Basemark GPU Benchmark Released To Torture Test PC And Mobile Graphics
Basemark has introduced a new graphics performance benchmark for various operating systems and platform categories, allowing users to compare the performance of next generation mobile, automotive, and desktop GPUs. It's called Basemark GPU and it is available as a free download for consumer use. According to Basemark, not only is Basemark GPU the newest graphics performance tool on the market, it's also the most versatile.
"We have poured all of our soul and expertise in making this product. The work started two and half years ago and this massive project has culminated in today’s launch of a true state-of-the-art product," said Arto Ruotsalainen, CEO of Basemark. "We believe Basemark GPU will become an essential tool for anyone tasked to evaluate graphics performance in systems ranging from smart phones, smart TVs and cars to PCs."
The benchmark is able to test systems with Vulkan 1.0, OpenGL 4.5, or OpenGL ES 3.1 graphics APIs across Windows, Linux, and Android. Basemark says upcoming releases will add support for more graphics APIs, including Apple Metal and Microsoft's DirectX (presumably DirectX 12).
"We also offer support for automotive and other embedded operating systems, such as QNX and integrity," Basemark says.
The benchmark utilizes Basemark's home-brewed Rocksolid graphics and compute engine, hitting systems with a triple-A quality game-like workload on the desktop, and lighter workload on mobile devices. It's written in C++. There are two modes—high quality, which runs at 3840x2160 and generates a max if around 2 million triangles per frame, and medium quality, which runs at 1920x1080 with around 700,000 triangles per frame.
Basemark GPU is around a 2.1GB download in Windows. I tried running it on my system with an ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1070 OC Edition (STRIX-GTX1070-O8G-GAMING) graphics card, but the benchmarked failed at the end. I didn't give it the benefit of a fresh boot, as I just wanted to grab a quick score for reference. It's not clear if others are running into similar issues, though Basemark states on the product page that it's been "receiving a lot of feedback" and "will soon publish an FAQ page."
You can navigate to the product page by hitting the source/via link below, which also contains various download links.
Update
After having some time to troubleshoot, I managed to get Basemark GPU to run properly by updating my slightly out-of-date GPU drivers. I had the GeForce 397.64 driver release installed, and once I updated to the current 398.11 release, Basemark GPU ran fine when selecting the Vulkan API. Here is the result:
The OpenGL test was still spitting out the same error message though, even with the updated GPU driver installed. However, Basemark has since issue a minor version update (version 1.0.2) which is now available to download. After grabbing the updated release and re-installing, I was able to run the OpenGL test without issue as well. Here it is:
Since this is a brand new benchmark, I don't have any other scores to compare with for context. Nevertheless, if you run it yourself, these will at least give you a reference point to see where your system stands, until more scores are uploaded.
