Tech Link (Industry): 3DMark 11 Sneak Preview

Lost Circuits has a nice sneak peak of the upcoming "de facto" 3D benchmark software "3D Mark 11". Michael Schuette goes over the features quickly. Since it's a preview, don't expect a lengthy article, but it's enough to wet your appetite (be forewarned, for some odd reason, that article is under an ATI/AMD article group, brrr).

Misc: Here's k|ngp|n, on his commercial!

For those who sent me email asking if I have the video of the overclock breaking 100k in 3DMark01, well I honestly don't know where to get it or if there's even one. However, I do have his commercial, that actually shows Intel's processor! Here's the video, YouTube way! Enjoy!

Overclock: Back in Black !! K|ngp|n Brings Down The ORB...AGAIN !!

Famous overclocker, K|ngp|n, has just claimed all of FutureMark*'s 3DMark benchmark World Record. He used a new motherboard based on eVGA*'s with the newest NVIDIA* chipset 680i running two brand spanking new video cards based on 8800GTX. He is just unstoppable. Expand for more...

Time to smash the orbs up again.
These runs all done with 8-9hrs benching time using all the hardware at once.
GPU's only pushed maybe 60-70% . So much left untapped...imagine what the scores will be 1 month from now lol:

NVIDIA EVGA 680i SLI motherboard (bios reads wrong in cpu-z)
Kentsfield b3/Conroe b1 @1.75v actual vcore/-100c loaded temps.
2 x 8800gtx SLI -40c to -45c approx 850-870/1150 Tek-9 ln2
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8888 2gb
1 SILVERSTONE ZEUS 850W PSU 12v stayed at 12.3v load through all benches with max clocks.

3DMARK 2006 SLI with KF NO LOD AT ALL

Source:Back in Black !! K|ngp|n Brings Down The ORB...AGAIN !!

Tech Link (Overclock): Kinc reaches 16,000 points with 3DMark06

Another big win for the FanBoyz. It's great to see people having a great time using the World's Best Gaming Processor for pure total ownage. Each day that passed, check the review and it's easy to spot what owns the enthusiasts' hearts and sould. Go go Conroe! Expand for more...

The hunt for more and better overclocking results is constantly on here at NH and Kinc has now taken another big step with ATI's latest graphics card. Kinc has finally made it past 16,000 points with 3Dmark06. A result that no other ATI system has been even close to. The new ATI record is at 16 016 points and was set during anything but ideal circumstances. First of all, ATI's Radeon X1950 Crossfire card is paired with an older Radeon X1900 XTX which clearly limits the performance. At the same time the cooling of the system has not been optimized for the conditions.

Our tired Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor is still cooled by a compressor cascade. Similar cooling was used on the X1900 XTX card while the cooling on the Radeon X1950 Crossfire has now been upgraded to liquid nitrogen. But the temperatures are far from extreme, the card has been cooled to mere -25°C. The reason is simply that Kinc hasn't voltmodded the card yet. Changing the voltage through software has turned out to cause great difficulties with the X1950 series. Thanks to the massive mousepot which was used with the X1950 Crossfire you can keep the temperature in good control when using liquid nitrogen, which of course tends for some nice results the coming days.

Yesterday another X1950 graphics card arrived in our test lab, a PowerColor X1950 XTX which together with the current Crossfire card and two beafy mousepots will make wonders. Kinc has no intention of stopping before ATI is the king of the 3Dmark06 hill and this despite the fact that ATI's graphics cards are not as fast with this tests than NVIDIA's equivalents. If everything goes as planned Kinc will be cooling the entire system with liquid nitrogen in a few days and then we will most likely have som mighty impressive results to show off. But 16 016 points is hardly something to be ashamed of when the next best ATI system is located at 13 804 points.

