REVIEW: SPECapc for 3ds Max 2011 Professional Benchmark

Changes between SPECapc for 3ds Max 9 and 3ds Max 2011
Moving on and the big questions that are now being asked - what is the difference between SPECapc for 3ds Max 2011 benchmark and previous SPECapc for 3ds Max 9?

The new features and tests that have been added and major upgrades have been made in SPECapc for 3ds Max 2011, include:

• Updates that exercise new functionality implemented by Autodesk in 3ds Max 2011.
• An improved user interface that makes it much easier to configure and run tests.
• New and revised test cases for CPU, GPU, modeling and interactive graphics.
• Two separate versions of the benchmark, one for professional and one for personal use.
• Increased level of testing for shading and rendering, including in the professional version taking advantage of the Autodesk Quicksilver engine that uses both the CPU and GPU for accelerated rendering.
• In the professional version, a city scene model containing nearly 32-million polygons that tests extremely large model creation and playback.
• Automated benchmark results compilation for the professional version.
• A pay-for-download system that collects payments online.

One of questions asked is what are the differences between the professional and personal versions of the benchmark. The professional version of SPECapc for 3ds Max 2011 sells for $495 (USD) and is designed for those serious about better performance. This includes users for whom performance increases can yield significant bottom-line value, consultants who make their living helping clients seek out maximum performance per dollar spent, and vendors that rely on performance measurement as a means of improving products, boosting sales, creating competitive advantage, and enhancing relationships with customers.

SPECapc for 3ds Max 2011 Professional version is a comprehensive test suite that exercises diverse aspects of 3ds Max 2011 performance, including modeling, interactive graphics, CPU and GPU. It includes 58 separate tests - including tests that build and render a city scene containing nearly 32 million polygons (faces) in real time - providing a complete performance picture for systems running 3ds Max 2011. Results from the professional version can be published publicly and submitted to SPEC for publication on its website.

SPECapc for 3ds Max™ 2011 Personal version sells for $20 (USD) and provides a basic, easy-to-use benchmark that generates a single score. It runs a subset of the tests found in the professional version, testing performance based on smaller models. This is ideal for someone who is seeking more information about 3ds Max 2011 performance, but who does not have the need for a comprehensive test suite using large models and does not require publication of test results.

SPECapc benchmarks have always been free though benchmarks such as SPECapc for 3ds Max 2011 are extremely expensive to create, test and validate. As it currently stands - industry companies have always paid the bills for SPECapc benchmark development, but in recent years industry consolidation has reduced membership revenue, forcing SPECapc to investigate new revenue models. With SPECapc for 3ds Max 2011, SPECapc is asking customers who benefit from its benchmarks to help contribute to the cost of their development. This is a realistic professional approach now and reduces the danger of one-sided approach we have witnessed with the other standards body. For all the current multimedia benchmarks online whether professional or advanced, payment is met to meet the development costs of new builds and for a majority of end-users this is perceived as not an issue. After all everybody wants to know how fast their systems are, therefore this step taken now by the SPECapc Committee should this be no different.

How SPECapc for 3ds Max 2012 Works

SPECapc for 3ds Max 2012 Professional Version Menu

The new features in SPECapc for 3ds Max™ 2011 include:

• Updated tests based on new functionality in 3ds Max ™2011
• An improved user interface that makes it easier to configure and run tests
• Increased level of testing for shading and rendering in the Professional Version, including use of the Autodesk Quicksilver engine for accelerated CPU and GPU rendering
• Automated benchmark results compilation in the Professional Version

A single score is reported for the Personal Version. Results for the Professional Version are derived by taking the total number of seconds to run each test and normalizing it based on a reference machine, in this instance a Dell Precision 690 workstation with 2.0GHz Intel Xeon 5130 processor, 4 x 4GB FB-DIMM DDR2 SDRAM (ECC) memory, NVIDIA Quadro FX 570 graphics card, and 80GB Seagate 7200RPM hard drive. The normalization process ensures a scoring system where a bigger score is better. Composite scores for the Professional Version are reported for CPU, GPU and large-model (city scene) performance.

The recommended memory is 16GB for the Professional Version and 8GB for the Personal Version. The Professional Version supports only systems running the Microsoft Windows Win7 64-bit operating system. The Personal Version is unsupported, but it is recommended for Win7 32-bit and 64-bit.

SPECapc thanks Autodesk for contributing content and expertise to this benchmark, and to independent animators who created models, including Mike O’Rourke of Fritz Studio, Andy Murdock of Lots of Robots, Gary M. Davis of visualZ, and Zack Baker.