3DMark2001 / SE FAQ

Q: When I loop 3DMark2001 SE for a long time, the benchmark sometimes quits in a "MFC" error message. What is wrong?
A: This is a known issue when running the benchmark in loop-mode. The most likely cause is a driver and software compatibility issue as this error appears on various vendor's hardware. Since 3DMark2001 SE is an old benchmark and not technically supported, Futuremark strongly suggests to use one of our more recent benchmarks such as 3DMark05 or the latest edition 3DMark06 for evaluating hardware.

Q: Why can't my PC run the 3DMark demo in looping mode for more than a few days?
A: We know both private persons and professionals use the 3DMark looping mode for system stability testing. This is probably a good test, but it is not what 3DMark was designed for. 3DMark was developed for single benchmark runs, or a few repeated benchmark runs in batchrun mode. We are aware that 3DMark does not loop the demo or the benchmark forever. After a few days of continuous looping the system might exit to desktop or abort the looping in other ways. Even though this has been thoroughly investigated, we do not know if the limited looping time is due to problems in the benchmark code, the graphics drivers, Microsoft DirectX, or the Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Q: I installed DirectX 9 and now 3DMark2001 SE tells me that I need DirectX 8.1, what gives?
A: We have noticed this behavior and the solution is quite easy. Uninstall your 3DMark2001 SE, download the latest version (Build 330) if you don`t have it already, reboot your machine and install 3DMark2001 SE again.

Q: I'm unable to publish my benchmark results using a workstation level display adapter (Nvidia Quadro series, ATI FireGL, 3DLabs, etc.), whats wrong?
A: The ORB is intended for comparison of consumer level cards and therefore it does not allow publishing results that are run with workstation level cards. You can run 3DMark2001 SE and upload your results to the ORB, but you cannot publish them.

Q: I'm unable to publish my benchmark results using my laptop that has new Intel CPU, whats wrong?
A: This is due to Intel's SpeedStep technology that lets you extend battery life by changing your CPU's Mhz reading on the fly. 3DMark2001 SE has a built-in cheat prevention that misunderstands this behavior as an attempt to gain a higher score. Therefore, the ORB will not allow you to publish the results.

Q: I have Korean or Japanese Windows 2000/XP and 3DMark2001 SE does not run. What to do?
A: Download the patch (build 330) for 3DMark2001 SE from here.

Q: When I disable the loading screens between the benchmarktests, my score drops when run with NVIDIA accelerator. Why?
A: This was a NVIDIA driver issue. Please update your drivers from .

Q: Does 3DMark2001 SE support Direcx 9?
A: 3DMark2001 SE does _not_ officially support Directx 9 Betas. But with the patch build 330, 3DMark2001 SE now supports upcoming Dx versions.

Q: Why does 3DMark2001 SE inform me that I haven't run a default benchmark, while I'm 100% sure I did?
A: This wrong message has been corrected in the Build 330 patch for 3DMark2001 SE, available at 3DMark2001 SE product pages.

Q: I have a Radeon 8500 and I get the following error message: Could not create render target depth-stencil surface - D3DERR_INVALIDCALL. What's wrong?
A: There is a possible fix for this. Please uninstall the ATI drivers, reboot (important) and then please install the latest drivers from ATI.

There is, however, another approach to this isssue. If you are experienced user and are familiar with registry editing tools you can try the following:

This answer has been constructed with the help of our users and forum moderators. Full thread with illustration can be found here.

Basically the problem is this...

When trying to run the Advanced Pixel Shader (APS) test on a Radeon 8500 (possibly other cards too but this is the main one that I know about), you get an error message like the one below:

Could not create render target depth-stencil surface - D3DERR_INVALIDCALL

You get this because the default settings for the most of the Radeon 8500 driver forces it to not allow the use of an 8-bit stencil buffer. This is very easy to rectify; I did it using a tweaking program whereas Morpheus_Phreak did it via the registry. Since he gets the credit, I'll use his method:

• Click on the Start button.
• Click on the Run... button.
• Type in regedit and then hit Enter.
• Go to the top, click on Edit and then Find and type in ZFormats.
• Hit Enter and wait for your PC to search through the registry.
• When it comes up with the first successful search, look to the large panel in the right hand side of the registry editor; there should be a list of commands.
• Look for the command that says Default - it will most likely have the number 3 after it.
• Double-click on the "Default" word, and a new window will pop open. In the bottom part, where it has the number "3" highlighted, change this to either 7 or 15 and then click the OK button. Choosing 7 means that the stencil buffer will be made available and the range of z-buffers you can choose are 16-bit and 24-bit. Choosing 15 gives you the 32-bit option for the z-buffer too.
• Now press the F3 button at the top of your keyboard to search again.
• You should find a few entries for "ZFormats"; just look for those that have the "Default" command in them and change them all to "15" - remember to press F3 to search again each time.
• Once you have changed all the settings over, close regedit and then reboot your PC.
• Start 3DMark 2001 SE up but remember to check the test settings if you've set the ZFormats number to 15. This means that, by default, 3DMark will now use a 32-bit z-buffer instead of the usual 24-bit z-buffer. There is a performance difference between the two and you can lose marks when running with a 32-bit z-buffer.

Q: Does 3DMark2001 SE support Direcx 9?
A: 3DMark2001 SE does _not_ officially support Directx 9 Betas. But with the patch build 330, 3DMark2001 SE now supports upcoming Dx versions.

Q: Why does 3DMark2001 SE inform me that I haven't run a default benchmark, while I'm 100% sure I did?
A: This wrong message has been corrected in the Build 330 patch for 3DMark2001 SE, available at 3DMark2001 SE product pages.