Specifications
CPU: X6800 @ 4685MHz
CPU cooling: Compressor cascade at -95°C
Master card: ATI X1950 CF @ 840/1143MHz (Mousepot LN2 at -25°C)
Slave card: ASUS X1900 XTX @ 882/873MHz (compressor cascade at -80°C
Memory: Corsair 6400C3 3-3-2-5 426MHz
Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH
PSU: Cooltek 600W

Source:Kinc reaches 16,000 points with 3DMark06

Rant: Futuremark @ blocked Conroe

There is a petition currently happening over at XtremeSystems about Conroe scores still being blocked. It was ok, well, not really ok, but acceptable that Conroe scores aren't allowed to be published since the CPU hasn't been announced (but even before, un-announced CPU scores were allowed to be posted), but since the embargo has been lifted and all announcement has been made, it's justifiable that the scores to be allowed for publishing (and ownage).

Of course, this is going to get a lot of AMDroids fuming since not even the top of the line FX-62 OCed till kingdom come can even get close to matching up even the measly middle-flavored Conroe system. Heck, I can almost hear AMDroids spewing useless comments about pricing, availability, and even linking to how Conroe performance numbers are rigged (hey, get over it, Shariku has been busted already). Wohoo, AMDroids sucks big time. And no, AMD* isn't your hero, they aren't selling cheap processors back then because they are bang for the buck, but because they suck. Enough with ranting for now, go and sign the petition...

Source:XS

Tech Link (Industry): Kinc and crotale overclocks Live at DreamHack - 2 World records!

Sorry for the really late news posting, being away from home and lack of time to access the Internet the whole day of busy working is tough. So expect really slow activities this week. Anyway, just to brag again, Conroe managed to snag two world records: 3DMark06 and 3DMark2001. They are, by no means, an easy feat. Kinc and crotale managed to beat K|ngp|n's records. Expand the news below for more details.
_{Image owned by NordicHardware}

The Sunday here at DreamHack has been quite extraordinary, Marcus "Kinc" Hultin and Robert "Crotale" Kihlberg have been working long and hard, sleep is apparently not vital when overclocking is involved, trying to set new performance world records. Earlier today Crotale and Kinc managed to get past Kingpin and his world record with 3Dmark06 which has to be considered an achievement out of the ordinary even for these two gentlemen considering the temperature here. About 5000 computers and the mid summer heat turned out to be too much for the air conditioning, which means that crotale and Kinc not only had to battle the regular difficulties when performing Live overclockings but also temperatures at 30°C/86°F and beyond all day long.

Source:NordicHardware

Rant: FutureMark not allowing Conroe results to be published?!? Part II

Three(3) days ago, I posted a rant why Futuremark didn't(??) allow Conroe/Merom benchmarks from the ORB. It was just speculation back then, no hard proofs, since it might just be a quirk in the ORB database. But today, after scouring the net again, I found the final answer.

A FutureMark* staff answered the question:

We usually map/add the new hardware to our online services, such as the ORB, whenever the hardware is officially launched, and available. The CPUs in question were not supposed to be visible, and thus they were removed.

Cheers,

Nick

Well, I know how this feels, but hey, it's FutureMark and the only thing I can do is rant and complain. But if they feel it's not allowed, then it is not allowed. However, the question still remains, why is it that 3DMark01SE is allowed. If FM doesn't care about 3DMark01SE, the next question would be, why was it that Dothan and even early EEs were allowed?

Oh well...

Rant: FutureMark not allowing Conroe results to be published?!?

Earlier today, I got a buzz from a friend that a new WR for SuperPi has been breached. And I told him on the phone, yawning, "Yeah, I know, 11s is history". But he said, "Nope, 10s barrier has been breached". And then I was like, "Ok, I'll go hunt it down". And so, after visiting a few sites, I finally came down to TeamJapan's score. But what's SuperPi run got to do with FutureMark benchmarks?

Well, if you look and read at each thread in that link at XS, you'll came by one of FUGGER's posting. And I quote:

Well done, the race for 5Ghz is on for sure. It will be done with a little more voltage it seems.

These will destroy all 3D records.

