmark software. As before, Futuremark has put the focus on users with the latest technology, this time requiring DX10 and Windows Vista. One of the biggest changes is pricing... Free in past versions, users are now required to pay to run the benchmark more than one time.

The obvious first question for potential 3DMark Vantage users is "what's new?" The first major change is the move to DirectX 10 technology. Where DX9 was the catalyst for the 3DMark05 and 3DMark06 benchmarks, DX10 and the new Windows Vista operating system are responsible for the shift to 3DMark Vantage. The benchmark was designed from the ground up to take full advantage of DX10 and because of that this is a VISTA ONLY application. Windows XP users are out luck.

All of the main tests, including the two graphics and two CPU benchmarks, are completely new and based on improved visual and computing technologies. The graphics tests use DX10 exclusive features, parallax mapping and more. The CPU tests sport brand new AI and physics modeling that we'll discuss on the individual pages.

Another change to the functionality of the 3DMark Vantage is the addition of testing presets. These presets are basically pre-defined settings for various gaming segments that will produce different 3DMark scores for budget, high-end and extreme options.
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Users that have seen and tested their system with PCMark Vantage will find the new 3DMark Vantage testing methods very familiar. The free version of 3DMark Vantage will only run on your system ONE TIME and will present an overall 3DMark score as well as allow for uploading of your results to the Futuremark servers. If you want to run the test an unlimited number of times the cost is $6.95 for the Basic version.

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[Almost Tactf]

Wow, even the basic benchmark isn't free anymore.....first Vista only and now this.....what a let down

[Tomek]

I wonder if the default res. will still be 1280? hehe

[BlakeFlies]

lol, hopefully not. I'm losing more and more interest in this Vantage.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Originally Posted by Almost Tactf

Wow, even the basic benchmark isn't free anymore.....first Vista only and now this.....what a let down

And i bet it still won't be able to read a **** CPU multiplier.

[bmxfelon420]

great, i have to run it with vista, which kills about half of my performance, because the display drivers suck. I hate everything

[Sephious]

Originally Posted by bmxfelon420

great, i have to run it with vista, which kills about half of my performance, because the display drivers suck. I hate everything

Don't worry, it's crappy anyway.

[bmxfelon420]

i should have said i wasnt going to run it anyways, but if i did, it would suck. Again, i hate everything

[Ceciltmeadej]

Originally Posted by Tomek

I wonder if the default res. will still be 1280? hehe

Yes it is.

I have the advanced version. Only the defaul setting the pic quality is crap. With all settings on extream, it looks quite good, but is a slide show of 3-6fps on my 3870. I dont think dual 3870x2s or 9800GX2s could run extream nicely. Plus, I dont understand why there are only two game benchmarks, 06 had four.