Coinciding with exciting new processor launches from AMD and Intel, Futuremark is proud to announce the release of PCMark 8 Professional Edition - the Complete Benchmark for Windows. Designed around common scenarios in the home and office, PCMark 8 is an essential benchmark for the latest Windows 8 notebooks, tablets and desktop PCs, especially those powered by new AMD Richland and Intel Haswell processors. PCMark 8 Professional Edition is licensed for commercial use and is intended for business, press and industry users. Additional PCMark 8 editions for home users will be released later in June.

Futuremark announced PCMark 8, the latest entry to its line of benchmark suites that target all PC subsystems. Designed for the new generation of Windows 8 PCs (although it should run fine on Windows 7), PCMark 8 introduces a few new tests transferred from the company's PowerMark suite, which lets you test battery life on notebooks and tablets. It introduces a few new tests that simulate load from popular Adobe and Microsoft creativity and productivity applications. PCMark 8 is developed in collaboration with a number of industry giants, including Acer, AMD, Condusiv Technologies, Dell, HGST, HP, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Samsung, SanDisk, Seagate and Western Digital. The software can be purchased towards the end of June.

EVGA and Vince "k|ngp|n" Lucido have once again dominated the 3DMark Fire Strike World Records with a brand new record for every 3DMark Fire Strike category; the newest and by far most demanding benchmark from Futuremark:

• #1 3DMark Fire Strike (SLI) = 22,054
• #1 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme (SLI) = 11,559
• #1 3DMark Fire Strike (Single Card) = 14,600
• #1 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme (Single Card) = 7,308

These records were obtained using the upcoming EVGA X79 Dark motherboard and two EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN cards in SLI. EVGA Precision X 4.0 was also used to overclock the graphics cards. See the full details at the Futuremark 3DMark Hall of Fame.

ASUS today announced that the ASUS GeForce GTX Titan graphics card has established four new 3DMark world records, supervised by in-house ROG overclocking experts Andre Yang and Shamino. The ASUS GeForce GTX Titan is the most powerful single-GPU graphics card currently available, as demonstrated with record-breaking 3DMark11 scores of 36658 marks in the Entry preset, 37263 marks in the Performance preset, and 22076 marks in the Extreme preset. It has also set a world record of 21818 in 3DMark Fire Strike, the latest and most demanding benchmark from Futuremark.

ROG overclocking expert Andre Yang set the new 3DMark11 records using liquid nitrogen-cooled ASUS GeForce GTX Titan cards in a four-way NVIDIA SLI configuration with an ROG Rampage IV Extreme motherboard and an Intel Core i7-3970X processor. Additional information on these world records and the configurations used can be found here. The 3DMark Fire Strike world record was achieved by Andre Yang and fellow ROG team member and overclocker Shamino using two ASUS GeForce GTX Titan cards in NVIDIA SLI. This achievement also used an ROG Rampage IV Extreme motherboard and an Intel Core i7-3970X processor.

Futuremark and GALAXY announced the start today of GALAXY Ice Storm, the first official overclocking contest using the new version of 3DMark released in February. For the next four weeks, overclockers worldwide can win more than $16,000 USD in prizes by submitting the highest scores in the new 3DMark Ice Storm, Cloud Gate and Fire Strike benchmark tests. The competition is open to all overclockers using GALAXY or KFA2 brand graphics cards. For details of how to enter, please visit the competition website.

Futuremark released updates for PCMark 7 and PCMark Vantage today. These updates bring Windows 8 compatibility and fix a few issues. You'll find the complete release notes for both updates below. Please note that PCMark 7 scores ARE affected by the changes in this update. If you use PCMark 7 in your testing you should NOT compare scores from PCMark 7 v1.4.0 with any previous version. PCMark Vantage scores are not affected by the update to v1.2.0.

DOWNLOAD: PCMark 7 v1.4.0 | PCMark Vantage v1.2.0

Futuremark updated 3DMark 11 to version 1.0.4, which makes the benchmark fully compatible with Windows 8. The update also addresses other compatibility issues and a few uncommon bugs. Benchmark scores are not affected and scores from this new version can be compared with scores from the previous version 3DMark 11 v1.0.3.DOWNLOAD: 3DMark 11 v1.0.4

The world's leading brand in motherboard and graphics cards, MSI and the renowned system performance testing software company Futuremark, together release a new generation of 3D performance testing software 3DMark; the overclocking heat wave will again sweep the globe. MSI is the exclusive sponsor of the Fire Strike demo, the showpiece of the new 3DMark and a stunning demonstration of what high performance DirectX 11 gaming PCs can do.