BTW, Futuremark removed all Conroe/Merom benches from the ORB except 2K1.

I still haven't gotten any official announcement, or even a rumor, as to the reason why the Conroe and Merom results are being "removed" from the ORB. The 3DMark01SE score seems to be left untouched, but 3DMark03/05/06 are being taken down.

It has been "doubly" confirmed on FCG's posting, and I quote:

22K has come and gone. Specs for score in signature.

Special thanks to Futuremark for selling out and removing my ability to publish ANY scores on their ORB.

FCG hinted that he can't publish anything in the ORB anymore, but he did break the WR. Of course, without the ORB, people can only rely on FCG's reputation that he is telling the truth. While I don't doubt his score, I know how he feels since there are still many out there that has been crapping on all his potings. Personally, I'll just ignore those sorry losers.

But back to the regular programming, again, on FutureMark's reasoning for this removal of score. If in any case you've seen any official announcement, or even just a rumor, don't hesitate to send me ShoutOut or post it in the forum or just send me an email (or call me). I'd love to get all the facts straight, and of course, to restore my fleeting trust at the ORB.

And if you would like to join in the discuss, XS has a thread up already.

Tech Link (Industry): Merom kills 3DMark 2001 - Far beyond 60,000 points!

When Dothan craze started to fill a few nich sections of the enthusiast's personal lab, it's already clear that this architecture is really going to own lots of world record if it is given full chipset functionality in terms of PEG and RAM support. With such low frequency and front side bus, and running mostly on a single PCIe card due to lack of options (i.e. Asus P4GD1 runs on PCIe x16 with s478 and Asus CT-479 adaper), it was tough to catch up with a full blown desktop systems running on SLI and Crossfire.

But since the incarnation of i975x board with hacked NVIDIA drivers for SLI and official support for Crossfire, with Chipzilla promoting mobile-on-desktop concept, the slew of new benchmarks coming from these baby monsters are very devastating in terms of raw performance, multimedia applications, multi-threading and downright smooth computing experience.

Wow, if you still can believe it, check out NordicHardware's take on this babies:

We're having some trouble finding words to describe Merom at the moment. During the last few days we've reported about new records being set, but we were still missing a few benchmarks. We suspected that Kyosen, which has done it again, had some more results coming, this time of a completely new caliber. That it would be this kind of blowout we had no idea, not even our wildest imagination could've come up with something like this. Using Dry ice Intel Merom T7400 was pushed a bit over 3400MHz and with two water cooled X1900 cards Kyosen managed to achieve a completely devastating result with 3DMark2001, 62398 points!

Source:NH

Tech Link (Industry): 3DMark06 Under the Magnifying Glass

THG decided to give the latest and greatest FutureMark* product, the 3DMark06. I am not sure what has taken them this long to make a review of the benchmark utility (or maybe they did already, I just missed it).

In any case, if you feel like spending some time and scrutinizing the benchmark utility, they have a pretty much comprehensive report.

Futuremark's previous benchmarking suites have paved a way for enthusiasts to evaluate gaming performance, but along with this prestige comes the requisite skepticism over its methods and implementations. Arguments have arisen over techniques and the scoring calculations used. While one group will praise Futuremark for developing a neutral analysis tool as well as being forward-looking in its execution, another will accuse it of developing a benchmark that does not represent certain hardware implementations, or that utilizes techniques that game makers don't use. The newest version of "The Gamer's Benchmark" once again finds itself in the middle of this debate, so we decided to talk to both Futuremark and the hardware makers to get a better insight into the situation.

Source:THG

Tech Link (Overclock): New 3DMark01 World Record with Dothan Power

One my news post that was lost due to some Blog problems. Anyway, it's a bit old right now (you know, how benchmarks records kept getting broken almost everyday, it's becoming a norm) so if it isn't the latest, just shoot me a PM or a ShoutOut.

