Getting Started:

     First, lets cover the testing basics.  Before we start getting into the testing specifics, lets go over the basic software layout for before and after the tests.  For those already familiar with Futuremark products we will also note some of the key diffeerences.

     The first difference right off the bat is the availability of a 64 bit executable.  With 64 bit much more common in Vista than it was in XP, it is refreshing to see companies like Futuremark taking advantage of this capability. 

     Much like any other Futuremark product, the initial launch of PCMark Vantage shows the selected tests on the left, the settings in the center, and the results on the right.  Surprisingly, the default settings are 1024x768 for resolution, with no AA and limited AF.  Once you select the Suites to run, hit "Run Benchmark".

     The first screen you will see if fairly familiar if you have run Futuremark products in the past; the software will take a moment to scan your system.

     Once the test finishes, you will have the opportunity to analyze your results and submit them to the Online Results Database (ORB).  You can also save your results as a .pcr or Excel document.  Again, this is very similar to the way Futuremark has been doing things for quite some time now. 

     Now, lets talk about the Suites themselves:

The Testing Suites:

     Since the PCMark Suite will be the primary suite that most everyone will use, that is the suite I will cover first.  According to Futuremark, this is what this Suite consists of:

CPU Test

• Data encryption, Data decryption, Data compression, Data decompression

• CPU image manipulation (compression/decompression/resize)

• Audio transcoding

Video transcoding

• Text editing

• Web page rendering

• Windows Mail

• Windows Contacts

• CPU game test

Graphics Test

• Video playback

• GPU game test

HDD Test

• 6 HDD Tests total
• HDD Tests use new 4K block size
• All HDD Tests use RankDisk using Intel’s IPEAK Storage Performance Toolkit
• WinTrace is used to record the HDD tracesAnalyzeTrace is used to analyze precisely what the traces are doing
• RankDisk: a Futuremark modified version that it is non-destructive and runs in a temporary sandbox file.

Suite Tests

• Memories 1 & 2

• TV and Movies 1 & 2

• Gaming 1 & 2

• Music 1 & 2

• Communications 1 & 2

• Productivity 1 & 2

     As you can see, the PCMark suite runs the gamut on pretty much all hardware.  The tests support single threaded and multithreaded application types have been designed to emulate many of the most common scenarios present among computer users today, including: encoding and decoding media, compressing, gaming, and rendering. 

Memories Suite:

     The Memories Suite is designed to stress RAM usage as well as Hard Drive performance, using HD Photo manipulation and Video Transcoding as the means of testing. 

Memories Suite includes the following tests:

Memories 1

• Two simultaneous threads

• CPU image manipulation

• HDD picture import

Memories 2

• Two simultaneous threads

• GPU image manipulation

• HDD video editing

Memories 3  

• Video Transcoding: DV to portable device

Memories 4

• Video Transcoding: media server archive to portable device

TV and Movies Suite:

     The TV and Movies suite represents a common HTPC user scenario:  playing back HD content, while simultaneously encoding a different HD stream in a variety of formats.  This is primarily a CPU and RAM stress, though Hard Drive performance plays a role as well.

TV and Movies Suite includes the following tests:

TV and Movies 1

• Two simultaneous threads

• Video transcoding: HD DVD to media server archive

• Video playback: HD DVD w/ additional lower bitrate HD content from HDD, as downloaded from net

TV and Movies 2

• Two simultaneous threads

• Video transcoding: HD DVD to media server archive

• Video playback, HD MPEG-2: 19.39 Mbps terrestrial HDTV playback

TV and Movies 3

• HDD Media Center  

TV and Movies 4

• Video transcoding: media server archive to portable device
• Video playback, HD MPEG-2: 48 Mbps Blu-ray playback

Gaming Suite:

The Gaming Suite is no stranger to a benchmarking regular.  As you can see, the testing is very similar to 3DMark06's test suite.  That's just the beginning however, as the gaming suite also uses elements of the upcoming game "Alan Wake" to stress Hard Drive performance in a massive world.  Unfortunately, we don't actually get to "see" Alan Wake in action.  This suite focuses on GPU, CPU, as well as Hard Disk. 

Gaming Suite includes the following tests:

Gaming 1

• GPU game test

Gaming 2

• HDD: game HDD

Gaming 3

• Two simultaneous threads

• CPU game test

• Data decompression: level loading

Gaming 4

• Three simultaneous threads

• GPU game test

• CPU game test

• HDD: game HDD

Music Suite:

     The Music Suite primarily runs in the background, and primarily tests running multiple simultaneous music encoding threads, as well as testing web page rendering and file loading, i.e. mp3s into a playlist. 

Music Suite includes the following tests:

Music 1

• Three simultaneous threads
• Web page rendering - w/ music shop content
• Audio transcoding: WAV -> WMA lossless
• HDD: Adding music to Windows Media Player

Music 2

• Audio transcoding: WAV -> WMA lossless

Music 3

• Audio transcoding: MP3 -> WMA

Music 4

• Two simultaneous threads
• Audio transcoding: WMA -> WMA
• HDD: Adding music to Windows Media Player