The 3D Mark suite has become a staple in the tech world as a synthetic benchmark for CPUs, graphics cards, hard drives, laptops, mobiles and even for the most basic of computers. But until today, 3DMark hasn’t had a DirectX 12 specific test.
It’s called Time Spy, and it’s a DirectX 12 test that runs at a rendering resolution of 2560×1440 (so you’ll be able to run it whether your monitor supports 1440p or not). It comes with a demo and tests for the CPU and GPU, and Futuremark says it takes advantage of many the new features in the low-level programming interface.
“Time Spy is one of the first DirectX 12 apps to be built “the right way” from the ground up to fully realise the performance gains that the new API offers. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, which supports new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal test for benchmarking the latest graphics cards,” the company says.
I’ll be using Time Spy along with the Fire Strike series of tests for all benchmarks going forward. It’s an interesting benchmark: unlike Fire Strike, it features a number of sequences in first-person. A character wanders around what looks like the partial ruins of a museum, examining things as they were in the past through some kind of time mirror. Here’s the full demo:
I didn’t have the time to bench the card against everything in the office, but for those who might be wondering how Time Spy fares against the top end of the GPU market, here’s some figures (averaged over three runs each):
And for reference, this is the machine being used for benchmarking.
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4.0GHz
RAM: 16GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-RAM @ 1600 Mhz
GPU: MSI R9 390X Gaming 8GB
PSU: Corsair HX850i 850W
HDD: Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD
Motherboard: ASUS Z97I-PLUS Mini-ITX (Intel Z97)
Anyone who already purchased 3DMark before today will be able to add the download the latest version of Futuremark’s tool through Steam or from the 3DMark website. 3DMark is currently going for $US10 if you don’t own it, and those that purchase 3DMark after today will be able to get Time Spy as DLC for $US5.
Comments
6 responses to “3DMark’s DirectX 12 Test Is Finally Out, Here’s Some Benchmarks”
The Time Spy DLC option is actually just an upgrade on the test, which is included in 3DMark anyway. The $US5 gets you the ability to:
– Unlock Time Spy custom benchmark settings.
– Unlock the Time Spy Stress Test.
– Unlock the option to skip the Time Spy demo.
Do you think this is worth it @alexwalker ?
Being really honest here: skipping the demo saves you a LOT of time.
For something you’ll use for the next few years, yes.
No 480 benches? The cards are suppose to excel at DX12!
We had to return our RX 480 to AMD upon their request, so it wasn’t available for benching.
They asked for it back? That’s a weird, cheap move.
They needed it to build machines for an event or something. There were very few review samples sent to Australia, so it’s understandable. This stuff happens, but I’ll try and get one back so I can see how it fares (esp. now the Total Warhammer DX12 benchmark is properly available).