Benchmarking

I'm new to benchmarking and I just installed 3dmark05. I ran it and I got a score a lot higher than I expected. I was expecting in the 3000-4000 range and I was in the 7000. I thought I remember seeing different versions of 3dmark or different standard settings for different things. Are there other tests similar to 3dmark that give scores in the same thousands ranges that I could be confusing this with?

Thanks.

 

USe 3dmark 06.

 

The older the 3dmark, the higher score you're going to get. Most people use 3dmark06 so you can't compare a 3dmark05 score with it.

 

and also make sure you're running at the default resolution of 1280x1024 for the results to be valid

 

Actually 05's default resolution was 1024x768. Which makes more sense - look at how many common resolutions (XGA, WXGA, WXGA+) can't display 1280x1024, which results in a wide discrepancy in 06 scores.

 

Didn't know that (about 3dmark05), but since the free version of 3dmark06 locks in the resolution at 1280x1024 (and I assume that most people would use the free version as opposed to buying the full product) I just thought I'd remind him (or her)

 

I didn't know that either. I always run the default (above mentioned) resolutions.

Ivan

 

So what happens when someone tries to run 3dmark06 on a system that doesn't support 1280x1024? Does the program intelligently scale down to a resolution that the system supports or does it try to force the tests to run at the default rez?

 

Interesting question. Maybe it doesn't run at all?

 

It runs at a reduced resolution - 1280x854 on WXGA+ screens, for example, and I believe 1280x800 on WXGA. And, obviously, 1024x768 on XGA screens. This means that two computers with the same GPU can get wildly different scores - an Inspiron 1520 with the WXGA screen would score far better than one with the WSXGA+ screen, for example, because while the latter could render 1280x1024, the former would only render 1280x800 - which is almost a 300k pixel difference.

 

i didn't know any of this - good advice guys. I'm hoping my new AW laptop comes with 3dmark06 already installed as i'd assume this is what they'd use to burn in the computer/stress test it. don't fancy downloading the best part of 600mb

 

Thanks for clearing that up.