Futuremark updates 3DMark 11 Benchmark Suite to v1.1.0

Futuremark the company that has brought us the 3DMark 11 benchmark suite that for some people love so they can show off the speed of their computer and others makes them bang their head trying to get top scores in their database.

With the new version of 3DMark 11 we get the option to use the Ice Storm extreme preset for user that now runs on Windows. The new preset is optimized for running three and four cards in SLI or Crossfire depending on your choice of AMD or Nvidia. Supposedly it will also improve scores also with the Geforce GTX 690 in SLI or the AMD Radeon HD 7990 in crossfire. Previously the Ice Storm extreme preset has been developed for Android users only.  Another feature that Ice Storm Extreme preset add is for to test older or entry level graphics cards. It does this by have a scene that is DirectX 9.0c.

Now Futuremark has been updated 3DMark 11 at a furious pace as of late. In the update before this one they made it compatible with Windows 8. According to Futuremark the v1.1.0 updates the benchmarking while the previous update v1.0.4 fixed bugs and compatibility issues.

Notes from Futuremark about 3DMark 11 v1.1.0:

3DMark now works correctly on systems with multiple GPUs

That one short line in the release notes really doesn’t do justice to the staggering amount of work taken to get to this point. What we initially thought was a minor driver issue turned out to be far more complicated.

For the last few months our programmers have been poring over every line of engine code trying to understand why 3DMark was not returning accurate results from systems with three or four GPUs. It has been slow, frustrating work and we are truly sorry that it has taken so long.

The good news is that with this update 3DMark is now ready for extreme overclockers to really push the limits of performance. Over the next few days we expect to see lots of changes at the top of our Hall of Fame list of the world’s best 3DMark scores, so check out what’s new, download the update and then get benchmarking!

What’s New in 3DMark v1.1.0 for Windows

This update adds the Ice Storm Extreme test and fixes issues when testing systems with multiple GPUs. 3DMark scores will increase slightly on systems with two GPUs and significantly on systems with three or four GPUs.

Here is a list of all the improvement from Futuremark for 3DMark 11 v1.0.4:

Improvements:

• Keyboard focus is no longer checked during the demo or when running the benchmark in a loop. Note that if the display switches to the desktop due to a popup window during the benchmark, the run will still be aborted as the display mode is no longer the same.
• 3DMark 11 now remembers the last custom resolution used.
• GPU count detection for multi-GPU systems is now correct even when SystemInfo is explicitly disabled.
• 3DMark 11 will now prevent Windows from entering Sleep during the test.
• The license key is now reset when the benchmark is reinstalled, allowing removal of invalid keys.

Compatibility:

• SystemInfo updated to version 4.15 for full Windows 8 compatibility.
• Updated DirectX redistributable.
• Now using static Visual C++ 2010 runtime libraries to fix rare installation issues on some systems.
• Removed dependency on EvaDotNet.dll and EvaDotNet.DirectX.dll for GPU enumeration to fix compatibility issues with some systems.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed display initialization code that caused “SetFullscreenState failed: DXGI_ERROR_NOT_CURRENTLY_AVAILABLE” errors on some systems.
• Fixed several memory and texture leaks, improving stability during very long looping runs.
• The HUD timer no longer rolls over if a single test takes more than ten minutes. (Yes, this could happen during the Combined Test on some low end DirectX 11 cards.)

Professional Edition Only:

• Fixed submitting saved files to 3dmark.com from the command line.
• Image Quality Tool no longer gives a cryptic error if the output directory does not exist.

 

 

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