futureMark interview.

[2senile]

http://www.3dvelocity.com/articles/fminterview/fminterview.htm

I had a few things I wanted to put to the guys at FUTUREMARK. Here's what they had to say....
"How can you ever hope to convince people that results from a synthetic benchmark are as valid as those from a "real" retail games title? The stock quote the keeps appearing is that "people play games, not benchmarks".

Tero: While it is true that people play games and not benchmarks, it really does not mean that only games can be used as benchmarks! Both games and synthetic applications can be designed well or poorly to serve as a benchmark. You really have to determine these case by case. There are good game benchmarks and there are bad game benchmarks, similarly, there are good synthetic benchmarks and then there are bad synthetic benchmarks.

Stanard stuff but I found the final comments by the interviewer interesting & valid. (in my opinion, at least)

 

[Wunderchu]

cool

 

[Pete]

What the ... A CAR METAPHOR?! Inconceivable!



One timely (and timeless) exchange:

Have you ever been tempted to plant an Easter egg in 3DMark somewhere, or have you already done it and we've missed it?? On the basis that sex sells, I think a the addition of a voluptuous, beautifully rendered female should feature in there somewhere, purely to show the virtues of a good pixel shader of course!

Nick: We have always had Easter eggs in our products. Not only in 3DMark. I wouldn't mind seeing voluptuous, beautifully rendered women in our products, so let's see what we can make for the next 3DMark, after 3DMark05.

You'd think vertex shaders would go better with creative voluptuousness, wouldn't you?

 

[Lostit]

It's a good read & has the usual bit of humour but where are the questions about how SLi & dual cores will affect 3DMark?

 

[2senile]

It's a good read & has the usual bit of humour but where are the questions about how SLi & dual cores will affect 3DMark?

Good point. I expect Sli won't cause any problem with 3DMark. Dual core should just be recognised as a single CPU but I'm just assuming.

Perhaps some of the more astute members would know for sure?

 

[2senile]

What the ... A CAR METAPHOR?! Inconceivable!



One timely (and timeless) exchange:

Have you ever been tempted to plant an Easter egg in 3DMark somewhere, or have you already done it and we've missed it?? On the basis that sex sells, I think a the addition of a voluptuous, beautifully rendered female should feature in there somewhere, purely to show the virtues of a good pixel shader of course!

Nick: We have always had Easter eggs in our products. Not only in 3DMark. I wouldn't mind seeing voluptuous, beautifully rendered women in our products, so let's see what we can make for the next 3DMark, after 3DMark05.

You'd think vertex shaders would go better with creative voluptuousness, wouldn't you?

I'm a believer in the principle of "keep things simple". They should just put a porn vid' in the next 3DMark & to hell with VS/PS!

They'd sell more anyway.

 

[Nick[FM]]

It's a good read & has the usual bit of humour but where are the questions about how SLi & dual cores will affect 3DMark?

SLI works just fine (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=357552), though 3DMark doesn't recognize it correctly (it only detects 1 graphics card for some reason). That is being fixed for the next update for both 3DMark03 and 3DMark05. I am not sure about dual cores, but they should work just fine. Not sure if they are detected as single or dual though.

 

[2senile]

Thanks for the reply Worm.

Just wondering if you'd like to post some thoughts on an OGL version of 3DMark. I suppose it would take more resources but I always thought it would be good for FM from a business point of view. (another source of money)

& enjoy your holiday & Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year....... & have a nice Easter as well.

 

[Nick[FM]]

Thanks for the reply Worm.

Just wondering if you'd like to post some thoughts on an OGL version of 3DMark. I suppose it would take more resources but I always thought it would be good for FM from a business point of view. (another source of money)

Currently we don't have any plans for a OpenGL benchmark for the PC's, but our smart phone benchmark SPMark04 include OpenGL (ES) tests. I am not sure what OpenGL tests in 3DMark would offer to the users, other than possibly comparing OpenGL vs. DX drivers from the manufacturers..

Cheers,
Nick

 

[digitalwanderer]

]I am not sure what OpenGL tests in 3DMark would offer to the users, other than possibly comparing OpenGL vs. DX drivers from the manufacturers..

It would also give users the ability to compare OpenGL speeds on competing cards as well as help to chart driver improvements in OpenGL from all IHVs.

 

[Sigma]

]
Currently we don't have any plans for a OpenGL benchmark for the PC's, but our smart phone benchmark SPMark04 include OpenGL (ES) tests. I am not sure what OpenGL tests in 3DMark would offer to the users, other than possibly comparing OpenGL vs. DX drivers from the manufacturers..

If an OpenGL 3DMark would be identical to a DX 3DMark, why not take the change of having 3DMark run in every platform?

