3DMark for Windows Launches on Monday, February 4

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

3DMark will be the one benchmark for all your devices, spanning Windows, Android and Apple's iOS.

Futuremark said on Thursday that 3DMark for Windows will be launched on February 4, 2013 at 18:00 UTC (13:00 EST / 10:00 PST) after a "feverish few weeks of polishing and honing." Slated as "one benchmark for all your devices", this version will include the Fire Strike, Cloud Gate and Ice Storm game tests.

"3DMark uses a combination of in-app features and online web services to help you understand the performance of your hardware," the company said. "For components that support it, 3DMark records frames per second (FPS), GPU and CPU temperatures as well as CPU power and clock speed during the benchmark run."

Futuremark said the suite's performance graphs are interactive, allowing users to zoom in, change the scale and pan the chart to focus on a specific part of the benchmark run. Users can even click on the lines to get the numbers for that particular period during the benchmark which is ideal for checking the peak temperatures as the hardware is pushed to the limits.

The Android, iOS and Windows RT versions will follow soon after pending app store approvals, the company said. There will also be a free Basic Edition on all platforms, a paid Advanced Edition with more options for enthusiasts, and a Professional Edition for business users.

Here's a bit more on the three included tests:

Fire Strike
* DirectX 11
* For high performance Windows gaming PCs
Is the 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. Fire Strike will be available only in the Windows editions of 3DMark initially.

Cloud Gate*
DirectX 11 Engine limited to Direct 3D feature level 10, DirectX 10
* For Windows notebooks and home PCs
Cloud Gate includes two graphics tests and a physics test. It will initially be available only in the Windows editions of 3DMark.

Ice Storm*
DirectX 11 engine limited to Direct3D feature level 9, OpenGL ES 2.0
* For Android, iOS and Windows mobile devices
Ice Storm includes two graphics tests focusing on GPU performance and a physics test for measuring CPU performance.

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Kevin Parrish
16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • SneakySnake
    It's been available on windows for years :P
    Reply
  • pbrigido
    So for the last decade or so, what 3DMark product have I been using on my PC?
    Reply
  • jazz84
    Will it still be irrelevant as far as representing real-world performance?
    Reply
  • merikafyeah
    SneakySnakeIt's been available on windows for yearsYeah, title should be: 3DMark for Everything Launches on Monday, February 4

    But hey, now you can compare your smartphone to your desktop PC and giggle at the difference.
    (Or cry if your PC is really, really old)

    Also, I am shocked that the article didn't embed the video of some hot guy smacking around an icy bitch and dropping her back into the kitchen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiFXAooGtgU
    Reply
  • Estix
    I can't stop laughing at the idea of releasing a benchmarking tool for iOS...
    Reply
  • TobiSGD
    All my PCs are running Linux and as long as they do not release a version for Linux the phrase "3DMark will be the one benchmark for all your devices" is nothing than a lie.
    Reply
  • ojas
    Hope Tom's actually uses this...
    Reply
  • CaedenV
    OK, so reading about the final descriptions of the 3 packages this is not what I was expecting. I thought that the new 3D Mark would run the SAME benchmarks across all devices so that at the end of the day I can know where my phone stacks up compared to my PC and Tablet.
    Instead we have different tests for different product classes. One for phones and tablets, another for laptops and desktops, and yet another that is desktop exclusive.
    Reply
  • ojas
    CaedenVOK, so reading about the final descriptions of the 3 packages this is not what I was expecting. I thought that the new 3D Mark would run the SAME benchmarks across all devices so that at the end of the day I can know where my phone stacks up compared to my PC and Tablet.Instead we have different tests for different product classes. One for phones and tablets, another for laptops and desktops, and yet another that is desktop exclusive.Actually, i think the first two are Windows only initially (and will see a future release for other platforms), and the last one runs on all platforms, because if it'll run on Windows mobile devices, it'll have to run on x86 tablets, so it should run on desktops too.
    Reply
  • anxiousinfusion
    Now I want to see the whole thing.
    Reply