Advanced Edition
User Guide
February 2011
Thank you for using Futuremark products.
Recommended testing guidelines
To get the most accurate benchmark results you should test clean systems that have no third party software
installed. Running other programs and tasks during the benchmark can affect the results. You should close as
many background tasks as possible, such as automatic updates or tasks that feature pop-up alerts such as e-
mail clients and messaging programs.
Avoid touching the mouse and keyboard and specifically do not change the window focus away from the
application while the benchmark tests are running. If you want to abort the run, press the ESC key on your
keyboard at any time, and wait for the benchmark to stop and return you to the main menu.
Set up
Install all critical system updates to ensure your operating system is up to date.
Install the latest approved drivers for the target hardware. A list of approved drivers can be found on the
Futuremark website: http://www.3dmark.com/support/drivers
Install 3DMark 11 by double-clicking on 3DMark_11_v101_installer.exe
The installer requires administrator privileges in order to set up the required files in protected folders. If
the installer requests permission, please accept and continue.
You will be presented with a language selection option. Your local language will be pre-selected if available,
but you can pick another language if you prefer. Click NEXT to continue.
You will be taken to the welcome screen. Click NEXT to continue.
Please read the end user license agreement. If you wish to continue installing the product, select "I accept
the terms of the license agreement" and click on NEXT.
Select COMPLETE for easy set up into the default location. Click NEXT to continue.
You will see a confirmation dialog. Click on INSTALL to begin the installation. Installing 3DMark 11 may take
several minutes depending on your system.
When the installation is completed, you will see a completion dialog. Click on FINISH.
You are now ready to start using 3DMark 11. You can find the shortcut for 3DMark 11 from All Programs ->
Futuremark -> 3DMark 11.
The first time you run 3DMark 11 you will be asked for your upgrade key. If you skip this step you will only
have access to the features in the Basic Edition. Copy and paste your upgrade key into the box and click on
REGISTER.
Testing
Restart the computer.
Wait for 60 seconds.
Exit all other programs.
Wait for 15 minutes.
Run the benchmark.
Repeat from step 1 at least three times to verify that the results are reproducible.
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Registration
The first time you run 3DMark 11 you will be asked for your upgrade key. If you skip this step you will only have
access to the features in the Basic Edition. Copy and paste your upgrade key into the box and click on
REGISTER.
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Benchmarking with 3DMark 11 presets
On the BASIC tab you can select which preset to run and choose whether to run just the tests, just the demo or
the complete experience. Running the complete experience will take 10–15 minutes depending on the system.
As part of a good benchmarking practice, it is recommended that you select the benchmark Preset in 3DMark
11 to match the overall performance of the system being tested. If you are seeing very low frame rates with
the Extreme-preset, using the Performance- or the Entry-preset instead will improve measurement accuracy. If
you are already using the Entry-preset and still seeing low frame rates, using for example 3DMark Vantage or
3DMark06 in addition to 3DMark 11 can enhance the accuracy of the overall performance evaluation of the
system being tested
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Benchmarking with custom settings
The ADVANCED tab lets you create custom benchmark settings. Note that benchmarking with custom settings
will not produce a 3DMark 11 score. Nevertheless, there are many times when using custom settings can be
useful for measuring your system’s performance.
The SELECTION panel lets you choose which parts of the benchmark you want to run. The SETTINGS panel lets
you choose settings for various factors that influence the quality and weight of the benchmark loads. For all
settings with a slider, moving the slider to the left lowers the quality and lessens the load while moving the
slider to the right increases the quality and processing required.
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Custom settings explained
Resolution
Changes the rendering resolution. When using a resolution with an aspect ratio other than 16:9, the
benchmark runs in a 16:9 letterbox.
Scaling Mode
Changes the rendering resolution. When using a resolution with an aspect ratio other than 16:9, the
benchmark runs in a 16:9 letterbox.
MSAA Sample Count
Changes the sample count used in multi-sample anti-aliasing. A sample count of 1 means that no anti-aliasing is
performed.
Texture Filtering Mode
Changes the filtering mode used when sampling textures. Anisotropic filtering provides better quality but
requires more processing.