Q: I have a Radeon 8500 and I get the following error message: Could not create render target depth-stencil surface - D3DERR_INVALIDCALL. What's wrong?
A: There is a possible fix for this. Please uninstall the ATI drivers, reboot (important) and then please install the latest drivers from ATI.

There is, however, another approach to this isssue. If you are experienced user and are familiar with registry editing tools you can try the following:

This answer has been constructed with the help of our users and forum moderators. Full thread with illustration can be found here.

Basically the problem is this...

When trying to run the Advanced Pixel Shader (APS) test on a Radeon 8500 (possibly other cards too but this is the main one that I know about), you get an error message like the one below:

Could not create render target depth-stencil surface - D3DERR_INVALIDCALL

You get this because the default settings for the most of the Radeon 8500 driver forces it to not allow the use of an 8-bit stencil buffer. This is very easy to rectify; I did it using a tweaking program whereas Morpheus_Phreak did it via the registry. Since he gets the credit, I'll use his method:

• Click on the Start button.
• Click on the Run... button.
• Type in regedit and then hit Enter.
• Go to the top, click on Edit and then Find and type in ZFormats.
• Hit Enter and wait for your PC to search through the registry.
• When it comes up with the first successful search, look to the large panel in the right hand side of the registry editor; there should be a list of commands.
• Look for the command that says Default - it will most likely have the number 3 after it.
• Double-click on the "Default" word, and a new window will pop open. In the bottom part, where it has the number "3" highlighted, change this to either 7 or 15 and then click the OK button. Choosing 7 means that the stencil buffer will be made available and the range of z-buffers you can choose are 16-bit and 24-bit. Choosing 15 gives you the 32-bit option for the z-buffer too.
• Now press the F3 button at the top of your keyboard to search again.
• You should find a few entries for "ZFormats"; just look for those that have the "Default" command in them and change them all to "15" - remember to press F3 to search again each time.
• Once you have changed all the settings over, close regedit and then reboot your PC.
• Start 3DMark 2001 SE up but remember to check the test settings if you've set the ZFormats number to 15. This means that, by default, 3DMark will now use a 32-bit z-buffer instead of the usual 24-bit z-buffer. There is a performance difference between the two and you can lose marks when running with a 32-bit z-buffer.

Q: 3DMark2001 SE informs that I need a CPU that supports MMX, but I have a rather modern processor that SHOULD have MMX instructions, what gives?
A: This issue has been fixed in the Build 330 patch available at 3DMark2001 SE product pages.

Q: It seems like SiS330 cannot run the Advanced Pixel Shader test. Why?
A: This issue has been fixed in the Build 330 patch, available at 3DMark2001 SE product pages.

Q: ANYTHING detected incorrectly.
A: We do our best to make System Info detect all available hardware correctly, but with new hardware and drivers constantly appearing, this is a very hard task. Also, some hardware features cannot be generically detected, and requires some hardware specific lookup info. We have avoided such detections in System Info, since such software would require constant updating.

Q: The SystemInfo reports that my AGP Aperture Size is 0 even if it is properly set in the BIOS. What's wrong ?
A: The current version of the System Info-module does not detect AGP aperture size correctly on motherboards using some chipsets from SiS, ALi or NVIDIA. We will try to fix this issue in future benchmark versions.

Q: Will the Advanced Pixel Shader test run faster on graphics cards that support 1.4 pixel shaders?
A: The Advance Pixel Shader test is what we call a Feature Test, which means that we above all want to present some new technology. It was decided that a fall-back was to be included in addition to the 1.4 pixel shader, since a same looking effect can be achieved using pixel shader 1.1. These two different modes of that same test work a bit differently, and should therefore not be directly compared. Both two modes could be optimized to show more performance either way, but now the test is just optimized for maximum compatibility. Vertex shader performance also affects the score somewhat due to this compatibility optimization.

Q: The Advanced Pixel Shader test is supposed to test 1.4 pixel shader capability. I have a GeForce3 or GF4 graphics card and can run that test just fine. Does this mean my GF3/4 can do pixel shader 1.4?
A: No, GF3 or GF4 cannot do pixel shader 1.4. The Advanced Pixel Shader test has a fall-back, using pixel shader 1.1, which is supported by your GF3/4. Hence the name Advanced Pixel Shader test, and not Pixel Shader 1.4 test. That same water effect can be achieved using pixel shader 1.1, but then the water surface is drawn in two passes, compared to a single pass on pixel shader 1.4 (or higher) hardware.

Q: Which CPU's does 3DMark2001 SE detect and support?
A: 3DMark2001 SE supports at least the following CPUs: Intel - Pentium MMX, Pentium II, Pentium II Xeon, Pentium III, Pentium III (Coppermine), Pentium III Xeon, Pentium III Mobile (Tualatin), Pentium 4, Celeron, Celeron A, Celeron with SSE. AMD - K6, K6-2, K6-2+, K6-III, Athlon, Athlon XP, Athlon MP/4, Duron. VIA - Cyrix M2, Cyrix III, IDT Winchip 2, Ezra. As 3DMark2001 SE is very CPU-intensive, we recommend using modern processors only.

Q: I get an error message saying "3DMark2001 SE requires a DirectX8.1 compatible 3D accelerator" or "not all needed features were detected" and error log says "texture mapping not supported", but I have a supported 3D accelerators, latest drivers and DirectX8.1 installed?
A: This is a nasty little bugger that affects all your D3D content when run trough DX8.1.

Check that your Direct3D works in other applications, for example other games, or by using the "dxdiag.exe" application that comes with your system (Run->dxdiag; select Display tab, click on "Test Direct3D"). You should get a "Direct3D test results: All tests were successful." message. If not, there is something wrong in your system config. We recommend you manually uninstall your graphics card drivers, install them again and then reinstall DirectX8.1, this helps for most of our users.