EDIT: and you wouldn't have to have a mess of pixel shader versions...

 

[Sigma]

]
Currently we don't have any plans for a OpenGL benchmark for the PC's, but our smart phone benchmark SPMark04 include OpenGL (ES) tests. I am not sure what OpenGL tests in 3DMark would offer to the users, other than possibly comparing OpenGL vs. DX drivers from the manufacturers..

If an OpenGL 3DMark would be identical to a DX 3DMark, why not take the change of having 3DMark run in every platform?

EDIT: and you wouldn't have to have a mess of pixel shader versions...

EDIT2: imagine 3DMark a member of the ARB, creating extensions for better benchmarking, and pushing IHVs to implement them...

 

[Sigma]

]
Currently we don't have any plans for a OpenGL benchmark for the PC's, but our smart phone benchmark SPMark04 include OpenGL (ES) tests. I am not sure what OpenGL tests in 3DMark would offer to the users, other than possibly comparing OpenGL vs. DX drivers from the manufacturers..

If an OpenGL 3DMark would be identical to a DX 3DMark, why not take the change of having 3DMark run in every platform?

EDIT: and you wouldn't have to have a mess of pixel shader versions...

EDIT2: imagine 3DMark a member of the ARB, creating extensions for better benchmarking, and pushing IHVs to implement them...

EDIT3: sorry, clicked Quote instead of Edit...

 

[Mendel]

opengl version would really be a nice step towards a linux port. There really isn't a good linux 3d benchmark afaik, glxgears is just laughable.

 

[Nick[FM]]

If an OpenGL 3DMark would be identical to a DX 3DMark, why not take the change of having 3DMark run in every platform?

Of course we are monitoring the need for a 3D benchmark for other platforms too, but we don't have any plans to enter the Mac or Linux platforms just yet.

Personally I am not sure how big of a need there is for a 3D benchmark like 3DMark for other platforms at the moment. Mac's have always been more or less used for everything else except gaming, and same goes for Linux. But as said, we are monitoring the situation.

 

[T2k]

]

If an OpenGL 3DMark would be identical to a DX 3DMark, why not take the change of having 3DMark run in every platform?

Of course we are monitoring the need for a 3D benchmark for other platforms too, but we don't have any plans to enter the Mac or Linux platforms just yet.

Personally I am not sure how big of a need there is for a 3D benchmark like 3DMark for other platforms at the moment. Mac's have always been more or less used for everything else except gaming, and same goes for Linux. But as said, we are monitoring the situation.

Actually things are moving quite the other way than you painted here - take a look on this: http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19459

Do you think is there any other main reason than gaming behind buying X800 XT PE for Mac? (Forget 3D enthusiasts' tiny market, please.)

 

[FrgMstr]

]Personally I am not sure how big of a need there is for a 3D benchmark like 3DMark for other platforms at the moment. Mac's have always been more or less used for everything else except gaming, and same goes for Linux. But as said, we are monitoring the situation.

Have you figured out the NEED for 3DMark on the PC front besides monetary gain for your company?

 

[Reverend]

]Personally I am not sure how big of a need there is for a 3D benchmark like 3DMark for other platforms at the moment. Mac's have always been more or less used for everything else except gaming, and same goes for Linux. But as said, we are monitoring the situation.

Have you figured out the NEED for 3DMark on the PC front besides monetary gain for your company?

C'mon Kyle, that's not fair (and rather silly IMO)... [H] makes money and you strive to improve it for this reason.

 

[T2k]

]Personally I am not sure how big of a need there is for a 3D benchmark like 3DMark for other platforms at the moment. Mac's have always been more or less used for everything else except gaming, and same goes for Linux. But as said, we are monitoring the situation.

Have you figured out the NEED for 3DMark on the PC front besides monetary gain for your company?

Should I ask something similar about [H]?

It's pretty childish, Kyle.

 

[Para]

]

If an OpenGL 3DMark would be identical to a DX 3DMark, why not take the change of having 3DMark run in every platform?

Of course we are monitoring the need for a 3D benchmark for other platforms too, but we don't have any plans to enter the Mac or Linux platforms just yet.

Personally I am not sure how big of a need there is for a 3D benchmark like 3DMark for other platforms at the moment. Mac's have always been more or less used for everything else except gaming, and same goes for Linux. But as said, we are monitoring the situation.

Actually things are moving quite the other way than you painted here - take a look on this: http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19459

Do you think is there any other main reason than gaming behind buying X800 XT PE for Mac? (Forget 3D enthusiasts' tiny market, please.)

Computer graphics (professional work) is pretty popular on the Mac side, that's the main reason for a powerful GPU on Mac side too. Gaming is still a niche market on that side.