MultimediaMark99

Futuremark's latest benchmark test focuses on testing multimedia performance of modern PCs in a "real world" environment.

Futuremark, best known as the maker of 3DMark 99 - The Gamers' Benchmark, says MultimediaMark 99 focuses on testing multimedia performance of modern PC in a "real world" environment. Numbers, says Nathan Harley, Futuremark's Director of Sales & Marketing, only tell you so much. A benchmark, he says, should be much more than theoretical figures estimating theoretical throughputs. MultimediaMark 99 is a testing suite that will turn your system's multimedia performance to numbers. It does this by encoding and decoding MPEG video streams, rotating and applying image-processing filters to true-colour images, playing audio and performing several other tests.

MultimediaMark 99 is one of the first benchmarks to show the performance boost that Intel's Streaming SIMD Extensions in the Pentium III bring to multimedia intensive applications. Harley says that, in the months prior to the launch of the Pentium III, Intel had been working with Futuremark on the integration of the Streaming SIMD Extensions into the benchmark, in anticipation of the Feb. 28th launch of the Pentium III.

MultimediaMark™ 99 Features

• Single Click Benchmarking - Get a single MMark score in less than 5 minutes
• Intuitive User Interface - MultimediaMark™ 99 is fully tailored for the end users
• Comprehensive video performance testing with multiple action scenes
• Extensive image processing analysis
• Illustrative sound effect processing test
• Easy results analysis in your favorite spreadsheet application (results are saved as TXT files)

The benchmark is downloadable from http://www.multimediamark.com

FutureMark's next-generation benchmark application is due in November 1999. They've already sent us a pair of new socks, warning us that our old ones will be blown off. We can hardly wait!

For Further Reading

• Motherboard Benchmarks - Compare the performance of 100 MHz Slot 1 and Super 7 boards.
• Videocard Benchmarks
• Graphics Lab '99
• CPU Report-Q1'99