Q: I get an error message that says "Timer sanity check failed" and 3DMark 2001 aborts. What's going on?
A: Possible symptoms: "Timer sanity check failed" errormessage CPU MHz is detected incorrectly (usually as about 10% of real speed) Game tests skip "ahead in time" suddenly This is a known problem (for more information, see Microsoft Knowledge base entry Q274323 http://support.microsoft.com/). There is currently no known solution that home user could apply. Why this affects 3DMark? We have implemented a cheat prevention that causes the software to abort and give "Time sanity check failed" errormessage if your operating systems internal clockrates changes during benchmarking.

Q: There is a new texture format available 'DXT1 only' below the Compressed Textures selection. Does this mean that 'DXT1 only' is better than Compressed Textures?
A: No, Compressed Textures is the best and also the default selection. 'DXT1 only' is new, and that is why it was put last in the list. 'DXT1 only' was added because some graphics cards only support DXT1 compressed textures. The original 3DMark2001 always used uncompressed textures on such cards, but the Second Edition enables this partial compressed texture usage. In 'DXT1 only' mode, those textures that are DXT1 compressed, are used as compressed, and 32 bit uncompressed textures are used instead of the textures that are DXT3 compressed. Since all uncompressed textures in 3DMark2001 are downscaled to 1/4 of its compressed texture size, Compressed Texture mode does offer the best image quality, but 'DXT1 only' is better than 32bit textures.

Q: My 3DMark2001 SE does not work properly!
A: Please make sure that you have installed DirectX 8.1 and the latest DirectX8 / DirectX8.1 compatible display drivers. The program behaviour can be erratic with bad drivers.

Q: 3DMark2001 SE is supposed to be DirectX 8.1. Does this mean I need DX8.1 installed, DX8.1 graphics drivers and DX8.1 graphics hardware to be able to run 3DMark2001 SE?
A: 3DMark2001 SE is our DX8.1 benchmark and it does require that DX8.1 is installed. You can download DX8.1 for free from Microsoft's site http://www.microsoft.com/directx/. 3DMark2001 SE does not require DX8.1 hardware or graphics drivers, but the newest official graphics drivers are always recommended for 3DMark. If you have DX8.1 hardware, you will probably need DX8.1 drivers to be able to use the new DX8.1 features in your hardware.

Q: I have an ATI Radeon 8500, which should draw the water surface in the Advanced Pixel Shader test in a single pass, compared to my friend's system with DX8 hardware that should draw it in two passes. Still I don't see much performance difference. Shouldn't my system be twice as fast?
A: The Advance Pixel Shader test is what we call a Feature Test, which means that we, above all, want to present some new technology. It was decided that a fall-back was to be included in addition to the 1.4 pixel shader, since the same looking effect can be achieved using pixel shader 1.0 hardware. These two different modes of that same test work a bit differently and should, therefore, not be directly compared. Both modes could be optimized to show more performance either way, but now the test is just optimized for maximum compatibility.

Vertex shader performance also affects the score, somewhat, due to this compatibility optimization.

Q: These 3D accelerators are too old to run 3DMark2001 SE properly:

• 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee
• 3Dfx Voodoo2
• 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics
• 3Dfx Voodoo Rush
• 3Dlabs Permedia1
• 3Dlabs Permedia2
• ATI RAGE II/II+
• ATI RAGE PRO (/TURBO)
• Cirrus Logic Laguna3D
• (CL5465)
• Intel i740
• Intel i810 (integrated)
• NVIDIA RIVA128 & RIVA128 ZX
• Matrox Millennium II
• Matrox Mystique
• PowerVR PCX2
• Rendition Verite V1000
• Rendition Verite V2200
• S3 Trio64 3D
• S3 Virge /DX /GX /VX
• S3 Savage3D

Q: I have a Radeon 8500 and I get the following error message: Could not create render target depth-stencil surface - D3DERR_INVALIDCALL. What's wrong?
A: There is a possible fix for this. Please uninstall the ATI drivers, reboot (important) and then please install the latest drivers from ATI. You can find them

Q: My score is clearly lower than it should be! What might be wrong?
A: There are a dozens of reasons, but here are a few tips we have collected.

Tip 1: You should check is that you have the latest drivers installed for your motherboard and especially it's AGP-bus. These drivers make sure that all communication between the graphics adapter, CPU and memory are done using the most efficient way, for example by enabling full AGP-support. If your system is based on an AMD-Processor, updating the drivers is of utmost importance, since most Microsoft Windows versions have very limited out-of-the-box support for motherboard chipsets commonly used with AMD-processors. These drivers sometimes also known as AGP-Miniport driver, AGP-Driver.

Here's a short list of sites, where you can find suitable drivers for most common system configurations:

• AMD Athlon/Duron systems with an AMD 750-chipset AGP-Driver / Miniport
• Athlon/Duron systems with a VIA KX/KT133-chipset VIA 4-in-1 Driver
• Intel PentiumII,III,4 or Celeron based systems with Intel chipsets (440BX, 810, 815, 820, 850)Intel Chipset Software

Q: The Point Sprite test seems to be very buggy! Why?
A: This issue has been fixed in 3DMark2001 SE, available at here.

Q: There is a new texture format available 'DXT1 only' below the Compressed Textures selection. Does this mean that 'DXT1 only' is better than Compressed Textures?
A: No, Compressed Textures is the best and also the default selection. 'DXT1 only' is new, and that is why it was put last in the list. 'DXT1 only' was added because some graphics cards only support DXT1 compressed textures. The original 3DMark2001 always used uncompressed textures on such cards, but the Second Edition enables this partial compressed texture usage. In 'DXT1 only' mode, those textures that are DXT1 compressed, are used as compressed, and 32 bit uncompressed textures are used instead of the textures that are DXT3 compressed. Since all uncompressed textures in 3DMark2001 are downscaled to 1/4 of its compressed texture size, Compressed Texture mode does offer the best image quality, but 'DXT1 only' is better than 32bit textures.

