Retromark aims to eat the pie

Is Futuremark’s future in the past, as a new graphics benchmark gains popularity? Reports Polly Gunnell

For many years, Futuremark has dominated the graphics benchmarking world. But its leadership could soon be under threat. A new testing suite is gaining interest in the gaming world – a test with a difference. Canadian company Retromark’s latest 3DMerkin07 benchmark is based on the premise that existing benchmarks are unfair on older hardware.

Retromark 3DMerkin07 is an entirely synthetic benchmark based on a custom-coded ShaderModel 3 version of the Namco Pac-Man engine, to increase backwards compatibility with Atari 2600 systems. It downplays the importance of CPU and graphics power. Instead, a questionnaire tests the user’s knowledge of 1980s video games and the TV series Knight Rider.

‘Unlike competitive benchmarks we could mention, it’s not just the size of the score but the quality of the numbers involved,’ explained Retromark’s Vlad Onion. ‘With 3DMerkin07, you want to get as many “Lucky Sevens” as possible. Any system managing to get more than three sevens wins a prize of a slap-up pizza evening out with Jonathan Wendel. Two or more sevens and a pair of fives is also a great score. But anything under 50 and you win a Hexus.net thong.’

Retromark, formerly called CrazyChive, has worked hard to ensure any hardware configuration can get a good score, with a bit of luck. ‘Who cares about real game performance anyway?’ Onion told us. ‘It’s how you do in benchmarks that counts – and 3DMerkin07 gives everyone a fighting chance to win!’

3DMerkin07 Benchmarks

ATi Radeon X300 SE - 1
Nvidia GeForce 7800GTX 512 – 77432988899
ATi Radeon X1900XTX – 7789955885
Nvidia GeForce 7800GTX 512 SLI – 55
ATi Radeon X1900XT CrossFire - 777771