UL Benchmarks Announces End of Support for 3DMark 11, PCMark 7, and some 3DMark Benchmarks

[btarunr]

You may have heard that Microsoft will end support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. Benchmarks also have a natural lifespan that ends when they no longer provide meaningful results on modern hardware. When old benchmarks are used with new hardware, the results can be skewed or limited in ways that reduce their accuracy and relevance.

Today, we're announcing that, from January 14, 2020, we will no longer offer updates or support for 3DMark 11, PCMark 7, Powermark, 3DMark Cloud Gate, and 3DMark Ice Storm benchmarks. These benchmarks, all of which were released between 2011 and 2013, no longer provide useful, comparable results with modern hardware. In every case, there is a newer and more relevant benchmark test that you should use instead.



After January 14, 2020, these unsupported benchmarks will:

• No longer be sold by UL, Steam, or other app stores.
• No longer receive updates.
• No longer be guaranteed to work with our online services.
• No longer be eligible for customer support.

Anyone who has bought 3DMark 11 on Steam will continue to own it and will be able to run it from their Steam Library.

Legacy benchmarks are free to download
Legacy benchmarks going back to 3DMark99 are available to download for free from the UL Benchmarks website. These unsupported benchmarks are provided for entertainment only with no guarantee of compatibility with current operating systems. 3DMark 11 and PCMark 7 will be available for free from January 14, 2020.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[kapone32]

So will there be new benchmarks from 3D11 released at some point?

 

[Vayra86]

So will there be new benchmarks from 3D11 released at some point?

In every case, there is a newer and more relevant benchmark test that you should use instead.

 

[kapone32]

In every case, there is a newer and more relevant benchmark test that you should use instead.

Ok I get it now thanks

 

[FreedomEclipse]

This is funny because if i remember correctly. UL were selling discounted 3D11 keys about a week ago either directly or on steam.

::EDIT::

Yeah, they still are - Basic edition is free - advanced edition $1.99 while pro edition $995

 

[natr0n]

That's my birthday Jan 14th .

 

[Dyatlov A]

Who is that UL? Isn’t Futuremark’s product is 3dmark11?

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

Personally, I've never understood the need of some PC enthusiasts to "drag race" their PCs by comparing benchmark results.... Unless you're engaging in extreme overclocking (wait, will I offend the extreme overclockers like K1ngp1in [is that how it's spelled in "l33t speak"?] if I don't spell it like "XTREME" or "XOC"?) you can just Google the reviews for any piece of hardware you want and obtain benchmark results that are guaranteed to be within a few percentage points of your personal unit of the same hardware. Then again, like so much of the venom and vitriol in the PC community, at least some of it is fuelled by ego (and the respective defense of that ego) and a desperate need to self-identify with an in-group seen as the "winner" (aka fanboys).

This is exemplified so well in the "bench-a-thons" that the same handful of loudmouths constantly engage in and brow beat others to engage in on Wccftech. Sorry for the rant, but is anyone else like me in that they're often ashamed of the behavior of the "PC community" than proud of it?

 

[robot zombie]

Personally, I've never understood the need of some PC enthusiasts to "drag race" their PCs by comparing benchmark results.... Unless you're engaging in extreme overclocking (wait, will I offend the extreme overclockers like K1ngp1in [is that how it's spelled in "l33t speak"?] if I don't spell it like "XTREME" or "XOC"?) you can just Google the reviews for any piece of hardware you want and obtain benchmark results that are guaranteed to be within a few percentage points of your personal unit of the same hardware. Then again, like so much of the venom and vitriol in the PC community, at least some of it is fuelled by ego (and the respective defense of that ego) and a desperate need to self-identify with an in-group seen as the "winner" (aka fanboys).

This is exemplified so well in the "bench-a-thons" that the same handful of loudmouths constantly engage in and brow beat others to engage in on Wccftech. Sorry for the rant, but is anyone else like me in that they're often ashamed of the behavior of the "PC community" than proud of it?

