3DMark Basics...

Concepts Overall Results File Types

Concepts What is a 3D accelerator? A 3D accelerator is a special graphic chip dedicated to making 3D applications more realistic. Some graphic chips have a 3D accelerator integrated into one graphic board whilst other cards allow you to add-in 3D performance with an add-on 3D acceleration board. What is DirectX 6? DirectX 6 is the latest version of DirectX from Microsoft. It improves performance over previous versions of DirectX and allows you to access the latest features that manufacturers and developers use to make 3D scenes more realistic. Result Browser The Result Browser is a separate program that allows you to analyse and compare all your results in one place. You cannot view your results directly within 3DMark, rather the Result Browser gives more detailed information, graphs and in the near future other testing results from other Futuremark Corporation benchmarks. Look for the Result Browser Help for more detailed information on its use.

Overall Results 3DMark Score The 3DMark Score is the most important score given by 3DMark. It is an index number indicating your total system performance in games. The larger the number, the better your system is for gaming. The 3DMark result is measured from two game scenes only. The result unit is 3DMarks. The 3DMark score measures system performance, which means your 3D accelerator and CPU both affect the results. Synthetic CPU 3D Speed Score The Synthetic CPU 3D Speed Score indicates how fast your processor can handle large amounts of 3D geometry and lighting, and how well it will perform when the graphics card and other bottlenecks are removed from your system. The larger the number, the better your processor is for future gaming. The result unit is CPU 3DMarks. The Synthetic CPU 3D Speed Test is only dependent on the processor (and memory bandwith), and is not dependent on your 3D accelerator. Rasterizer Score The Rasterizer score is calculated from the two Fill Rate and five Texture Rendering Speed tests. It is not very dependent on the CPU Speed of the system. The result unit is 3DRasterMarks The CPU 3DMark, 3DRasterMark and 3DMark scores are not directly comparable with each other.

File Types 3DMark uses three different types of files in order to help you work better. Projects          .3dp 3DMark Project file A project file is an "active document" and is the file that records all the results and settings used when running a benchmark. Databases       .3db 3DMark Database file A database file is created by the Result Browser. It is a collection of projects that have been grouped together. A database file is useful for comparing more than one run of a benchmark and for storing lots of different benchmark runs together. Templates       .3dt 3DMark template file A template is simply the defaults for a test. By starting a new project by loading a template you can use the default testing settings that your favorite magazine uses or one that Futuremark recommends. You can create your own template by changing the settings within a project and exporting it as a template from the file menu.