We’d been expecting it sooner (3DMark06 is more than two years old now and DirectX 10 and Vista have been out for over a year), but only now is Futuremark lifting the veil from its latest 3DMark - sporting the name "Vantage" instead of the expected "3DMark08." As with each edition, we’ll do a quick presentation, since the philosophy of this benchmarking program hasn’t really changed (any more than its inherent problems), and we don’t see any more need to use it than we did for previous versions. As we’ll see, drivers optimized specifically for 3DMark are already available (Nvidia is making its ForceWare 175.12 beta available today for the occasion), and the test scenes use a rendering engine that isn’t used by any game (even if that is the direction in which the company wants to move with its Futuremark Games Studio).

3DMark’s goal has always been to simulate the demands future games will make before the fact and to determine the resulting hierarchy of graphics cards. However, it has failed in that goal, as the results of 3DMark06 show - it favors AMD cards over Nvidia’s and does not offer reliable benchmarks for most current games. Not to mention 3DMark’s rendering, which hasn’t evolved and is still "cartoonish." But despite all that, it remains the tool both manufacturers and overclockers use. So let’s see what this new version is made of and what scores the current crop of cards can attain.
I think they might have underestimated how cheap a lot of the PC community is. $20 for a utility to get some arbitrary number seems a bit high to me.
So is you want to know if you graphic card is any good in DX10 environment, this is the only test you can use. What it's good for... Well not much at this moment, because it will take years untill we will see pure DX10 game engines, because the DX9 support is too important to the game makers!
But one day those DX10 games will come out, so until then this is the one and only test that you can use to test yours gpu's DX10 power...
seriously i am happy tomshardware wont be using 3dmarks newest applet anymore =D
As far as 3DMark Vantage goes, its useless in the real world. We should have Unreal 3 powered benchmarks since so many games actually use that game engine.
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I don't really understand this. Are you saying that a PPU makes a difference or doesn't make a difference? I read it as "it doesn't make a difference".
You forget that everything they did up to now had a free version for you cheapskates. Now they make something with a price (being a business like everyone else) and you complain?
Futuremark is going to be a big player with games and many other things coming up. Why slam them? Do you want games to continue to be the same old unsatifying crap they have been for years, or would you like to see innovation and developers with knowledge actually make games and apps we enjoy?
I treat these benchmarks as a game as a matter of fact.
When I am bored I see what I can squeeze out of my machine performance wise and thanks to futuremark I can do that in an enjoyable fashion.
What was there before 3dmark?
If you don't like the idea, you are still dort of free, so don't buy it!
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Noticing some of the comments and the tone of the article, I can't help but get the feeling that nobody sees a point in this application. While it is true that the scores don't always translate easily into what you can expect to see performance wise in a game, they are valid indicators of the raw power of your system.
This application does not apply to everyone. Much like a person working as an attorney would have little use with AutoCAD, so is it true that many people could care less for the latest Futuremark benchmark release. However, if you care just as much about your rigs ability to handle a game at the most grueling of settings, 3DMark is a tool to test your rigs capability and compare it to others around the world.
Vantage is the only benchmarking program for DirectX10 that I know and the rendering engine has had features added to accomodate. Thus, stating the rendering engine is unchanged is making an ignorant assumption that just because the graphics look cartooney, nothing really has changed. Many changes have been introduced with the latest implementation of DirectX.
As far as the 20 dollars is concerned: they are not supposed to be compensated for their time and effort? If you want a tool whose benchmarking results you'll never be able to compare with others and whose rendering capabilities were meant for DirectX 8, then by all means save your money and go download some freeware junk. You always get what you pay for.
20 dollars is not much for a PC enthusiast who has been waiting for the benchmarking tool of choice to finally give a score based on DirectX 10. I personally purchased the Basic edition. I want to do more than just the trial run, although I must say I am a tad bit disappointed at the features in the basic edition. Other than being able to do multiple test runs, it is like the free versions were in previous releases with nothing customizable at all.
A few tweakable settings would be nice, considering you were a paying customer. Also, version 1.0 of this program is stable, but buggy nonetheless. People are willing to spend hundreds on the latest processor and memory and graphics cards, but I can't help but think that P2P and torrents have spoiled the majority of people into thinking that software should be free.
If I where FutureMark i'd sell you twenty package, which is yours & let you use next level up for free for standard time limit. that way people buy 20 shot just to use better TEST & still have usefullness ongoing with basic FutureMark. Testing NEW Equipment with outdated tests is one way to start comparitive survey, yet Best Test Today for Vista is Vantage.
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