Q: My 3DMark2001 SE does not work properly!
A: Please make sure that you have installed DirectX 8.1 and the latest DirectX8 / DirectX8.1 compatible display drivers. The program behaviour can be erratic with bad drivers.

Q: 3DMark2001 SE is supposed to be DirectX 8.1. Does this mean I need DX8.1 installed, DX8.1 graphics drivers and DX8.1 graphics hardware to be able to run 3DMark2001 SE?
A: 3DMark2001 SE is our DX8.1 benchmark and it does require that DX8.1 is installed. You can download DX8.1 for free from Microsoft's site http://www.microsoft.com/directx/. 3DMark2001 SE does not require DX8.1 hardware or graphics drivers, but the newest official graphics drivers are always recommended for 3DMark. If you have DX8.1 hardware, you will probably need DX8.1 drivers to be able to use the new DX8.1 features in your hardware.

Q: I have an ATI Radeon 8500, which should draw the water surface in the Advanced Pixel Shader test in a single pass, compared to my friend's system with DX8 hardware that should draw it in two passes. Still I don't see much performance difference. Shouldn't my system be twice as fast?
A: The Advance Pixel Shader test is what we call a Feature Test, which means that we, above all, want to present some new technology. It was decided that a fall-back was to be included in addition to the 1.4 pixel shader, since the same looking effect can be achieved using pixel shader 1.0 hardware. These two different modes of that same test work a bit differently and should, therefore, not be directly compared. Both modes could be optimized to show more performance either way, but now the test is just optimized for maximum compatibility.

Vertex shader performance also affects the score, somewhat, due to this compatibility optimization.

Q: These 3D accelerators are too old to run 3DMark2001 SE properly:

• 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee
• 3Dfx Voodoo2
• 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics
• 3Dfx Voodoo Rush
• 3Dlabs Permedia1
• 3Dlabs Permedia2
• ATI RAGE II/II+
• ATI RAGE PRO (/TURBO)
• Cirrus Logic Laguna3D
• (CL5465)
• Intel i740
• Intel i810 (integrated)
• NVIDIA RIVA128 & RIVA128 ZX
• Matrox Millennium II
• Matrox Mystique
• PowerVR PCX2
• Rendition Verite V1000
• Rendition Verite V2200
• S3 Trio64 3D
• S3 Virge /DX /GX /VX
• S3 Savage3D

Q: I have a Radeon 8500 and I get the following error message: Could not create render target depth-stencil surface - D3DERR_INVALIDCALL. What's wrong?
A: There is a possible fix for this. Please uninstall the ATI drivers, reboot (important) and then please install the latest drivers from ATI. You can find them

Q: My score is clearly lower than it should be! What might be wrong?
A: There are a dozens of reasons, but here are a few tips we have collected.

Tip 1: You should check is that you have the latest drivers installed for your motherboard and especially it's AGP-bus. These drivers make sure that all communication between the graphics adapter, CPU and memory are done using the most efficient way, for example by enabling full AGP-support. If your system is based on an AMD-Processor, updating the drivers is of utmost importance, since most Microsoft Windows versions have very limited out-of-the-box support for motherboard chipsets commonly used with AMD-processors. These drivers sometimes also known as AGP-Miniport driver, AGP-Driver.

Here's a short list of sites, where you can find suitable drivers for most common system configurations:

• AMD Athlon/Duron systems with an AMD 750-chipset AGP-Driver / Miniport
• Athlon/Duron systems with a VIA KX/KT133-chipset VIA 4-in-1 Driver
• Intel PentiumII,III,4 or Celeron based systems with Intel chipsets (440BX, 810, 815, 820, 850)Intel Chipset Software

Q: The Point Sprite test seems to be very buggy! Why?
A: This issue has been fixed in 3DMark2001 SE, available at here.

Q: Can not run demo
A: The hardware and/or drivers does not support rendering to textures. Tested in Windows ME on 1.06 drivers.

Q: Shadows in Game Test 1 - High Detail flicker
A: This is probably a driver issue.

Q: 3DMark2001 SE won't work.
A: Although a fairly modern accelerator, the Neon250i is not compatible with 3DMark2001 SE at least on current drivers. All tests have visual problems, and the demo does not work due to lack of rendering to textures capabilities. Tested in Windows ME on Driver Release v3.2.1.2.

Q: Why am I not able to run a 3DMark2001 SE with the default settings? I get a messagebox each time I start 3DMark2001 SE about this!
A: The reason is that 3DMark2001 SE uses DXTC 1 and DXTC 3, while KYRO and KYRO II only supports DXTC 1. That's why you get a messagebox each time you run 3DMark2001 SE. There is no fix for this.

Q: I have Intel i740 / i810, what can I expect?
A: This is a fairly old 3D accelerator and below the spec of 3DMark2001 SE. We recommend you use 3DMark2000.

Q: Why can't I run the default benchmark?
A: 3DMark2001 SE is set to 32bit color as default and these accelerators support only 16bit color modes. Tested in Windows ME on PV 6.2 driver.

Q: The benchmark crashes occasionally (not to the same location).
A: This is most likely a driver issue. Tested in Windows ME on S3 6.13.28 reference drivers.

Q: I have S3 Savage4, what can I expect?
A: The timer or frame buffering seems to work incorrectly. This causes at least fill rate test results to be incorrect. No visual problems detected. The demo does not work since card does not have rendering to textures capability. Tested in Windows ME on Diamond Stealth III S5x0 drivers version 4.20.01.0258-8.20.21, build date 05/25/00.