Eh... some people get shitty about things but for the most part people do it for fun. Just like anywhere else, there are going to be people trying to take away from that.

 

[biffzinker]

Who is that UL? Isn’t Futuremark’s product is 3dmark11?

FutureMark Corporation Sees Its Name Changed to... Parent Company's "UL"

Futuremark, makers of probably the most recognizable benchmarks out there, have announced they are getting a company rebrand. The announcement has come via a blog post on their site, citing a "new home" for the company. UL, a company that has existed for more than a hundred years and that...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Tomorrow]

This is funny because if i remember correctly. UL were selling discounted 3D11 keys about a week ago either directly or on steam.

Yeah i wondered a while ago why they were still selling 3D11. It's a good move to place it in legacy benchmarks.

Personally, I've never understood the need of some PC enthusiasts to "drag race" their PCs by comparing benchmark results.... Unless you're engaging in extreme overclocking (wait, will I offend the extreme overclockers like K1ngp1in [is that how it's spelled in "l33t speak"?] if I don't spell it like "XTREME" or "XOC"?) you can just Google the reviews for any piece of hardware you want and obtain benchmark results that are guaranteed to be within a few percentage points of your personal unit of the same hardware. Then again, like so much of the venom and vitriol in the PC community, at least some of it is fuelled by ego (and the respective defense of that ego) and a desperate need to self-identify with an in-group seen as the "winner" (aka fanboys).

This is exemplified so well in the "bench-a-thons" that the same handful of loudmouths constantly engage in and brow beat others to engage in on Wccftech. Sorry for the rant, but is anyone else like me in that they're often ashamed of the behavior of the "PC community" than proud of it?

Benchmarks do have their use. They are highly repeatable and have very little variation run to run. Unlike real world testing like games.
They are also much easier to run than to repeatedly benchmark a game that does not a built in benchmark.

Wccftech comments are cancer ofcourse. Bunch of idiots fighting eachother, spewing offtopic etc.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I didnt see anything about firestrike. Is that staying? Technically they arent eliminating 3D Mark 11, just eipping out some of the older parts that don’t stress anything.

 

[timta2]

Personally, I've never understood the need of some PC enthusiasts to "drag race" their PCs by comparing benchmark results.... Unless you're engaging in extreme overclocking (wait, will I offend the extreme overclockers like K1ngp1in [is that how it's spelled in "l33t speak"?] if I don't spell it like "XTREME" or "XOC"?) you can just Google the reviews for any piece of hardware you want and obtain benchmark results that are guaranteed to be within a few percentage points of your personal unit of the same hardware. Then again, like so much of the venom and vitriol in the PC community, at least some of it is fuelled by ego (and the respective defense of that ego) and a desperate need to self-identify with an in-group seen as the "winner" (aka fanboys).

This is exemplified so well in the "bench-a-thons" that the same handful of loudmouths constantly engage in and brow beat others to engage in on Wccftech. Sorry for the rant, but is anyone else like me in that they're often ashamed of the behavior of the "PC community" than proud of it?

You're posting this on a site which used to be full of enthusiasts.

 

[Solaris17]

Eh... some people get shitty about things but for the most part people do it for fun. Just like anywhere else, there are going to be people trying to take away from that.

This really, if anything I do it to measure my performance between periods to measure things like OS bloat.

 

[FM_Jarnis]

I didnt see anything about firestrike. Is that staying? Technically they arent eliminating 3D Mark 11, just eipping out some of the older parts that don’t stress anything.

You mixing things.

3DMark 11 is the older DX11 benchmark with the jungle and submarine scenes. Almost as old as Windows 7 itself...

3DMark has Ice Storm, Cloud Gate, Fire Strike, Sky Diver, Time Spy, Night Raid, Port Royal and a handful of feature tests.

Different products.

