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Article: Stuart
"Veridan3" Davidson
Design/IQ Section : Allan
"Zardon" Campbell
On September 15th Massive
Development will release Aquamark 3 – The Reality Benchmark to the
public. Today Driverheaven has a preview of the benchmark and performance
figures from a range of DirectX9 cards and Drivers.
What is Aquamark3?
Aquamark3 uses DirectX9
features such as Pixel Shader 2.0 and a real world game engine to allow
users to test their system under heavy graphic load. Results can then
be uploaded to an online database and compared to other users systems.
Massive Development
say:
“When run, AquaMark3 executes a complete state-of-the-art game engine
and generates 3D scenes which, unlike other benchmarks, are designed to
make the same demands of users' hardware as a modern game. It then outputs
a set of scores giving a breakdown of the performance of different parts
of the user's PC, calculated from how effectively the system managed to
run the test. This score can then be compared to the scores of other PC
users to see whether their hardware is configured for optimal performance.”
Features:
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Benchmarking
Aquamark3 has 3 main benchmarking modes:
Aquamark Score Measurement
This mode runs the Aquamark3 benchmark at 1024x768x32 with no AntiAliasing
and 4x Anisotropic filtering. Detail levels are set to maximum. The results
of this test are displayed as frames per second, triangles per second
and the main Aquamark3 TRISCORE. The TRISCORE shows the performance of
your CPU and GPU and finally gives your overall score for the benchmark.
Advanced Measurement
Running this test allows the user some limited configuration of the detail
levels within the benchmark such as resolution and AA/AF levels. A Pro
license is required for this test.
Custom Settings Measurement
Selecting this option allows the user full control over all the audio
and video options.
Special Features:
As well as the main Aquamark benchmarking modes the program also
includes tests of Image Quality and features.
ASGRA
This feature allows the user to automatically have screenshots taken.
The options available are every 10, 20, 50,100, 500 or 1000 frames. The
results are then saved as .TGA format in the /my documents/aquamark3 folder
OVIST
By running this feature the benchmark is run showing the rate of overdraw
on each frame. The levels of overdraw are defined by the colour used.
(DirectX8 Hardware required)
Blue= Low Overdraw
Yellow= Medium Overdraw
Red= High Overdraw
SVIST
This test changes the display output in a similar fashion to the overdraw
test. Again aspects of the screen are shown in different colours to identify
the technique used. (DirectX 9 hardware required and Pro License)
Blue: Simple shading without Pixel Shader
Yellow: Predominantly Pixel Shader 1.x
Red: Predominantly complex shading using Pixel Shader 2.0
PIXPM
This allows the user to measure the performance of pixel shaders on their
hardware. The benchmark is run twice. The first run measures the pixels
drawn and the second measures the pixels per second. (Requires a pro license)
The final feature of the
program is a demo mode. The demo Mode allows the user to view the benchmark
without FPS counter and frame counter and with sound.
Introduction | Benchmarking
& Conclusion | Image Quality Reports
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