Futuremark’s Next 3DMark to be Released in January

Futuremark is set to release the next version of its 3DMark benchmarking suite next month, and to help whet our appetites, it has released a bunch of screenshots and a trailer. This 3DMark will be unlike anything that’s come before it, as it’ll not only be cross-platform, but carry the ability to have scores compared between both PCs and mobile devices. 

Further proving that the next 3DMark is different than the rest, Futuremark has opted to drop the “Overall” score metric that we’re used to reporting in our reviews. The reason is simple: a mobile phone shouldn’t be directly compared to a desktop. As such, individual test scores will need to be compared instead. While all three major tests in 3DMark can be run on Windows, only one can be run on mobile devices, “Ice Storm”. Thus far, only a preview of what it looks like appears on Futuremark’s site.

A second test, “Cloud Gate”, is designed for PCs with DX10+ capabilities. A preview of that test can be seen below:

Futuremark released a trailer for its flagship test a couple of weeks ago that shows off as much technological goodness as possible in a single scene. We’re talking tessellation, smoke simulation using grid-based fluid dynamics, depth of field and much more. It’s recommend you view the video at the highest resolution possible for the best experience.

Overall, the next 3DMark (note the deliberate lack of a “2013”, “13” or similar suffix) is shaping up to be an exciting release. This is especially true where mobile devices are concerned, because quality benchmarks there aren’t exactly common, or realistic. With mobile gaming growing in popularity, a benchmark like 3DMark could prove very valuable for both Android and iOS.