Reviews

Reviews of 3DMark06

• Techconnect Magazine
  "3DMark 2006 offers a slight departure from the previous editions' model, but the changes are all for the better. The standard test no longer tests for specific driver and hardware features, but relies on gaming performance alone, eliminating much of the optimisation hooplah that follows each 3DMark release.
  A resounding Editor's Choice, and many healthy business wishes to Futuremark."
  
• Guru3D
  "That being said I feel that the new '06 is finished, complete and exactly what it should be. The new features introduced are breathtaking and the end-result is looking astounding. We can only hope to play games in such an environment. We as reviewers can use this software as always in a good manner, have plenty of options to check image quality and for you the end user it's that magic "number" that scales so perfectly."
  
• AnandTech
  "The bottom line is that a graphics card was made for playing games. Futuremark has developed a nice tool with excellent graphical elements in this latest version of 3DMark, which hopefully game makers will aspire to achieve in future games. Regardless of how you use it, 3DMark06 shows off some very impressive graphics and is a definite improvement over 3DMark05 both in visual quality and in the types of performance tests used."
  
• ExtremeTech
  "In some ways, 3DMark06 represents a significant upgrade over 3DMark05. Certainly, HDR rendering is gaining popularity and will be common in the future, so having a good graphics benchmark test for it is important. The shadow algorithm in 3DMark05 wasn't really used in any games we can think of, and cube shadow maps should be a much more common shadow solution. 3DMark06 also places the workload more on the pixel shader, where earlier 3DMark versions were largely vertex-shader bound. This puts it more in line with where the bottleneck is in real games."
  
• FiringSquad
  "Overall we feel 3DMark 06's release is a "good thing" for the industry because we now have another standardized tool in our benchmarking suite that we can use for evaluating the latest and greatest computer hardware, but clearly it will take more than just looking at a single number to make meaningful interpretations."
  
• Hexus
  "The last 3DMark before Vista and D3D10, 3DMark06 is a beautiful to look at update of the basics in 05, with lots of merit in the sub tests. As we said on page one, "each new version of 3DMark has been a great snapshot tool to rank graphics products almost as well as dozens of tools, games, and days of analysis do". That's still true."
  
• EliteBastards
  "As with previous releases, FutureMark has brought us a pretty comprehensive set of tools with 3DMark06 - From game-like testing of the latest graphics features, to dual-core CPU testing, and from image quality comparisons to more isolated testing of certain GPU features. It's a pretty fully-featured bundle, and if you can get to grips with the technologies and concepts behind the benchmark it can prove invaluable."
  
• Computerbase
  ""3DMark06 - The Gamers' Benchmark", so nennt sich das neueste Produkt offiziell. Und endlich hat ein Benchmark von Futuremark diesen Titel auch wieder verdient. Waren 3DMark03 und 3DMark05 doch eher ein Grafik-Benchmark, wurden im neuesten Ableger einige Änderungen vorgenommen. Da der Prozessor wieder eine entscheidende Rolle spielt, sind Vergleiche zu früheren Benchmarks nicht möglich. Selbst die Vergleichbarkeit untereinander kann man anhand der "3DMarks" nicht mehr vornehmen."
  
• Rage3D.com
  "3DMark06 brings Futuremark’s synthetic benchmark up-to-date as a relative indicator of future performance with the application of SM 3.0 and HDR. It truly showcases how spectacular HDR will improve image quality in next generation games. Its use of CPU performance as part of the score is new and interesting and adds a new dimension to the benchmark. I don’t believe there has been extensive use of dynamic branching in the new shaders, but we haven’t seen any games use much of this capability yet either, making it difficult to assess its future importance.
  Overall I feel 3DMark06 represents a good refresh the the franchise though, and expect it will continue its popularity until we see the next true major release."
  
• Rage3D.gr
  "There is hardly any doubt 3DMark06 will be the "Next Big Thing" as far as benchmarks are concerned. I'm certain that, by the time this is published, everyone will be rushing to download it. 3DMark06 addresses many of its predecessor's shortcomings and proves to be a reliable, consistent and highly configurable benchmarking tool. We don't know how well the included tests can represent future games, but then again, who does ? Futuremark has certainly been spot on a lot of times in the past. Only time can show if they're right again. In any case, 3DMark06 is the best synthetic benchmark we've ever tried. Kudos to Futuremark for a job well done."
  
