3dMark06 is the latest in the 3D benchmarking series. The program is one of the most prefered methods of testing hardware and software performance for all PC configurations.

3DMark06 is the worldwide standard in advanced 3D game performance benchmarking. A fundamental tool for every company in the PC industry as well as PC users and gamers, 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3D game workloads to measure PC performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3D graphics tests, CPU tests, and 3D feature tests. 3DMark06 tests include all new HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, SM2.0 graphics tests, AI and physics driven single and multiple cores or processor CPU tests and a collection of comprehensive feature tests to reliably measure next generation gaming performance today.

Building on 3DMark05 as a foundation, Futuremark improved the core 3D engine, adding more complex ShaderModel 2.0 tests, stunning High Dynamic Range (HDR) ShaderModel 3.0 tests, and overall enhanced the product with substantially higher polygonal counts expected to be found in games two years into the future,' says the official press release.

'Even with the addition of HDR/ShaderModel 3.0 tests, 3DMark06 still enables ShaderModel 2.0 compliant graphics card owners [ATI] to run most of the benchmark and get a fully comparable 3DMark score. With these demanding new DirectX 9 implementations, 3DMark06's four graphics tests measure performance of the most advanced hardware while showing visually the compelling advantages of these new shader types.'

3DMark06 also features support for AGEIA's PhysX software physics library. It is unknown at this point how a system with AGEIA's Physics Processing Unit (PPU) acceleration card would perform, since it has yet to be released. We met with AGEIA at the recent CES show in Vegas, and were told to expect cards to hit the market 'in the next couple of quarters'. Naturally, we expect it to do more than just boost one's 3DMark score, though seemingly for some, that alone would be enough.

The license of this software is Freeware, you can free download and free use this game utility software.