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3DMark06 benchmark launching on GameSpot

  • By Staff, GameSpot
  • Posted Jan 16, 2006 10:00 am PT

Next-generation 3D graphics benchmark arrives this week; new benchmark to feature extensive Shader Model 3.0, high dynamic range, and multicore CPU testing.

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PC system owners prepare to return to Proxycon and welcome back that queasy inadequate feeling. GameSpot will premiere 3DMark06, Futuremark's newest 3D benchmarking program, on Wednesday, January 18.

Longtime 3DMark users will recognize many of the tests from previous versions, but Futuremark has increased the complexity of each test to take advantage of the latest graphics hardware. 3DMark06 has an upgraded Canyon Flight test originally introduced in 3DMark05 and a brand-new Deep Freeze test that make extensive use of Shader Model 3.0 and HDR rendering, two highly touted features available in the latest GPUs from Nvidia and ATI.

While 3DMark05 could only measure single-core CPU performance, the new 3DMark06 CPU test suite has support for single-core and dual-core processors. Acknowledging the increasing importance of AI and physics calculations in-game, the 3DMark06 now includes CPU performance in the overall 3DMark06 score.

Check out GameSpot's 3DMark06 demo page for more information about the benchmark.

68 Comments

  • bombereli

    Posted Sep 24, 2007 11:07 pm GMT

    5868

    Core duo 2.8GHZ

    Radeon X1950XTX

    2 G ram

  • knoakh

    Posted Jan 20, 2006 11:37 am GMT

    Score: SM2.0 1938, HDR/SM3.0 1924, CPU: 875 = 4088 3D Marks with my
    Abit AW8 mobo, Intel P4 HT 630 3.0 GHz CPU, 2 Gb mem, Gainward 7800 GTX 256 Mb "GS" (no SLI) graphics card. Just waiting for the GTX (Gainward or XFX) cards with 512 Mb to be dropped.

  • Samuz50

    Posted Jan 18, 2006 11:46 pm GMT

    this menchmark is sweet, but to run it on a NOT so high end machine is like being K.Oed in Fightnight round 3

  • Joshua250

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 3:11 pm GMT

    My PC fails at benchmarks, I think its time to head over to tigerdirect and update everything.

  • Tfk-Centurion

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:55 pm GMT

    Woow that looks awesome ... I'm looking forward to see games that are just like reality

  • DrewBrownsFan

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 12:03 pm GMT

    This is my ticket to finding out how bad my computer really is . . .
    4 year old laptop with
    Pentium 3
    Intel Graphics card
    Lags playing backyard football 2002

  • n_stoney

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 11:51 am GMT

    do u accually have to have shader model 3.0

  • Atarii

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 11:08 am GMT

    Raise your hand if you still play PC games.... *looks around and realizes that only about 20% play PC games*

    Well, I see the PC market is still strong. Who wants to play World of Warcraft now?

  • spfn7

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 10:35 am GMT

    probably any system can run this benchmark except for like 8 year old video cards

  • splinter3

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 9:32 am GMT

    What kind of bomb do you need to run this bench ?

  • R4t_K1ller

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 8:45 am GMT

    X360 has 3cores,so when the games will have 3core prosessing or something ,i'l think that the will be damn good looking then(with x360)(not PS3)(PS3 has only 1 real core :b).

  • R4t_K1ller

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 8:42 am GMT

    hopely this runs with my PC.(celeron 2,4ghz . 1gt ram .ATI Radeon X800pro

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 8:29 am GMT

    with dual core chips, there should be alot more "ambient" activity in next gen games

  • dwmorrow

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 6:35 am GMT

    This is why I prefer consoles nowadays for the majority of my gaming. I never have to worry about hardware inadequacy or upgrading every 6 months, and if a game runs like crap on a console, it's the developer's fault and I simply avoid that game.

  • RedBier

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 6:28 am GMT

    Just about to do that myself, luckily the x1900xtx is out soon

    The 9800pro really worked well up till now .....

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 5:03 am GMT

    I think it's time to upgrade my pc

  • Raven87

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 4:09 am GMT

    i think its time to take a trip to the tech section of the site.

  • Raven87

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 4:08 am GMT

    My little 9600 pro and I are starting to feel old

  • Euribe03

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 11:15 pm GMT

    Darn it! I can already see my sub par frames per second.

  • azizrulez

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 10:30 pm GMT

    have to upgrade again now

  • lord_lad

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 8:56 pm GMT

    WTH ??? My system got only about 3500+ for 3dmark05 !!! Wonder how much i will get for this.

  • SENoLimit

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 8:20 pm GMT

    OHhh nevermind over clock!! haha... Is the 800XL really that crap... cuz i paid around $350 CDN for it, and it's alot weaker than other video cards that are same price... Did i just get ripped off?

  • SENoLimit

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 8:17 pm GMT

    RE:moldovan76 icic... thx alot... BTW whats "OC your CPU"?? Sorry I'm still pretty new at this build your own computer thing...

