Zardon

You know the drill, vote!

MIG-31

my vote: Waste of time, I dont need benchies ! they are only numbers at the end of testing...

my preference is what you see on screen and are pleased with the results in gameplay,then im happy at that.

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bug77

Useful, from time to time

I usually run them after changing the video driver, just to check that I didn't break anything, or smth. And I used 03's sound test yesterday to check the fps impact. I'm currently debating if it's worth to switch from SoundStorm to a SoundBlaster Live! 1024...
So yes, you can find some use to them.

jasonbourne

i voted for i only benchmarks with games cuz they're much more precise.

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http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...asonBourne.jpg

pr0digal jenius

I bench with FRAPS in games.

I only use 3dmark to go "ha, look what I can do" simply because everyone else uses it.

bananaman

i mostly use 3dMark to show my girlfriend pretty GFX

:/

nana

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Sandok

Useful from time to time... I've fixed a few probs thx to 3dmark03

daedal

Not much use. Tried it a few times, takes too long to complete.
I much prefer benching with games.

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Sargentwhitey

Useful from time to time, I get in that mood for benchmarking everyonce in a while and go download 'em again. Either that or testing a new video card But I usually just use the Unreal benchmark in 2003.

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Mobile:Intel Celeron M 1.5GHz, 40GB WD, 1GB PC24000, Intel Mediocre Graphics 2, SB Audigy 2 Notebook

The_Neon_Cowboy

Actually their not their the most inaccurate, unfair, comparison tool available...


Only time you can trust game benchmarks is if their all the same bench being run. On the exact same system. To compare the same brand of card. Other wise you into duce variables which make it not anywhere as trustworthy as synthetics. Wich run the exact same on each card an setup...

their great if your wanted what you hardware, software, driver change has made on your system. But as a buying and comparison tool for graphics cards games just don't hold up. Especially when you look at it from the angle of drivers highly optimized for a game and games highly optimized for any given brand of card. With 0 policing! Least with 3dmark there some one to look for benchmark specific optimizations.


Games them self’s commonly run differently on different cards thus can’t be fairly compared. Unless your comparing the exact same flavor of card to it self. 9600XT to 9600XT, X800 to X800, 6X00 to 6X00…

Thats my 2 bits...

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CDsDontBurn

I'm a 3Dmark benchmarking junkie . I love to push my system to it's limits and then some .

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Ubergrendle

I think that's why they're useful ... they're the lowest common denominator, something everyone can use consistently and in the same way. They're not an end objective, just a measurement tool.

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Been to Azeroth, lived there for a year, burned my passport and returned to reality.

swimtech

Games matter the most, but it is difficult to obtain precise repeatable results. In the end, the picking order of how all the cards stack up under 3DMark are, with one or two flip-flops, the same as they bench in games, so I said they are useful from time to time - especially when shopping for a new card sight unseen as one tool for comparison.

I like HardOCP's method of testing them in games at their "best" settings as another tool. You can see game differences in detail. I, of course, use DH's benchies as still another tool - the simple methodology makes them very repeatable and believable (but a home user would be hard put to spend the time wiping and loading the machine without ruining their application setups and so forth...). Plus, the graphs are so cooool...

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It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

HawgsHead

I like to "push it" also.But then I get all pissed off cause I cant push it a little farther.I'm tring like mad to get to 10,000 with my SLI system with 3DMARK05.Almost obsessed with it.....Not good.I think I'm gonna have to water cool the GFX cards before that will happen.

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Rig specs to the left in the boxes....X-Box 360 w/Hitachi 42" HDTV....If Darwins theory of evolution is true then why are monkeys still monkeys?It takes much more faith to believe in Darwin's theory over the Genesis account of creation.

Shadow Lady

they help me sometimes, but generally benchmarking (even if it from games) is so unreliable, just when testing driver chnages is... useless, some games have performance gain, some have performance loss, and if i had to benchmark only with games would be unfair as some games gain some others dont, its impossible to determine just by those numbers, however i use them sometimes, also games for benchmark i use.

anyway after that nonsense, 3dmark games helpme sometimes

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Oblivion ftw, wonder if there's a MMO verison of it :o

WTPlay NVW2 -_-