MSI will bundle selected MSI graphics cards and motherboards with the 3DMark Advanced Edition during the coming winter season. To celebrate the launch of 3DMark and the bundle, MSI starts the 'MSI 3DMark Challenge', an overclocking competition based on MSI's top-overclocking motherboard MSI Z77 series.

Futuremark released the newest installment to its 3DMark franchise. It's the first 3DMark to lack a version name, making it a "reboot" of sorts. For starters, the new 3DMark is a collection of three independent benchmark suites, each with its own demos, game tests, physics tests, and combined tests, and scoring.

Among the three suits are "Ice Storm," designed for tablets, mobile devices, and entry-level desktops, which needs nothing more than a DirectX 9.0c GPU to get going; "Cloud Gate," for notebook and home desktops, which needs a DirectX 10 feature-level GPU; and "Fire Strike," an over-the-top suite designed for today's gaming desktops, which can make even the fastest graphics cards sweat (for example, our GTX 680 in the screenshots below). The physics tests of each of these can benefit from having multiple cores and advanced instruction sets. TechPowerUp is a premier launch partner, hosting downloads on behalf of Futuremark. Grab yours below.DOWNLOAD: 3DMark (2013)

Futuremark's next big installment of the 3DMark franchise is set for a February 4th release, according to the developer. The Windows PC version of the suite, which includes the Fire Strike DirectX 11 and Cloud Gate DirectX 10 game tests, in addition to various feature-tests, will be released on the 4th. The company did not give out release dates for its Android, iOS, and Windows RT versions. In the run up to its release, Futuremark kept enthusiasts interested by timely release of teaser images and videos of its two game tests, starting with Fire Strike in early December, and Cloud Gate, a couple of weeks later. The new 3DMark faced several delays, given that the first reveal of Fire Strike dates back to June 2012. Yet Futuremark is hopeful the new 3DMark will reach out to many more users thanks to its relaxed system requirements.

If you're waiting for Futuremark's next big graphics benchmark app as eagerly as we are, we'll both have to put up with more teasers before its January 2013 launch. Here's one for the week. After posting pictures and a video of the hardware-intensive "Fire Strike" DirectX 11 game test two weeks ago, and following up last week with pictures of its more forgiving DirectX 10 game test titled "Cloud Gate," Futuremark posted its trailer this week. Unlike with Fire Strike, for which Futuremark urged viewers to watch the video at 1440p (2560 x 1440, original) resolution, Cloud Gate is recorded at 1080p (1920 x 1080), probably because variations of this test will be used in several other form-factors, such as notebooks and all-in-one desktops. Watch the teaser video after the break.

Leading mainboard and graphics card maker MSI and the world's best system benchmarking software developer Futuremark have partnered up to jointly announce the newest version of the 3D benchmarking program 3DMark. The new version of this 3D benchmarking utility supports Windows, Windows RT, Android and iOS platforms, and has an all new user interface that will provide enthusiasts with a rich and novel user experience.

The 3DMark series has long been acclaimed among gamers for its original visual design and wide range of special effects. 3DMark 11 in particular has been the No.1 choice for testing graphics card performance since it was released in 2010, and remains the benchmarking utility of choice for enthusiasts today. Due to the previous successful cooperation on 3DMark 11, MSI has partnered with Futuremark again to release the next generation of the world renowned 3DMark benchmarking utility.

Following last week's reveal of next-generation 3DMark game test "Fire Strike," which is designed to make even the fastest consumer graphics setups sweat, Futuremark revealed screenshots of its second game test, titled "Cloud Gate." Going with Futuremark's "one benchmark for all platforms" strategy, Cloud Gate is designed to test DirectX 10 hardware capabilities. It uses DirectX 11 engine that's limited to feature level10_0. The lighter game test will be able to put notebook GPUs and entry-level DirectX 11 desktop GPUs to test.

Cloud Gate will see Futuremark's artists going back to space-opera mode, something we missed in 3DMark 11. Screenshots reveal what appears to be a giant machine hovering over a moon, with its parent gas-giant in the background. Perhaps it's a terraforming machine? An ion-drive spacecraft scooping up fuel? The test appears to make use of several of D3D10's illumination and bloom effects. In related news, Futuremark told us that the new 3DMark won't make it to the markets this year, and instead it will be launched for Windows PC (x86) platform in January, 2013. The Android, iOS and Windows RT versions will launch after a little more beta testing and approvals from their respective app stores.More screenshots follow.