Max Anisotropy
When anisotropic texture filtering mode is selected, this control sets the maximum filtering anisotropy. Larger
values give better quality but requires more processing.
Tessellation Detail
Adjusts the tessellation factors in all tessellated content. Higher values increase the amount of geometry detail
generated with tessellation and the amount of rasterization work performed.
Max Tessellation Factor
Sets the limit where all tessellation factors are clamped. Higher values increase the level of detail especially in
objects near the camera.
Shadow Map Size
Adjusts the size of shadow maps. Higher values increase the quality of shadows but require more processing
for shadow map generation and shadow map sampling.
Shadow Cascade Count
Sets the number of shadow cascades used in directional lights. Higher values increase the quality of shadows
from directional lights but require more processing for shadow map generation and shadow map sampling.
Surface Shadow Sample Count
Sets the number of shadow map samples used when rendering surface shadows. Higher values increase the
quality of surface shadows but require more processing.
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Custom Settings Explained
Volumetric Illumination Quality
Adjusts the ray marching step count used when computing volumetric illumination. Higher values increase the
quality but require more processing.
Ambient Occlusion Quality
Adjusts the number of depth samples taken per pixel when computing screen space ambient occlusion. Higher
values increase the quality but require more processing.
Depth of Field Quality
Adjusts the resolution of the bokeh texture splatted on out of focus areas of the rendered image. It also adjusts
the circle of confusion radius threshold for splatting bokehs based on half or quarter resolution source image.
Higher values increase the quality but require more processing.
Color Saturation
Adjusts the color saturation of rendered images. It does not affect the rendering workload.
Loop
Runs selected content in loop. It does not affect the rendering workload.
Demo Audio
Enables sound and music in the demo. It does not affect the rendering workload.
Window Mode
Runs selected content in window mode.
Vertical Sync
Enables synchronization of the frame buffer with the monitor’s vertical refresh rate. This eliminates screen
tearing but can also decrease the frame rate.
Triple Buffering
Enables triple buffering of rendered frames. This can improve the frame rate when vertical sync is enabled.
Wireframe
Renders the selected content using lit wireframe models.
GPU Count
This is a special-use setting for the Combined Test which allows you manually set the number of GPUs in your
system in case Automatic mode does not work correctly. Only set the GPU count manually if you have multiple
GPUs in your system, SLI/CrossFire is properly enabled in the display drivers and you see visual corruption on
cloth flags in the Combined Test.
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Viewing results
After the benchmark run has finished you will see the RESULTS tab and your 3DMark 11 score. By default all
scores are submitted to the 3DMark online service and a new webpage where you can see a detailed report for
the benchmark run will be opened automatically. Advanced Edition users can change the default setting and
choose instead to save results to a hard drive or other local storage device.
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Viewing results on 3dmark.com
3DMark 11’s new online service, located at http://www.3dmark.com offers improved performance and
streamlined functionality. The online service allows users to validate, store, share and compare their
benchmark results with those from other users around the world.
To store results on 3dmark.com you first need to register. Registering lets you add your name to all the results
you submit and store and organize them in one place. As well as giving you unlimited results storage,
registering also lets you share and compare your results with friends and enter Futuremark competitions and
contests.
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After submitting a result to 3dmark.com you can give it a name and description for future reference. The
PROCESSOR, GRAPHICS CARD and GENERAL sections give you more information about the hardware in your
system. The SETTINGS section shows the values for the settings used in the result.
The DETAILED SCORES section lets you see how your system performed on each test. These scores can help you
make performance comparisons with other graphics cards and CPUs at the component, rather than system,
level. The GRAPHICS score is calculated from Graphics Tests 1-4, the Physics score from the Physics Test and
the Combined score comes from the Combined Test.
When the Physics score is significantly greater than the Graphics score you should consider upgrading your
graphics card before your CPU. If the Graphics score is significantly greater your system would likely most
benefit from a CPU upgrade.
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Help and Support
The HELP tab offers a link to the 3DMark 11 support pages and well as information about the current version of
the software. You can also change language settings and unregister the benchmark.
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