Q: I can not run demo on Savage2000. Why?
A: The demo requires that the accelerator can render into textures. Either Savage2000 or its drivers do not support this feature.

Q: There are visual problems with 3DMark2001 SE and Savage2000 - what can I do?
A: One "solution" that seems to resolve some problems is to rename the 3DMark2001se.exe to 3DMark2000.exe - It seems S3 has done some application specific fixes to their drivers.

Q: Why can't I choose Hardware T&L with 3DMark2001 SE, even though it should be supported?
A: Please contact your cards manufacturer for latest ViperII drivers.

Q: Why can't I run demo?
A: The card unfortunately does not support rendering to textures. Tested on Windows ME, using 6.23 drivers.

Q: Visual problems in Game Test 3 - the windows look unlit and the plants are non-transparent.
A: These are probably driver problems.

Q: Shadows in Game Test 1 - High Detail look a bit incorrect
A: This problem is visible only in 32-bit screen modes (16-bit works OK). This is probably a driver problem (seems to have something to do with driver resource management).

Q: Shadows in Game Test 1 - High Detail flicker
A: This is a a driver issue, visible with multiple older 3D accelerators and 3DMark2001 SE. Tested on Windows ME, using 6.50 drivers.

Q: Spotlight in Game Test 1 - High Detail looks incorrect
A: This is a driver issue, visible with multiple older 3D accelerators and 3DMark2001.

Q: I have Matrox G450, what can I expect?
A: The Matrox G450 has not been tested by Futuremark, but behaviour should match with the G400 Series cards.

Q: I have Matrox G550, what can I expect?
A: The Matrox G550 has not been tested by Futuremark, but behaviour should match with the G400/G450 Series cards.

Q: I have Ati Rage Pro, what can I expect?
A: This is a fairly old 3D accelerator and below the spec of 3DMark2001 SE. We recommend you use 3DMark2000. There are various (mostly rendering to texture related) visual problems in the demo and in the benchmark.

Q: I have Ati Rage Mobility, what can I expect?
A: These accelerators (usually found in notebook computers) are fairly low-powered 3D accelerators, and below the spec of 3DMark2001 SE. We recommend you use 3DMark2000.

Q: Demo - "Credits" part, the borders of the pictures are too edgy
A: This is a small driver issue relating to the texel/pixel center.

Q: Demo - "Nature" part has visual problems
A: This is probably a driver issue.

Q: Visual problems in Game Test 3 - the windows look unlit and the plants are non-transparent.
A: These are probably driver problems.

Q: Shadows in Game Test 1 - High Detail look a bit incorrect
A: This problem is visible only in 32-bit screen modes (16-bit works OK). This is probably a driver problem (seems to have something to do with driver resource management).

Q: Shadows in Game Test 1 - High Detail flicker
A: This is a a driver issue, visible with multiple older 3D accelerators and 3DMark2001 SE. Tested on Windows ME, using 6.50 drivers.

Q: Spotlight in Game Test 1 - High Detail looks incorrect
A: This is a driver issue, visible with multiple older 3D accelerators and 3DMark2001.

Q: I have Matrox G450, what can I expect?
A: The Matrox G450 has not been tested by Futuremark, but behaviour should match with the G400 Series cards.

Q: I have Matrox G550, what can I expect?
A: The Matrox G550 has not been tested by Futuremark, but behaviour should match with the G400/G450 Series cards.

Q: I have Ati Rage Pro, what can I expect?
A: This is a fairly old 3D accelerator and below the spec of 3DMark2001 SE. We recommend you use 3DMark2000. There are various (mostly rendering to texture related) visual problems in the demo and in the benchmark.

Q: I have Ati Rage Mobility, what can I expect?
A: These accelerators (usually found in notebook computers) are fairly low-powered 3D accelerators, and below the spec of 3DMark2001 SE. We recommend you use 3DMark2000.

Q: Demo - "Credits" part, the borders of the pictures are too edgy
A: This is a small driver issue relating to the texel/pixel center.

Q: Demo - "Nature" part has visual problems
A: This is probably a driver issue.

Q: Some shadows in Game Test 2 - High Detail are wrong colored
A: This is probably a driver issue.

Q: Shadows in Game Test 1 - High Detail flicker
A: This is probably a driver issue.

Q: Spotlight in Game Test 1 - High Detail looks incorrect
A: This is probably a driver issue.

Q: Shadows in Game Test 1 - High Detail flicker
A: This is probably a driver issue. Tested in Windows ME on 4.12.7942 drivers, Posted Aug. 29, 2000.

Q: Spotlight in Game Test 1 - High Detail looks incorrect
A: This is probably a driver issue.

Q: Visual problems in Game Test 1 - High detail (and game demo)
A: Some objects disappear, shadows do not work correctly and some textures do not show corretly. These are probably driver problems. Tested on drivers built 2001/01/03.

Q: Demo Nature part - visual problems.
A: This is probably a driver issue.

Q: Game Test 3 - Parts of the skinned characters disappear.
A: This is probably a driver problem in handling vertex shader content.

Q: 3DMark2001 SE gives the following error message - why? 3DMark could not initialize your 3d accelerator. Try to downgrade your display settings. DirectX Error Message: P_D3DvertexBufferManager: CreateVertexBuffer: D3DERR_OUTOFVIDEOMEMORY
A: This problem occurs if you are using an older Radeon driver release, 4.12.3056, on Windows 9x/ME. The latest supported driver is version 4.13.7075, and fully DirectX 8 compatible. We recommend you upgrade your drivers to version 4.13.7075. You can also try the ATI Radeon Special Purpose drivers (version 4.13.7093), but they are not supported by ATI nor Futuremark. Both drivers can be found from Rage3d

Q: Why don't compressed textures work on Radeon?
A: You must set compressed textures ON (or check the checkbox) in the driver's D3D control panel in order to get them to work in 3DMark2001 SE. Please reboot after you have selected them ON.

