New SPECviewperf® 7.1 Gets Closer
to Real-World Application Performance
WARRENTON, Va., March 19, 2003 -- SPEC/GPC's
OpenGL Performance Characterization (SPECopc) project group today
released SPECviewperf 7.1, a new version of its performance evaluation
software that includes dynamic data changes to better reflect
real-world application behavior.
SPECviewperf 7.1 can be downloaded for free on this
web site. Testing results using the new benchmark are also available
on the site.
SPECviewperf 7.1 introduces new data changes to
discourage optimizations that benefit the benchmark, but might
not improve real-world application performance. The benchmark
inserts a small amount of variation at regular intervals within
its application-based test files, called viewsets. This ensures
that the test system examines and processes each frame individually,
as it would in typical real-world applications.
Also new to the benchmark is a second frame counter
that moves around within the frame. This provides visual verification
of whether frame changes are being rendered.
All SPECviewperf viewsets have been updated to include these changes,
except for ugs-03, which is based on a display-list application
whose data by definition is static. The ugs-03 viewset
has been upgraded with new subtests that measure performance for
both aliased and anti-aliased lines.
The frame variation upgrades in SPECviewperf build
on the move last year to generate viewsets from actual application
traces, which brought the benchmark tests closer to reflecting
real-world performance.
"SPECviewperf 7.1 furthers our goal to measure
performance in a way that corresponds as closely as possible to
what everyday users experience with their applications,"
says Ian Williams, SPECopc's chair. "We intend to evolve
SPECviewperf faster than ever before to reflect current application
behavior."
As a result of the major revisions, results reported
under SPECviewperf 7.1 cannot be compared with those from SPECviewperf
7.0 or earlier versions of the benchmark.
About SPECviewperf
SPECviewperf measures the 3D rendering performance
of systems running under the OpenGL application programming interface
(API). The benchmark's viewsets represent a similar mix of graphics
rendering and manipulation found in actual applications. There
are currently six viewsets based on popular applications for digital
content creation, CAD/CAM and visualization.
About SPECopc
SPECopc is a project group of the Graphics Performance
Characterization (GPC) Group, which in turn is part of the Standard
Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC). SPEC is a non-profit corporation
formed to establish, maintain and endorse a standardized set of
relevant benchmarks that can be applied to the newest generation
of high-performance computers. SPEC's membership includes computer
hardware and software vendors, and leading universities and research
facilities worldwide.
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Press contacts:
Bob Cramblitt, Erin Hatfield
Cramblitt & Company
919-481-4599
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