Futuremark Unveils 3DMark05; The World's Most Advanced DirectX 9 Graphics Benchmark.

SARATOGA, Calif. -- Futuremark Corporation today announced 3DMark(R)05, the world's most demanding graphics application for PCs. 3DMark05 is the fifth generation of the product line, which boasts a distribution of over 50 million copies. 3DMark05 sets the standard for accurate and objective measurement of graphics performance of DirectX 9 in running the next generation of 3D games.

3DMark05 enables objective cross-platform performance comparisons and incorporates many groundbreaking new features and technologies. The all-new engine and tests were developed within Futuremark's Benchmark Development Program whose members include: 3DLabs, AMD, ATI, Dell, Gateway, Imagination Technologies (PowerVR), Innovision, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, S3, and XGI.

3DMark05 is designed to measure the performance of a Windows-based PC in running as advanced technology of DirectX 9 graphics as possible. The next generation of games will deploy technologies and levels of workloads found in 3DMark05. Consumers, who are purchasing PC technology, can use 3DMark05 today to assess how good their investment will be with the more advanced games of 2005 and 2006. Futuremark further helps consumers with an Online ResultBrowser service which provides users with real-time comparisons and scoring from over 10 million real-world benchmark results.

3DMark05 is the world's most advanced benchmark in its class and features the latest DirectX 9.0c shader models: 2.0, 2.a, 2.b and 3.0. The all-new engine utilizes the latest DirectX 9 effects and offers never-before-seen fidelity and realism in real-time 3D graphics. With an average of over one million rendered polygons per screen, and peak levels of up to over two million polygons per screen, 3DMark05 is by far the most demanding graphics benchmark ever created.

"Alienware chose to become a 3DMark sponsor for a second time to help Futuremark continue their great work in the industry. 3DMark has set the standard by virtue of its leading-edge technology and next-generation game workloads," said Frank Azor, Senior Vice President at Alienware Worldwide Product Group. "Alienware has found 3DMark to be one of the best applications available to demonstrate the capabilities of Alienware's high-performance systems and an ideal way to reaffirm to customers the value of their purchase."

"3DMark05 stresses our hardware beyond the means of current games," said Andy Thompson, Director, Advanced Technology Marketing, ATI Technologies Inc. "By using 3DMark05 as a performance analysis tool we have already found ways to make improvements in our current and future products that will make games run even better. When 3DMark03 was introduced it gave gamers an indication of how the available graphics hardware would perform on future games and we expect the same from 3DMark05. We stand by our commitment to allow 3DMark05 tests to run unaltered by application specific optimizations so that customers can rely on the benchmark results on ATI hardware as a true indication of future game performance."

"Futuremark has once again raised the visual bar with this latest version of 3DMark," said Dan Vivoli, Executive Vice President of Marketing at NVIDIA. "With support for DirectX Shader Model 3.0 and other innovative new features, 3DMark05 is one of the most graphically advanced benchmarks in the industry."

"With 3DMark having such a big weight in the industry, we feel tremendous responsibility for the ultimate end-user of our products: PC technology consumers. I am happy to say that 3DMark05 proudly continues the tradition of the 3DMark product line by being an objective and relevant benchmark," said Tero Sarkkinen, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing at Futuremark Corporation. "3DMark05 is essential for any serious gamer because it enables gauging how `future proof' their investment in a new graphics card or a PC is."

New Features in 3DMark05 include:

        --  Full support for Microsoft DirectX 9.0c;

        --  Supporting the latest pixel and vertex shader models
            (2.0, 2.a, 2.b and 3.0)

        --  Three new game tests, all requiring hardware for DirectX
            9.0 with support for pixel shader 2.0 or higher;

        --  Two CPU tests, the other one presenting a multithreaded AI
            implementation, especially suitable for virtual or
            physical multiprocessor systems;

        --  New feature and batch size tests;

        --  New and improved image, filtering and anti-aliasing
            quality tools;

        --  New graph tool for in-depth performance analysis

        --  The ultimate showcase of Windows-based real-time 3D
            graphics: Dazzling demo with original soundtrack.

     -  New engine:

        --  Dynamically builds shaders for each material in High-Level
            Shader Language (HLSL) format;

        --  Shaders are runtime compiled to best fit the installed
            hardware;

        --  Uses exclusively shader model 2.0 and 3.0 for all vertex
            and pixel processing;

        --  Renders real-time light scattering for atmospherical
            effects;

        --  Uses improved Perspective Shadow Maps (PSM) with Depth
            Stencil Texture (DST) and hardware accelerated Percentage
            Closest Filtering (PCF) if supported.

     -  New and improved tools to assist reviewers and test labs:

        --  Image quality inspection tool;

            --  Ability to export frame by frame using different
                options and settings;

            --  Pre-rendered Reference Rasterizer image database for
                comparison;

        --  Texture filtering and anti-aliasing quality inspection
            tool;

            --  Anti-Aliasing;

            --  Bilinear/Trilinear/Anisotropic filtering;

        --  Graphs of runtime statistics;

            --  Frame rate;

            --  Frame duration;

            --  Polygon count;

            --  Vertex count;

            --  State change count;

            --  Drawing batch count;

        --  System Info utility, which provides an in-depth analysis
            of the status and features of the system's components;

        --  Extended Online ResultBrowser for Pro users;

            --  MultiComparison;

            --  Dynamic compare URLs;

            --  18 filters for search and comparison

Pricing and Availability

3DMark05 is available immediately for consumers from http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmark05/ for $19.95 (download) or $29.95 (CD-ROM) and for business use for $250.00 (CD-ROM) or $240.00 (download). There is also a limited functionality evaluation version available for free at http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark05.shtml.

For further 3DMark05 related information, please visit http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmark05/.

Note to Editors

For your free evaluation copy of 3DMark05, please email [e-mail]?subject=3DMark05Eval and tell us the publication that you represent.

About Futuremark(R) Corporation

Futuremark(R) Corporation is the leading provider of computer performance analysis software and services. Futuremark(R) is known around the world for its benchmark products, including the 3DMark(R), PCMark(R) and SPMark(TM) and value-added services powered by a database of over 10 million real life benchmarking results. Futuremark(R) has offices in Saratoga, California and Helsinki, Finland. For more information, please visit http://www.futuremark.com.

(C) 2004 Futuremark(R) Corporation. 3DMark(R), PCMark(R) and SPMark(TM) trademarks and logos, Futuremark(R) character names and distinctive likenesses, are the exclusive property of Futuremark Corporation. DirectX is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective companies.