Fire Strike is staying - the Ultra variant is actually still very relevant even on very high end systems for testing DX11. I would expect it to stay supported as long as DX11 as an API stays in any way relevant. Sky Diver might get moved to unsupported before it as laptop hardware keeps getting faster - but even that is probably still years away. From our perspective, unsupported = benchmark that has outlived its usefulness to anyone on any hardware currently being sold and a few years past that *and* there exists a better test to use.

3DMark Ice Storm and Cloud Gate are now moving unsupported, but you can still run them and they will be in the installer, but moved to "unsupported" section of the UI that hides them under one click. Because frankly they are no longer useful tests unless you testing something ancient. At some point we may remove them from the standard full installer but right now we do not since they share some bits with Fire Strike so the benefits are minimal and even if they eventually will be omitted from the installer, there will still be a way to separately install them if you insist.

Also 3DMark 11 isn't vanishing from the universe. The only real somewhat important limitation is that if you want to own 3DMark 11 Advanced in your Steam library, you have until January 14th. And yes, you can get standalone installer with a free Advanced key (nonpersonal, so won't be linkable to your account, but anyone can use it) after January 14th from the Legacy Benchmark pages. Some want the convenience of Steam library, some just want free stuff. Your choice.

And if someone (out of the DOZENS sold) bought 3DMark 11 from the recent sale and is now really really really annoyed that it is going free/unsupported in January, contact place of purchase and I'm sure they will accommodate you. Because $2.

 

[rtwjunkie]

You mixing things.

3DMark 11 is the older DX11 benchmark with the jungle and submarine scenes. Almost as old as Windows 7 itself...

3DMark has Ice Storm, Cloud Gate, Fire Strike, Sky Diver, Time Spy, Night Raid, Port Royal and a handful of feature tests.

Different products.

Fire Strike is staying - the Ultra variant is actually still very relevant even on very high end systems for testing DX11. I would expect it to stay supported as long as DX11 as an API stays in any way relevant. Sky Diver might get moved to unsupported before it as laptop hardware keeps getting faster - but even that is probably still years away. From our perspective, unsupported = benchmark that has outlived its usefulness to anyone on any hardware currently being sold and a few years past that *and* there exists a better test to use.

3DMark Ice Storm and Cloud Gate are now moving unsupported, but you can still run them and they will be in the installer, but moved to "unsupported" section of the UI that hides them under one click. Because frankly they are no longer useful tests unless you testing something ancient. At some point we may remove them from the standard full installer but right now we do not since they share some bits with Fire Strike so the benefits are minimal and even if they eventually will be omitted from the installer, there will still be a way to separately install them if you insist.

Also 3DMark 11 isn't vanishing from the universe. The only real somewhat important limitation is that if you want to own 3DMark 11 Advanced in your Steam library, you have until January 14th. And yes, you can get standalone installer with a free Advanced key (nonpersonal, so won't be linkable to your account, but anyone can use it) after January 14th from the Legacy Benchmark pages. Some want the convenience of Steam library, some just want free stuff. Your choice.

And if someone (out of the DOZENS sold) bought 3DMark 11 from the recent sale and is now really really really annoyed that it is going free/unsupported in January, contact place of purchase and I'm sure they will accommodate you. Because $2.

I was indeed confused. My brain cramp was making me think the Firestrikes were part of 3D Mark 11. I had no idea they even still sold the jungle one. Thanks for the thorough explanation that perhaps UL should have given!

 

[candle_86]

Meh I still test with 3dmark 03 just because. I like to watch my progression, it's also a decent way to test that the system works.

 

[Dyatlov A]

FutureMark Corporation Sees Its Name Changed to... Parent Company's "UL"

Futuremark, makers of probably the most recognizable benchmarks out there, have announced they are getting a company rebrand. The announcement has come via a blog post on their site, citing a "new home" for the company. UL, a company that has existed for more than a hundred years and that...

www.techpowerup.com

wow, that is shocking. And if remember correctly 3dmark originally was madonion product.