Q: Why does the Point Sprite test look odd (or is completely blank) on my Radeon?
A: The issue is fixed in the latest Special Purpose (BETA) drivers by ATI. You can download them here: Rage3d

Q: If I run the EMBM test using SWTL pipeline, the background does not seem to be correct. Why?
A: The issue is fixed in the latest Special Purpose (BETA) drivers by ATI. You can download them here: Rage3d

Q: When select a high resolution and enable FSAA, the tests run normally but there is no FSAA!
A: This may happen when the card runs out of video memory and can not initialize the selected mode with FSAA. The driver decides to drop the FSAA and runs without any error messages. Please ensure FSAA really gets enabled if you select it.

Q: When I enable FSAA, the screen flashes a lot!
A: This is a driver problem, and is most likely fixed in future drivers from ATI.

Q: Why can't I choose FSAA within 3DMark2001 SE?
A: You should select application preference in the driver's D3D control panel, and may need to reboot.

Q: Why are the characters in the lobby scene (demo and GameTest3) looking weird? Flickering and chopping. I am using some v7.xxx drivers!
A: We have noticed that if you use the 7099 or 7103 drivers, the characters flicker and bug. Using older or newer drivers corrects this issue.

Q: 3DMark2001 SE reports that the pixel shader test cannot be run due to the lack of hardware support. However, on the ATI web site, it says that the Radeon does have a pixel shader, so why will 3DMark2001 SE not run the pixel shader tests?
A: The ATI Radeon does support Pixel Shaders in hardware, but only version 0.5! 3DMark2001 SE uses the standard DX8 Pixel Shader version 1.0and that's why it will not work on the Radeon cards.

Q: There are occasional incorrect polygons in the top left corner, especially when running on D3D Software T&L.
A: The issue is fixed in the latest Special Purpose (BETA) drivers by ATI. You can download them here: Rage3d

Q: Some textures in GS1 look odd on my Voodoo3 (in the buildings in the end). Why?
A: This is probably a driver issue, and it occurs both on x3dfx and official 3dfx drivers.

Q: The demo sure looks weird on my V3. What?s the problem?
A: Some parts have problems with rendering to textures - it is a driver issue. You can try to use the x3dfx BETA drivers for V3, but we don't encourage you to use BETA drivers.

Q: Why can't I run the default benchmark?
A: 3DMark2001 SE is set to 32bit color as default and Voodoo3 supports only 16bit color modes.

Q: Why does the sky texture disappear in GS1, 1024x768 32bit 4XFSAA?
A: This occurs only if you are using the x3dfx BETA2 drivers dated 22.02, so it is a driver issue. We don't know if there will be a fix for it from x3dfx. It is caused by the card running out of video memory, and the memory manager being unable to evict unused textures.

Q: The demo looks very odd (buggy) with my V5. Why?
A: It seems that 3dfx didn't get their DX8 drivers finalized before NVIDIA bought 3dfx. You may try the latest x3dfx BETA drivers. They seem to fix the problem, although we don't encourage you to use BETA drivers.

Q: The bullets in Game Test 3 look green.
A: This is probably a driver issue, and it occurs both on x3dfx and official 3dfx drivers.

Q: Why does 3DMark2001 SE inform that my Voodoo5 is equipped with Hardware T&L, while I know it isn't?
A: With the latest drivers 3dfx added a "Geometry Assist" option to their tools and by enabling it, it makes 3DMark2000 recognize Hardware T&L onboard the Voodoo5. This does not work in 3DMark2001 SE anymore. You may get into the software, but none of the tests will run if you have chosen Hardware T&L. There is no drivers coming out for the Voodoo series anymore, so we can only suggest to use Software T&L.

Q: My score is lower than expected.
A: Please check that you have both VSA-100 chips enabled and FSAA off from your 3D accelerator's display settings.

Q: The sky texture in Game Test 1 high detail disappears.
A: This is caused by the card running out of texture memory. A solution is to increase your AGP aperture size to 128MB.

Q: I have Nvidia TNT2, what can I expect?
A: No problems found.

Q: FSAA is not selectable from inside 3DMark2001 SE's Display Settings. Why?
A: There are two different types of FSAA techniques: super-sampling and multi-sampling. DX8 supports multi-sampling. GeForce/2 support only super-sampling. As per DirectX 8 specifications, NVIDIA has not exposed super-sampling FSAA in their D3D driver and therefore you can not choose FSAA from 3DMark2001 SE's Display Settings.

Update: It seems that with the leaked Detonator drivers 10.80 or higher versions, you can choose the FSAA from 3DMark2001 SE even with a GeForce 256 or GeForce2 which both do not support multi-sampling FSAA. You need to choose the "Allow applications to control the antialiasing mode" selection in your display properties.

For AMD Athlon and GeForce related crashes: With the VIA chipset, goto VIAs website , and download the latest AGP miniport drivers and change the AGP bus settings from your BIOS to 2X. With the AMD chipset get the latest AGP miniport driver from AMD's website, config, and always use the latest drivers for your GeForce card.

Q: Why does the Point Sprite test look like it would miss some sprites when I have FSAA on?
A: Super-sampling FSAA eliminates some pixels altogether in this test case. Multi-Sample FSAA does not do this.

Q: Demo flickers odd parts in the beginning!
A: This seems to be a driver issue (version 6.50) related to texture uploads. Should be fixed in future drivers.

