PCMark Vantage For Vista Coming Soon

October 16th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

I’m not a PC gamer, but I do like to know how fast my computers are. A good test of how fast a PC is has always been the various PCMark tests, but unfortunately these haven’t worked with Windows Vista.

This will be fixed shortly with the launch of PCMark Vantage, a new set of performance tests for Vista.

Key Benefits of PCMark Vantage:

  • Unparalleled ease-of-use: Single Click Benchmarking
  • Unified Benchmarking for desktop, laptop PCs and workstations
  • Newly developed to natively support 32 and 64-bit Microsoft Windows Vista
  • System Information tool that displays advanced system configuration information
  • Advanced Online Results Browser functionality with Result Analyzer

I think it’s a shame that Futuremark are bringing out a new set of tests for Vista, rather than making 3DMark06 compatible as I’ve been dying to know if my machine is faster with Vista than XP. With my old machine my best 3DMark06 score was 6536, and I’m certain that my Vista score would have been a bit higher.

Given that I don’t play any games on my PC, I don’t think I will be upgrading my current PC for a very long time as it more than fits my needs which is accessing the internet, manipulating video files and some Microsoft Office use. The spec is more than sufficient for my needs: DFI Mobo, AMD 4200+ (watercooled), 2×19″ monitors, 4GB Ram, 1.1TB of storage, X1900XT GPU (watercooled) and X-Fi Soundcard. I built this PC back in Dec 05 and in the past I’ve upgraded my PCs roughly every 3-4 years, but this one is still going strong after nearly 2 years, and I think I will only upgrade it is if something breaks that I can’t replace.

I have a second PC which I built a few months ago to function as a HD media center, and this is definitely over-specified (AMD 4600+, 2GB Ram, 2.5TB storage, 7950+ GPU, X-Fi XtremeMusic, Hauppauge TV card) and will last a very long time given that I only use it to listen to music and watch videos.

I had a meeting last week with one of the largest PC manufacturers where there demonstrated a lot of their machines. It was amazing that throughout the meeting which lasted over 3 hours, they hardly mentioned specifications and the focus was on design, function and weight. Now that PCs are mass market I guess that the average consumer doesn’t want to be bamboozled with specs, and just wants a PC that looks good and does what they need. Unfortunately, this will mean that many users will probably spend more than they need getting the latest kit that they don’t really need - Vista is a prime example of this.

Do you own a monster PC rig? Are you planning on upgrading your PC soon, or like me are you happy with your current machine?

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About the Author

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Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK. He also writes for Windows 7 News.

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There Are 4 Responses So Far. »

  1. #1

    Comment by N.N on 16 October 2007:

    Both PCMark05 and 3DMark06 have updates that make them Vista compatible.

  2. #2

    Comment by Harishankar on 17 October 2007:

    Do I need to download a 500mb software just to evaluate my machine… I am worried. Isnt there a light weight software that can give me a comparative reading to evaluate my machine performance?

  3. #3

    Comment by Joseph Plazo on 17 October 2007:

    I used to enjoy testing my PC with 3DMarks, Sisoft Sandra et al. Then I realized how these tests don’t really measure what I want: how fast things get done.

    Now, I just use my panerai chronograph to measure the effects of PC tweaks: startup, shutdown, process data, etc.

    Low tech, but it reflects figures that mean a lot to me.

    ( no meaningless 341030 3D marsk that I can’t even grasp!)

  4. #4

    Comment by Terry on 17 October 2007:

    There’s an easy way to instantly gauge your PC. It’s based on the Futuremark benchmark data so the results are relevant as well:
    http://www.yougamers.com/games/ just click on any of the “run Game o meter” links.

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