While Epic polishes up Unreal Engine 4, and Square Enix works on… whatever next-gen project it’s working on, Futuremark is hard at work on a new 3DMark benchmark to make high-end gaming PCs sweat. Earlier today, the Finnish firm released a trailer showing a new scene from that benchmark. As you’d expect, the scene is replete with DirectX 11 effects and looks quite impressive visually:
Here’s how Futuremark describes the various technologies used in the one-minute demo:
Our 3DMark DirectX 11 tech demo brings this scene to life with intelligent tessellation and advanced volumetric lighting using real-time light scattering. The visible particles and clouds of smoke in the scene react to other objects using fluid dynamics simulation. Post processing, ambient occlusion and various lens effects complete the look. The music and audio design is by Pedro Macedo Camacho, who also created the soundtrack for 3DMark 11.
I think it’s telling that even the YouTube video doesn’t seem to have a completely smooth frame rate. Whatever high-end rig Futuremark recorded it on apparently could have used just a little bit of extra graphical horsepower.
Futuremark announced 3DMark for Windows 8, which it now calls 3DMark for Windows, last November. The benchmark is supposed to be out at some point later this year. Interestingly, Futuremark is targeting not just decked-out gaming PCs, but also notebooks and tablets—including ARM-based devices. You’ll be able to run the benchmark from either the Metro interface or the classic desktop.