Q: When select a high resolution and enable FSAA, the tests run normally but there is no FSAA!
A: This may happen when the card runs out of video memory and can not initialize the selected mode with FSAA. The driver decides to drop the FSAA and runs without any error messages. Please ensure FSAA really gets enabled if you select it.

Q: I have a GeForce3, and I'm using the 12.00 drivers. Why is only every second frame Antialiased when chosen 4x FSAA from inside 3DMark2001 SE?
A: It seems to be a driver issue, and we are trying to solve the issue with NVIDIA. Look out for new official drivers from NVIDIA.

Q: I get E_OUTOFMEMORY with any Nvidia card and Detonator XP (version 21.81)! What is wrong?
A: It seems that the version 21.81 drivers don't release the used memory in some occasions. As this seems to be a driver issue, you can try to install some of the older drivers (Detonator3 v12.41 or older) which seem to work fine, or download newer official drivers version 21.83 (Click here to download) which should fix the problem.

There is also another workaround for this issue. Go to your Display Properties, select Settings -> Advanced -> Your gfx card tab -> Additional Properties -> Direct3D Settings, and from there set the PCI Texture Memory Size to zero (0).

Q: In Game Test 1 high detail and in the game demo, the car shadow flickers and the spotlight looks buggy. Why?
A: These problems occur under Win9x/ME and using NVIDIA's Detonator3 6.xx drivers. All official and not official drivers seem to do this. This is a driver issue and will be fixed in future drivers. The problem is not present on Windows2000.

Q: 3DMark2001 SE does not work in 16 bit color and 24 bit Z or vice versa - why?
A: Most older NVIDIA 3D accelerators do not support this "mixed mode" (at the time only GF3 and GF2 MX support it). Please use 24/32 bit Z with 32 bit color, and 16 bit Z with 16 bit color.

Q: My score is lower than expected.
A: Please check that you have Direct3D FSAA disabled from your 3D accelerator's display settings.

Q: 3DMark2001 SE aborts benchmarking or the demo for seemingly no reason.
A: Check that you have no other programs running in the background. If, for example, your e-mail client receives a new mail notification, 3DMark2001 SE will very probably abort the tests. This is done to ensure the accuracy of results.

Q: Why can't I run the Pixel Shader test?
A: You need a DirectX 8 compliant 3D accelerator that supports Pixel Shaders to be able to run that test.

Q: Why can't I run Game Test 4 - Nature? Does it affect my 3DMark2001 SE score?
A: You need a fully DirectX 8 compliant 3D accelerator in order to run Game Test 4. It will affect your 3DMark2001 SE score as much as one of the high-detail game tests. Please note that Game Test 4 is not the same as the nature scene in the demo, which also runs with older 3D accelerators.

Q: I'm unable to run the EMBM (Environment Mapped Bump Map) - test on my system! Why doesn't it work?
A: The EMBM - test is only being run if your graphics adapter supports this feature. Currently only NVIDIA GeForce3 and 4, ATI Radeon series, Matrox G400/450 and ST KYRO and KYRO2 support EMBM.

Q: 3DMark displays an error message about changed CPU speed during benchmarking. What's wrong?
A: This may in theory happen on some multi-processor systems and is related to the timer operation in Windows 2000. In some rare instances Windows 2000 may return different timer values for both CPUs and as 3DMark requires that the timer does not change during benchmarking, you will see an error message. Disabling all programs plus extra services running in the background and rebooting the PC should correct this problem.

Q: I can not install/uninstall 3DMark2001 SE, what's wrong?
A: Your user must have administrator priviledges on the computer to install 3DMark2001 SE.

Q: Does 3DMark2001 SE support the AMD Athlon processor?
A: YES! 3DMark2001 SE has been optimized to use the Extended/3DNow! instruction set available in the Athlon processor via DirectX 8.1.

Q: Does 3DMark2001 SE support the Intel Pentium4 Streaming SIMD Extensions2 (SSE2)?
A: YES! 3DMark2001 SE been optimized for Intel Pentium 4 and S.S.E.2 via DirectX 8.1.

Q: Does 3DMark2001 SE support the Intel Pentium III Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE)?
A: YES! 3DMark2001 SE been optimized for Intel Pentium III and S.S.E. via DirectX 8.

Q: What are the optimized transform and lighting pipelines included in 3DMark2001 SE?
A: PURE D3D Hardware T&L: Pure Hardware T&L is a new pipeline in DirectX 8. When it is used, the 3D accelerator does all transform and lighting. No 3D operations can be done with software when Pure HW T&L is used, so the accelerator must support all features used in 3DMark2001 SE, including vertex and pixel shaders.

D3D Hardware T&L: This pipeline uses the 3D hardware to do transform and lighting. Vertex Shaders may be calculated on the CPU if they are not supported in hardware.

D3D Software T&L: This pipeline uses the transform and lighting engine that's inside Microsoft DirectX 8.1. It is the default setting for all 3D accelerators that do not support Hardware T&L. Software T&L has been optimized for all processors and uses SSE, SSE2 and 3DNow! instructions if available.

Q: The downloaded file was corrupted!
A: It is highly unlikely that any of our mirrors have a corrupted 3DMark2001se.exe file. The most probable cause is a problem during the download process. Also see the above Corrupted DDS file issue. If you have some download accelerator in use, try downloading 3DMark2001 SE without it.

Q: I get an "The InstallShield Engine (iKernel.exe) could not be installed" error message!
A: This is a known problem with InstallShield6. A complete list of possible causes and ways to correct the problem is at Installshield Knowledge Base article Q104985.

Q: The installer complains about Corrupted DDS files!
A: We have noticed that if you have your CPU overclocked during the installation of 3DMark2001 SE, some compressed textures might get corrupted when they are generated by the installer. Please set your CPU to default MHz while installing 3DMark2001 SE to avoid this issue. Another possible cause for this could be faulty memory.

