Steam Community :: Group

ABOUT UL

Benchmarks[benchmarks.ul.com]

VIEW ALL

POPULAR DISCUSSIONS

VIEW ALL (8)

RECENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

26 August, 2019 - UL_James | 5 Comments

Variable-Rate Shading (VRS) is a new feature in DirectX 12 that allows developers to improve performance by selectively reducing the level of detail in parts of the frame where there will be little noticeable effect on image quality.

Today, we're adding a new VRS feature test to 3DMark to help you compare differences in performance and image quality when using Tier 1 Variable-Rate Shading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1zoGmhVB1U

What is Variable-Rate Shading?

Shading rate refers to the number of pixel shader operations called for each pixel. Higher shading rates improve accuracy but are more demanding for the GPU. Lower shading rates improve performance at the cost of visual fidelity.

With Variable-Rate Shading, developers can vary the shading rate within a single frame. Tier 1 VRS lets developers specify the per-draw shading rate, allowing different shading rates for each draw call. Tier 2 hardware can additionally support VRS within each draw call.

By using VRS to lower the shading rate for parts of the frame that are in deep shadow, far from the camera, or peripheral to the player's focus, for example, a game can run at a higher frame rate with little perceptible loss in visual quality.

3DMark VRS feature test

3DMark feature tests are special tests designed to highlight specific techniques, functions or capabilities. The 3DMark VRS feature test is designed to help you compare differences in performance and image quality when using Tier 1 Variable-Rate Shading.

The test runs in two passes. VRS is disabled on the first pass of the test to provide a baseline for comparison. Variable-Rate Shading is enabled for the second pass. The test then reports the average frame rate for each pass and calculates the performance gained with VRS.

The VRS feature test also offers an interactive mode that lets you change Variable-Rate Shading settings on the fly to see how they affect the frame rate and image quality.

Available now

The VRS feature test is available now as a free update for 3DMark. Please note that you need Windows 10 version 1903 or later and a DirectX 12 GPU that supports Tier 1 VRS, such as an NVIDIA Turing-based GPU or an Intel Ice Lake CPU, to run this test.

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/223850/3DMark/

New PCIe 4.0 feature test

25 June, 2019 - UL_James | 8 Comments

We're adding a new feature test to 3DMark today in anticipation of upcoming hardware that will support the next-generation PCI Express 4.0 interface.

3DMark PCI Express feature test

PCI Express (PCIe) is a standard interface that provides high-bandwidth communication between devices in a computer. Next-generation PCI Express 4.0 interfaces provide up to twice the bandwidth of PCI Express 3.0. With more bandwidth, games can transfer more data, reduce loading times, and support more complex scenes. The first motherboards and graphics cards to support PCIe 4.0 are expected to arrive this summer.

3DMark feature tests are special tests designed to highlight specific techniques, functions or capabilities. The 3DMark PCI Express feature test is designed to measure the bandwidth available to your GPU over your computer’s PCI Express interface.

The test aims to make bandwidth the limiting factor for performance. It does this by uploading a large amount of vertex and texture data to the GPU for each frame. The result of the test is the average bandwidth achieved during the test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhCT-Tdp-_w
In real-world use with today's rendering pipelines, a PC’s gaming performance is unlikely to be limited by PCIe bandwidth. Nevertheless, the increase in bandwidth that PCIe 4.0 brings is sure to open up new possibilities with future hardware.

The 3DMark PCI Express feature test offers an accurate and reliable way to compare bandwidth across PCIe generations and measure the performance of different hardware configurations.

The PCI Express feature test is available now in 3DMark Advanced Edition.

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/223850/3DMark/