Austrian tweaking specialists o.v.e.r.clockers.at today set a new world record in the renowned performance test PCMark05. Throughout the entire project, Noctua fans, CPU coolers and thermal compound played a key role.

During last Friday's live event hosted by the Austrian SSD manufacturer Angelbird, o.v.e.r.clockers.at already managed to break the previous world record in Futuremark's popular benchmarking suite PCMark05, but since their best CPU and motherboard fell victim to the extreme tweaking, the Austrian overclocking specialists failed to pass the
60.000 point mark. Today, o.v.e.r.clockers.at set out to make another attempt, but US overclockers had topped their previous record overnight and pushed the bar to a breathtaking 62.759 points – more than the Austrian's had hoped to achieve. Taking up the challenge nonetheless, o.v.e.r.clockers.at squeezed the absolute maximum out of their system.

Futuremark announced that its upcoming version of 3DMark is undergoing its final stage of testing, and is polished enough to give the rest of us a glimpse of. The company released a trailer video, which was recorded at 2560 x 1440 pixels, and can be watched at that resolution. A couple of screenshots were also released. The screenshots and trailer revealing one of the upcoming 3DMark's game tests entitled "Fire Strike," which makes your GPU(s) crunch through tessellation, dynamic particle illumination and shadowing, smoke simulation using grid-based fluid dynamics, volume ray casting with shadows and a wide variety of post processing effects including depth of field, blooms, distortions and various lens effects.The trailer video follows.

Futuremark has announced that the next version of 3DMark, its popular benchmarking software, will offer cross platform testing capabilities on Windows, Windows RT, Android and iOS devices. With three all new tests Futuremark says 3DMark can be used with the full range of hardware from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. Futuremark expects to launch the new 3DMark before the end of the year.

3DMark is well known in PC circles as the go-to benchmark for testing the latest Windows gaming PCs and video cards. Today Futuremark announced that the next version of 3DMark will also be available on Android, iOS and Windows RT devices. Futuremark says 3DMark scores will be directly comparable across platforms providing valuable insight into the performance differences between competing devices and operating systems.

AMD today announced its collaboration with Microsoft Corp. for more than 125 Windows 8-based PC designs from leading OEMs including ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and more. With a hardware accelerated user interface, Microsoft and AMD have collaborated to design Windows 8 to unlock the high performance graphics capabilities found in AMD accelerated processing units (APUs) and discrete AMD Radeon graphics processing units (GPUs) to deliver the best HD video, gaming and app experience consumers want with the always on, always connected, touch-driven interface with great battery life they need.

"There is a lot of exciting innovation happening in the marketplace today -- from the new Windows 8 graphics-accelerated user interface and apps, to ultraportable and sleek hardware designs -- and AMD's CPU, GPU and APU technology designed for Windows 8 helps enable a no-compromise solution," said Stefan Kinnestrand, director of Product Management, Windows Division at Microsoft.

Futuremark is proud to announce that Acer Incorporated, Intel, Qualcomm Incorporated and SingTel-Optus have joined its Benchmark Development Program to create a new 3DMark gaming benchmark for Android-based tablets and smartphones. The Futuremark Benchmark Development Program gathers input and expertise from the world's best and most technologically advanced companies to create industry standard benchmarks for performance measurement. 3DMark for Android is expected to be released later this year.

Jukka Makinen, Futuremark CEO said, "For more than 10 years, we have worked with the world's leading PC hardware manufacturers to create 3DMark and PCMark. As a result, Futuremark benchmarks are the industry standard for PC performance measurement used by hundreds of press publications and millions of end-users. As we bring 3DMark to a new OS for the first time, we are excited to expand our cooperation to include Acer, Intel, Qualcomm and SingTel-Optus, technology leaders who will bring unparalleled insight, experience and vision to the development of 3DMark for Android."

Futuremark today released its first trailer for the next version of 3DMark. Designed for measuring the gaming performance of everything from tablets and notebooks to high-end desktop gaming systems, the next 3DMark for Windows will be the world's first unified graphics benchmark allowing testing of DirectX 9, DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 capable hardware through the DirectX 11 API. Expected to be released after the launch of Windows 8, this new 3DMark will also be compatible with Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The new trailer provides a preview of the DirectX 11 test and is now available online and in high definition for the first time at 3DMark.com.