Q: That does the "Converting Textures" mean, and why do you need it?
A: 3DMark2001 SE supports DXTn (compressed textures). However, as 3DMark2001 SE needs to support both compressed and uncompressed textures, both formats are needed. To minimize download size, we only ship the textures in one format and create the other formats at install time.

Q: I get the "Could not create Direct3D device" error message when installing 3DMark2001 SE. I read the FAQ entry about the 3dfx cards with this problems, but my card isn't by 3dfx.
A: This is a known problem with the 3dfx Voodoo3, but it shouldn't come up with other cards unless DX8/drivers are faulty. Select "run" from Start and type dxdiag. Check if your computer is able to run those D3D tests without an error. If you are unable to run all those tests, I suggest that you try to upgrade your system and display drivers.

Q: Why do I get a message that says: "Could not create Direct3D device"?
A: The texture conversion in the installer requires Direct3D. On some 3D accelerators like Voodoo3, Direct3D can not be initialized in the required mode if the desktop is in 32-bit color mode (as the 3D accelerator can not render in that color depth). Try changing the desktop to 16-bit mode, and start the installation again.

Q: I can not load 3DMark2000 files to ResultBrowser2001 - why?
A: The ResultBrowser2000 supports only files from year 2000 benchmarks, and ResultBrowser2001 supports only 3DMark2001 files. Please view 3DMark2000 results with ResultBrowser2000 or use Online ResultBrowser.

Q: I've lost my registration code for 3DMark2001 Pro. How do I get it back?
A: Send an e-mail to sales@futuremark.com stating the name that you used to register along with your address and the approximate date of purchase. If you used a different email address when you registered, please include the one you used when you registered.

Q: I have purchased 3DMark2001 SE Pro on-line. Where can I find the ResultBrowser2001 download?
A: The instructions how to download ResultBrowser2001 SE are included in the e-mail receipt you got when you purchased 3DMark2001 SE. If you did not get a receipt for some reason or have lost it, please contact sales@futuremark.com stating the name that you used to register along with your e-mail address and the approximate date of purchase. If you used a different email address when you registered, please include the one you used when you registered.

Q: Why can't I run the ResultBrowser?
A: The ResultBrowser is available only with the PRO-version of 3DMark2001. You can easily purchase the PRO-version online at Futuremark.com !

Q: Opening a previously saved project file doesn't seem to load the project results in 3DMark2001?
A: When submitting a previously saved project file from 3DMark2001, make sure you select "Submit Saved Results" from the "Online Services" -menu. If you open a project from the "File" menu, only the project settings are loaded into 3DMark, not the actual test results. Selecting "Online ResultBrowser" after this submits a project with the same settings as the previously saved project, but with zeros in all test results.

Q: Where can I buy the games that you use in 3DMark2001?
A: Although the game tests were created with Remedy Entertainment's MAX-FX game technology, and the same tools and 3D engine that will power Max Payne, they are not available as stand-alone games. They were made in-house by our team of graphic artists, and simulate what new games will be like in the year 2001. We did include an interactive part to 3DMark2001 for those who purchase 3DMark2001 PRO. It is a small playable game demo. If you are interested to purchase 3DMark2001 PRO, click here!

Q: 3DMark2001 SE does not start on my Windows 95.
A: Please install latest Internet Explorer (4 or above), and 3DMark2001 SE should work fine on Windows 95.

Q: Why do I get so low scores in 3DMark2001? I got much higher scores in 3DMark2000!
A: 3DMark2001 and 3DMark2000 are not comparable. We changed the scoring system in 3DMark2001. If you still need help to get better results, we suggest you take a look at our performance tips or visit our Discussion Boards.

Q: 3DMark2001 informs me that I don't have a mouse connected to my system! Why?
A: There is a small problem with DirectInput on DirectX 8.0 which may cause this problem. We suggest you upgrade to DirectX 8.1, available at Microsoft

Q: I just downloaded 3DMark2001, and when I try to install it, windows informs me that the file is corrupted!
A: All official mirror sites (listed on our Download page) have functional versions of the downloadable packet (for example there have been over 100,000 succesful downloads from CöNet to date). Only thing we can suggest is to download it again, and perhaps from a different mirror site.

Q: When trying to run the demo I get the message "3DMark2001 SE requires a 3D accelerator capable to rendering to textures".
A: While it is true that the 3DMark2001 SE demo requires this particular hardware feature, we are aware of a problem in DirectX 8 that fails to report this feature as supported on multiple cards. This problem should be resolved in the next instalment of DirectX 8 or in updated DirectX 8 drivers from these card manufacturers.

Q: Some textures are missing or look corrupted in Game Test 1 High Detail.
A: This is caused by your system running out of texture memory. A possible solution is to increase your AGP aperture size to 128MB in your system BIOS. Additionally, see the chipset-specific FAQs, they might contain more information regarding your graphics card.

Q: 3DMark2001 SE complains about Corrupted DDS files!
A: This might happen if you have overclocked your CPU or have faulty memory. Try to lower your CPU's MHz and/or change your memory. We have also noticed that if you have your CPU overclocked during the installation of 3DMark2001, some compressed textures might get corrupted when they are generated by the installer. Please set your CPU to default MHz while installing 3DMark2001 SE to avoid this issue.

Q: There are no DirectX 8 drivers for my hardware! Can I still use 3DMark2001 SE?
A: You can try 3DMark2001 SE with older drivers as well, but we can not guarantee functionality.

Q: I have less than 128MB RAM in my system. Is there any way I can get 3DMark2001 SE to work, without buying more RAM?
A: 3DMark2001 SE requires 128MB RAM. We have heard that in some cases the software works with less, but there is no "workaround" to it. We suggest that you get more RAM.