3DMark Vantage: Exklusives Interview (englisch)

Die Fragen beantworteten Oliver Baltuch und Dr. Jukka Makinen von Futuremark.

3DMark Vantage: Allgemeine Fragen

PCGH: Will 3DMark Vantage have the same business model like PCMark Vantage with a free trail version version that only runs once, a basic edition for 7 US-Dollar and the Advanced version for 20 US-Dollar?

Oliver Baltuch: Yes. The new model we started with PCMark® Vantage was to have a trial version for no cost and then a Basic Edition which could be used over and over for less than 5 Euros. This gives us greater freedom to use higher end tooling (like Softimage XSI) and computers to really concentrate on delivering the kind of quality products that are expected by those same customers. The price of the Advanced and Professional editions have stayed the same at $19.95 (Approx. 12 Euros) and $495 (Approx. 330 Euros).

PCGH: Do you follow the concept of game tests that contribute to the 3DMark score and feature tests that don't?

Oliver Baltuch: Yes, as we have done before we have a variety of game tests for thoroughly and fairly benchmarking the hardware of a PC that contribute to the score as well as a set of feature tests for bringing out individual characteristics for the more technical fans and professionals. One change is that the advanced versions will have higher end presets to be able to test some of the very highest end hardware available in the next several years.

PCGH: How many game tests will 3DMark Vantage feature?

Oliver Baltuch: This has not yet been announced, but, it will be similar to past versions of 3Dmark(R). All of our tests are brand new with new engines made from the ground up. They test the latest hardware right to the limit and also allow for truly testing multi-CPU and multi-GPU properly.

PCGH: There were some screenshots in the net that showed Sapphire logos on a boat. How is Sapphire involved in 3DMark Vantage?

Oliver Baltuch: I have not seen the images on the web yet since we have been very busy preparing the benchmark and visiting GDC for Futuremark Games Studio, but, we are very proud to have Sapphire technology as a member of the Benchmark Development Program (BDP) who is able to give us tremendous insight into the world of Graphics Cards as well as providing their excellent quality assurance assistance worldwide. Since In-Game advertising is the latest thing in games (see Massive or Double Fusion), we felt it would add one more element to have an in-game sponsor that also added to the look and feel of one of our scenes. They have a really cool logo that fitted right in the theme.

PCGH: In which way are AMD/ATI and Nvida involved in the development process of 3DMark Vantage?

Oliver Baltuch: AMD, NVIDIA, Intel, S3, Compal, Sapphire, Dell, Gateway, Velocity Micro, Microsoft and many others are all members of the BDP. They work together with Futuremark through our transparency process to create and refine the specifications, request and comment on all changes, help troubleshoot and find bugs in their massive QA and Performance labs, provide valuable insight into how their products work. Through the transparency process, they also all have the right to come to Finland to view our well documented source code to ensure fairness among all the members. My guys in Finland have had many enjoyable times when each of our partners have visited.

PCGH: What are you plans to minimize possible graphics driver optimizations solely for 3DMark Vantage?

Oliver Baltuch: All of the drivers from our partners that can be used to derive a score are put through our testing lab for qualification to be used for accepted scores in our Online Results Browser (ORB). I must say that they are all very professional driver groups who have improving game performance and quality as their number one mission.

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Technische Fragen

PCGH: Will the system specifications be detected with the exact clock speeds?

Dr. Jukka Makinen: The updated System Info in 3DMark Vantage has improved detection accuracy over previous versions, so both the GPU and CPU clock speeds are now reported closer to their true values. But as we all know, there's a constant stream of new products coming out and an indefinite amount of different systems out there, so getting to a 100% accuracy may not be even possible, but, we'll do our best to get as close to that as we can!

PCGH: Will game tests gain performance when using more than 4 CPU cores? 3DMark06 didn't show much of a improvement when running on a 8 cores compared to 4 cores (and solely in feature tests).

Dr. Jukka Makinen: The graphics tests are designed to stress mainly the GPU(s) in the system, so the CPU scaling in these tests will be limited by design. The 2 new CPU tests in 3DMark Vantage, the AI and Physics tests, have been designed with current and future multi-core systems in mind so in these tests you will be able to see the benefits of multiple CPU cores well beyond 4.

PCGH: Does 3DMark Vantage makes use of DX10.1? If so, is it relevant for the final score?

Dr. Jukka Makinen: This has not yet been announced.

PCGH: Does 3DMark Vantage take advantage of a 64bit OS like Vista x64?

Dr. Jukka Makinen: 3DMark Vantage is a 32bit application, so it will run nicely on a 64bit OS as well but does not have any 64bit-specific performance optimizations.

PCGH: Are there any optimizations that favor a specific GPU or CPU architecture? (like SSE4.1 or newer)

Dr. Jukka Makinen: As with previous 3DMark versions, our goal with 3DMark Vantage has been to develop an objective benchmark for current and future GPUs and CPUs which would reflect the way future games take advantage of the hardware. We think that we have been able to accomplish this with 3DMark Vantage as well by finding a good balance between the benefits of different hardware architectures without favoring any one over the others.

PCGH: Can you give a rough estimate on the importance of arithmetic versus texturing power for 3DMark Vantage?

Dr. Jukka Makinen: This has not yet been announced.

PCGH: According to rumors, there are several presets that seem to reduce the influence of the CPU in the final score. Can you tell us anything about that? Will there be ORB entries for every preset?

Dr. Jukka Makinen: This has not yet been announced.

PCGH: Will multi-GPU solutions be detected and separated from each other in the ORB? Currently, the scores of dual GPU solutions appear in single VGA charts which is quite odd in our opinion.

Dr. Jukka Makinen: 3DMark Vantage features improved multi-GPU detection so separating multi-GPU- and single GPU results in the ORB will also be possible - with full support for more than 2 GPUs per system!

Danke an Futuremark für die Beantwortung der Fragen.

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