Rovio Entertainment, creator of the global phenomenon Angry Birds, announced today the acquisition of Futuremark Games Studio, the gaming arm of benchmarking software developer Futuremark.

"They are an incredibly talented and experienced team, and we are thrilled to have them on board,” said Mikael Hed, Rovio Entertainment’s CEO. “Rovio’s success is founded on the excellence of our team, and Futuremark Games Studio is going to be a superb addition."

"I am proud to see the potential of our talented games team recognized by Rovio," said Jukka Mäkinen, Futuremark CEO. "Futuremark will now focus on supporting gamers and industry with 3DMark, our professional grade benchmark which, in a new version to be released later this year, will allow unified gaming performance comparison across operating systems and form factors for the first time."

Futuremark, the world leader in performance benchmarking software, today released the first benchmark results for the new iPad using Peacekeeper, its free to use browser speed test. While web pages may look sharper on the new iPad’s improved display, the benchmark results show that the browsing performance of the new iPad is the same as the iPad 2, suggesting that the computational processing power in both devices is near identical. http://peacekeeper.futuremark.com/results?key=stats

Peacekeeper is an HTML5 based browser performance test that can be used to measure and compare the performance of any browser on any Internet capable device, from desktops and notebooks, to tablets and smartphones. What’s more, as a device's browser performance is strongly linked to the power of its CPU, Peacekeeper offers a straightforward way to compare the performance of competing devices regardless of differences in operating system.

Futuremark Games Studio announced today that its cult hit, 1950s sci-fi inspired tower defense game Unstoppable Gorg will be Steam’s Daily Deal on Thursday March 15 selling for just $4.99 for one day only.

Unstoppable Gorg is a revolutionary tower defense game that challenges you to defend the solar system from fearsome aliens by sending satellites into orbit. Unlike tower-based defense games, in Unstoppable Gorg you can move your satellites by rotating the orbits that surround planets, moons and space stations.

LucidLogix (Lucid), a developer of GPU virtualization software, and Futuremark, the world leader in performance benchmarking software, today announced that Futuremark's range of 3DMark gaming benchmarks is being updated to detect systems using Lucid's HyperFormance and Virtual Vsync performance technologies, which are available in the Virtu MVP virtualization software and other Lucid solutions.

Futuremark's 3DMark benchmark works by measuring the process of rendering frames of 3D graphics. Lucid's Virtu MVP HyperFormance and Virtual Vsync features are designed to improve responsiveness through the intelligent reduction of redundant rendering tasks. While 3DMark scores may increase when turning on Virtu MVP features, scores from systems with and without MVP technology are not directly comparable because of its effect on the rendering process from CPU to GPU to display.

Futuremark today released an update for its 3DMark 11 benchmark suite that's built to put today's and tomorrow's DirectX 11 GPUs through their paces. Although this is a relatively minor update, Futuremark recommended that all existing users update to this version for reliability. It packs the following changes:

• Bullet physics library updated to version 2.79 to improve compatibility with future CPUs and GPUs.
• For most systems containing multiple GPUs, for example integrated graphics and an additional discrete graphics card, the user can now select the GPU to be tested using a new option on the Help tab.
• Improved error handling and user messages for the most common compatibility issues.
• SystemInfo component updated to version 4.5 for improved compatibility with current and future hardware.
• New "More" tab with information about other Futuremark products and services.

DOWNLOAD: 3DMark 11 v1.0.3 Update | Full Installer

Futuremark, the world leader in performance benchmarking software and services, today expanded its product line with Powermark a new battery life and power consumption test for Windows 7 notebooks, laptops, tablets and other battery powered devices. Powermark is a professional grade benchmark designed for industrial testing of battery powered Windows 7 devices by OEMs, corporations and governments. It includes a convenient set of standard tests based on productivity and entertainment use-case scenarios, as well as allowing custom settings for bespoke testing requirements. Powermark Professional Edition commercial licenses start at $200 for 10 activations. For further details and to purchase Powermark please visit this page.

Jukka Mäkinen, CEO of Futuremark said, "Battery life is critical to delivering a positive user experience. Powermark helps PC industry OEMs and their suppliers strike a balance between performance and power consumption by providing a consistent, accurate and reliable testing and measurement tool created with Futuremark’s deep experience in quality benchmarking software."