• AMDZone
  "So overall what must one think of 3DMark 2006? Well certainly it is a good show case for HDR and SM3, and in that way has some nice eye candy. It also will certainly becoming a tool of bragging rights as thousands submit scores hoping for the top spot."
  
• PC Perspective
  " As we all get more time to play around with the new graphics tests, CPU tests and feature tests, I am sure there will be a lot of discussion on how this new version compares to the past ones and how closely it will end up resembling next-generation gaming software. Because in the end, that's the goal of these applications -- giving the user an indication of which hardware best performs on today's and tomorrow's games.
  My congratulations and thanks goes out to Futuremark for supplying the industy and community with a useful tool in 3DMark06."
  
• Hardware-Mag
  "Dennoch handelt es sich bei Futuremarks Benchmark nicht um ein neues Spielzeug, sondern um ein professionelles Programm zur Leistungsmessung vorhandener Hardware. Dementsprechend ist der neue Benchmark noch stärker auf die Bedürfnisse von Entwicklern ausgelegt. Das hat seine Berechtigung, denn die Anforderungen hinsichtlich der Grafik werden im Spielebereich immer komplexer."
  
• HARDiNFO
  "Inden vi runder denne artikel af og giver bolden op til vore læsere, vil vi gerne benytte lejligheden til at takke Futuremark for samarbejdet! Det har været interessant at se 3DMark vende tilbage i sikker stil efter et par tvivlsomme år, som fokuserede i for høj grad på grafikkortets ydelse. Som det var tilfældet ved tidligere udgivelser i 3DMark-serien, plejer Futuremark som regel at være med på noderne, når softwarehuset spår om fremtidens spilteknologier. Vi tror Futuremark i denne omgang og kan kun give firmaet ret i, at Dual Core utvivlsomt vil spille en større rolle, som tiden går, og udviklerhusene får øjnene op for mulighederne."
  
• Presence-PC
  "3DMark semble peu à peu enfin désintéresser les constructeurs de GPU, ce qui ne peut être qu’une bonne chose à son niveau. Si l’ensemble de ses tests (graphiques, processeur et synthétiques) s’apparentent clairement à des tests synthétiques pour nous, malgré une apparente transparence la dernière version de 3DMark a encore prouvée que le contrôle des optimisations n’était pas clair, avec le boost soudain provoqué par les drivers sortis juste avant, et qui ne se retrouvait dans aucun jeu."
  
• Technic3D
  "Futuremark legt die Messlatte wieder ordentlich hoch. Technic3D wird diesen Benchmark ab sofort in die Testabläufe integrieren, um weitere Ergebnisse für einen Vergleich zu erhalten. Für das Auge des Betrachters scheinen die CPU Tests zwar sehr unangenehm durch die zwangsläufig ruckelige Darstellung, aber es wird ja auch einiges von der CPU abverlangt. Wer sich an schönen HDR Grafiken ergötzen möchte oder einfach nur wissbegierig ist, für was er sich ein SLI-System mit Dual-Core CPU zugelegt hat, sei der 3D Mark 06 wärmstens ans Herz gelegt."
  
• HWupgrade.it
  "In definitiva riteniamo che il 3D Mark 2006 sia un valido strumento per saggiare il comportamento di una scheda video ed analizzarne il funzionamento in determinate situazioni di rendering. Ai fini valutativi, tuttavia, i benchmark eseguiti con i videogames restano a nostro parere il metro di paragone più rilevante per definire in un confronto velocistico quale è il prodotto più prestante."
  
• PClab.pl
  "Już począwszy od dnia dzisiejszego w naszym laboratorium korzystać będziemy z nowego programu. Was także zachęcamy do zapoznania się z nim. Nie przejmujcie się jednak niskimi wynikami. 3DMark06 stara się bowiem pokazać najgorszy możliwy scenariusz, który może się sprawdzić w przypadku nielicznych tytułów tego roku. Tak wymagających gier spodziewać się można raczej w roku przyszłym i wtedy rzeczywiście obecne karty graficzne, na których płynnie działają wszystkie gry, mogą stać się za wolne."