The World Record was achieved with the help of an Intel® Pentium® M 780 combined with Asus* CT-479 adapter, slotted with an Asus* P4GD1 Motherboard. Yeah, that same motherboard I reviewed over at TipidPC (sorry, I can't find the link anymore). This processor + motherboard + pcie video card combo has become the toughest combo with benchmarks to date. The only reason Dothan isn't topping the charts of other 3DMark benchies suck as 3DMark03 and 3DMark05 is because of the lack of SLI-capable motherboard to support this mini-wonder.

In any case, people have been flocking to Yonah now that AOpen* will soon be releasing a Yonah-based motherboard that will support Crossfire. And even as this next-generation mobile power is landing on the palms of the enthusiasts, they are also drooling over the upcoming Merom processors.

Hmm, how I wish I can post my Yonah and Controe results...I guess one drawback of getting all the nice stuff in advance is being silenced to speak of it until NDA has been lifted off.

So here's a screenie of Hipro's screenshot, the overclock that broke the record he also owns yay.



Source:XS

Press Release: Futuremark Overhauls "The Gamers' Benchmark" With 3DMark®06

For all you benchmark addicts out there, specially for the 3D benchies, Futuremark* Corporation released a new benchmark software that is a follow up on their 3DMark05 benchmark.

Anandtech and Hexus already got their hands dirty with "benchmarking" the benchmark software. The reviews can be viewed here (Anandtech) and here (Hexus).

Futuremark Overhauls "The Gamers' Benchmark" With 3DMark®06

_{Benchmark includes improved Shader Model 2 tests, new CPU tests and HDR Shader Model 3 tests for system-wide gaming performance measurement.}

Saratoga, California USA – January 18, 2006 – Continuing forward in the development of advanced game performance benchmarks, Futuremark announced today the release and immediate availability of 3DMark06. A more comprehensive and unrestricted benchmark than previous versions, 3DMark06 includes an array of 3D graphics, CPU and 3D feature tests for overall performance measurement of current and future PC gaming systems. With this broader design approach, 3DMark06 will be the benchmark of choice for all PCs with top-of-the-line graphics hardware and CPUs. Futuremark predicts that 3DMark06 will emerge as the most complete 3D graphics benchmark for Windows XP, paving the way for new benchmarks targeted at future OS environments such as Windows Vista.

New Technical Heights
Building on 3DMark05 as a foundation, Futuremark improved the core 3D engine, adding more complex ShaderModel 2.0 tests, stunning High Dynamic Range (HDR) ShaderModel 3.0 tests, and overall enhanced the product with substantially higher polygonal counts expected to be found in games two years into the future. Even with the addition of HDR/ShaderModel 3.0 tests, 3DMark06 still enables ShaderModel 2.0 compliant graphics card owners to run most of the benchmark and get a fully comparable 3DMark score. With these demanding new DirectX 9 implementations, 3DMark06's four graphics tests measure performance of the most advanced hardware while showing visually the compelling advantages of these new shader types.

3DMark06 is the first product from Futuremark using the AGEIA(tm) PhysX software physics library in two very complex, game-like threaded CPU tests conceived to measure properly performances of single processor, multi-core and multiple processor systems in next generation of games. In addition to using real-time physics, both CPU tests also employ multi-threaded artificial intelligence algorithms. By combining the results of the two CPU tests and four graphics tests, 3DMark06 enables users to get a 3DMark score which reflects the overall gaming performance of their PC. Futuremark and their industry partners anticipate that CPU performance promises to be increasingly important in next generation PC games as new titles increase their use of artificial intelligence and complex physics and their reliance on multithreaded processing.

"The PC industry and PC gamers alike want true apples-to-apples comparisons, and with 3DMark06, they get it," said Tero Sarkkinen, Futuremark's executive vice president of sales and marketing. "3DMark06 is by far the most technologically advanced gamers' benchmark we've ever delivered. With new CPU tests, four graphics tests and expanded feature tests 3DMark06 will provide valuable overall performance scores. And by updating three existing graphics tests we are able to produce taxing, yet beautiful content, graphically revealing what these mathematically complex shaders can provide while measuring system wide hardware performance."