  • andrewtyen

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 7:54 pm GMT

    looks awesome

  • forever_blank

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 7:50 pm GMT

    How could we forget that quesy inadiquate feeling... , I wonder how my small powerhouse runs.... (small, but powerful)

  • o_sausage

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 7:36 pm GMT

    my god that looks incredible could this posibly be the future graphics on ps3 and 360 because i sure hope so

  • moldovan76

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 7:09 pm GMT

    RE: SENoLimit

    You probably have already, but make sure you're running the latest Catalyst drivers. A 5200 score is about right for your 800xl, but your 4400 should be pushing it up a bit.

    You can always OC your CPU and GPU for some more juice. My X2 4400 runs at 2.6ghz with headroom to spare...

    AMD X2 4400
    1024 Corsair XMS
    2X Maxtor 160GB SATA RAID 0
    2X MSI 7800gt SLI

  • azn_ranron

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 6:49 pm GMT

    So 3DMark '05 was a benchmark with graphics for the next generation. Since the next generation hasn't really come out yet, '06 will be two generations away. They should just skip a generation and make everything in one leap.

    So I was considering phase change cooling for my computer and I guess this pretty much helps make my decision. Mmmm.... can we pre-order this?

  • Sabooya

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 6:41 pm GMT

    just upgraded to cathch myself up to the 05.... Rumors are out stating that 2 SLI GTX get only 12 fps! DAMN Does that mean ill be in the negatives! It does show how the next gen games & hardware will be.

  • SENoLimit

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 6:39 pm GMT

    AMD Athlon 64X2 4400+ 2.2GHz, two King Max PC3200 DDR400 1024MB, ASUS A8n-SLI Premium Socket 939, Western Digital Caviar SATA 2 (WD2500KS) 250 GB 7200 RPM 16 MB Buffer, ATI Radeon X800XL 256MB.
    Score on the 3DMark05 was ======> 5200... Can anyone tell me why is it so low?

  • KungFu-tse

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 6:14 pm GMT

    Please see my rant on why I don't trust 3DMark anymore:

    http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=24218203

  • doomed51

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 5:38 pm GMT

    damn straight multi-core!! hehe getting it this week ohh yea can finally start assemblin

  • Ebougile

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 5:20 pm GMT

    Although I am curious how my gaming rig will score with it's 9800 Pro video card, I'm not building a new rig until later this year when DirectX 10 video cards get released. It's good to see a benchmark push current technology, but I mainly view 3DMark as a diagnostic tool in case somone's score is unusually low compared to similar computer. For gaming performance, I play games and make my own decisions as to how well they run.

  • Ghost777

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 4:44 pm GMT

    Since the dissertation didn't make it can't wait to see my measly 1000 score even with top of the line PC hardware from 6 months ago. I'm being an arse I should technically score 3000+. Amd X2 4400 with SLI 7800GT's. 2Gig Corsair? XMS Ram. The XMS is right just forgot if it's Corsair.

  • Ghost777

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 4:39 pm GMT

    Just seeing if my comments can post. My dissertation didn't make it dangit.

  • dmn_link

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 4:36 pm GMT

    FK yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!

  • Optimusv2

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 4:29 pm GMT

    It isn't about new demos its the new technology that is being used more in these demos.

  • ufopuller

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 4:11 pm GMT

    I wish I did not have to buy a new computer every other year, just to play the newest games

  • reallaughingman

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 4:06 pm GMT

    i have no comment.

  • Jab_Jackal

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 3:40 pm GMT

    Dude they r recycling demos from past 3dmarks. Boo! I already saw 2 out of 3 of those screenshots in 3dmark 05.

  • Jab_Jackal

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 3:22 pm GMT

    Humm... Yeah i see my great 3dmark 05 score [10,383] hitting the low 6000s for mark06.

  • Optimusv2

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 2:39 pm GMT

    First screen we'll see something like that in blue dragon, second pic we'll have that covered in lost planet and in the last pic gears, prey, etc etc etc

  • Optimusv2

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 2:37 pm GMT

    Man my pc is amazing as it is can't wait to run these benches on my pc

    Now don't take this as concrete evidence because I could be wrong, but I hear they'll have this new 3dmark somehow be on the xbox live marketplace for people run a benchmark on the 360.

  • NinjaFoot

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 1:26 pm GMT

    The longer I keep my pc decently up to par, the more I feel like quitting this expensive practice and saying forget it. :-D

  • GyRo567

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 1:17 pm GMT

    Do these people making fake specs think they're being funny?

  • coolcool23

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 1:07 pm GMT

    OMG my AMD FX-105 and XDR memory will cut through it like butter.

    My nVidia 90000 GTX Platinum Ed. overclocked can do that no prob

  • NeoJedi

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 1:01 pm GMT

    Great idea, can't wait to test it on my machine.

  • eatpepsi

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 12:59 pm GMT

    amazing !

  • ohmshalone

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 12:57 pm GMT

    bah! that'll run like water on my 9.89 Gig Pentium 6 with 10 gigs of Ram

  • ssbfalco

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 12:36 pm GMT

    Just when I was getting over the depression about how crappy my machines are...

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