FutureMark launches 3DMark05 benchmark program

A few minutes ago Futuremark launched the newest version of their popular benchmark, 3DMark05.

New Features in 3DMark05 include:

• Full support for Microsoft DirectX 9.0c;
• Supporting the latest pixel- and vertex shader models (2.0, 2.a, 2.b and 3.0),
• Three new game tests, all requiring hardware for DirectX 9.0 with support for pixel shader 2.0 or higher;
• Two CPU tests, the other one presenting a multithreaded AI implementation, especially suitable for virtual or physical multiprocessor systems;
• New feature and batch size tests;
• New and improved image, filtering and anti-aliasing quality tools;
• New graph tool for in-depth performance analysis,
• The ultimate showcase of Windows-based real-time 3D graphics: Dazzling demo with original soundtrack.

New engine:

• Dynamically builds shaders for each material in High-Level Shader Language (HLSL) format;
• Shaders are runtime compiled to best fit the installed hardware;
• Uses exclusively shader model 2.0 and 3.0 for all vertex and pixel processing;
• Renders real-time light scattering for atmospherical effects;
• Uses improved Perspective Shadow Maps (PSM) with Depth Stencil Texture (DST) and hardware accelerated Percentage Closest Filtering (PCF) if supported.

New and improved tools to assist reviewers and test labs:

• Image quality inspection tool;
  • Ability to export frame by frame using different options and settings;
  • Pre-rendered Reference Rasterizer image database for comparison;
• Texture filtering and anti-aliasing quality inspection tool;
  • Anti-Aliasing;
  • Bilinear/Trilinear/Anisotropic filtering;
• Graphs of runtime statistics;
  • Frame rate;
  • Frame duration;
  • Polygon count;
  • Vertex count;
  • State change count;
  • Drawing batch count;
• System Info utility, which provides an in-depth analysis of the status and features of the system’s components;
• Extended Online ResultBrowser for Pro users;
  • MultiComparison;
  • Dynamic compare URLs;
  • 18 filters for search and comparison.

3DMark05 Minimum System Recommendations/Requirements:

x86 compatible processor with SSE support, 2GHz
512MB of RAM
1.5GB of free hard disk space
Windows® 2000/XP with the latest updates & Service Packs
DirectX®9.0c or later
DirectX®9.0 compliant graphics adapter that has 128MB of memory and is capable of PixelShader 2.0 or higher
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6





The normal version of 3DMark05 is available for free. The Pro version, 3DMark05 Pro, which offers some more features is available for $29.95 on CD-ROM, or $19.95 when you download it. The Business Edition of 3DMark05 is shipping on CD-ROM for $250.

More info and download over at Futuremark