New Scores and More
The new scoring system in 3DMark06 acknowledges the use of CPU related tasks in the latest and future games, and accordingly the CPU results affect the final 3DMark score. To further enable media professionals, end-users, IHV's and OEM's to compare pure graphics and CPU performance, 3DMark06 also provides three new sub scores – SM2.0 Score, HDR/SM3.0 Score and CPU Score, all of which are fully valid and comparable scores.

Industry cooperation during development
Futuremark is known industry-wide for producing well designed, unbiased and impartial benchmarks based on next generation game workloads and 3DMark06 adheres to those guiding principles. Developed in conjunction with BDP members AMD, ATI, Dell, Imagination Technologies, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, S3, SIS, Velocity Micro and XGI, this latest offering from Futuremark is a collaborative effort that reflects the projected workloads of game content two years from today.

"For gamers and power users it's all about system and graphics performance," said Kevin Kettler, chief technology officer and vice president, Dell Product Group. "Among the many industry-standard tools Dell uses to evaluate technologies in its XPS gaming PCs, 3DMark06 stands out as a critical benchmark for analyzing how next-generation processors and 3D graphics engines can benefit customers."

"We applaud Futuremark's continued support of Microsoft's DirectX 9.0 set of APIs, which provide our partners and the industry with a robust and time-tested foundation for their benchmarking tool," said Dean Lester, General Manager of Graphics and Gaming Technologies, Microsoft Corporation. "As DirectX 9.0 was designed to make game development on the Windows platform more advanced and efficient, 3DMark06 provides additional benefits for mainstream applications by providing users with Futuremark's latest set of diagnostic tools."

Key Features
3DMark06 provides a host of standard features. All editions (basic, advanced and professional) include:

• DirectX 9 3D game performance benchmarking,


• Separate tests for graphics cards and CPUs,


• Workloads that simulate next-generation gaming requirements,


• Advanced 3D gaming engine that supports HDR rendering with SM2.0 and SM3.0 Shaders,


• Two HDR/SM3.0 game tests and two SM2.0 game tests,


• Threaded CPU performance testing based on AI and physics workloads applied to a variety of processor environments.

The advanced edition of 3DMark06 has these additional features:

• Full control over benchmark display configuration,

3D graphics feature tests that include Fill Rate, Pixel Shader, Vertex Shader, SM3.0 tests, and Batch Size tests,

• Professional tools, including image quality analysis and graph creation of runtime statistics,


• Importing of results from MS Excel for easier result management and report creation, and


• Access to the Pro-Online ResultBrowser,


• Playable mini-game based on CPU test, and


• Full demo.

The professional edition has these exclusive features:

• Command line functionality for test automation,


• Batch-run functionality for automated testing,


• Licensed commercial use of 3DMark06, and


• Demo Loop option.

Price and Availability
Futuremark's Basic, Advanced and Professional editions of 3DMark06 are available now. The Basic Edition is free and can be downloaded from Futuremark's Web site at http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmark06. An Advanced Edition is available online for $19.95 per license, or $29.95 plus shipping and handling for software on CD. The Professional Edition costs $490 per license when downloaded electronically, or $500 plus shipping and handling for the software on CD.

About Futuremark® Corporation
Futuremark ® Corporation is the leading provider of performance analysis software and services for PCs and smartphones. Futuremark® is known around the world for its benchmark products, including the 3DMark® and PCMark® Series and SPMark™ (with more than 30 million copies distributed worldwide) and value-added services powered by a database of over 12 million real life benchmarking results. Futuremark® maintains offices in Saratoga, California and Helsinki, Finland. For more information, please visit http://www.futuremark.com.

© 2006 Futuremark® Corporation. 3DMark®, PCMark® and SPMark™ trademarks and logos, Futuremark® character names and distinctive likenesses, are the exclusive property of Futuremark Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective companies.

Source:FutureMark