PCMark Vantage 1.2.0

PCMark Vantage is a PC benchmark for Windows offering one-click complete performance testing. Includes 8 PC tests covering photos, video, gaming, music, communication and productivity.

PCMark Vantage is a PC benchmark suite designed for Windows offering one-click simplicity for casual users and detailed, professional grade testing for industry, press and enthusiasts.

A PCMark score is a measure of your computer’s performance across a variety of common tasks such as viewing and editing photos, video, music and other media, gaming, communications, productivity and security.

From desktops and laptops to workstations and gaming rigs, by comparing your PCMark Vantage score with other similar systems you can find the hardware and software bottlenecks that stop you getting more from your PC.

What's New:

PCMark Vantage has been updated to version 1.2.0 and is now compatible with Windows 8, with some limitations. Benchmark scores are not affected and scores from this new version are comparable with PCMark Vantage v1.0.2.

PCMark Vantage TV and Movie suite uses the MPEG2 codec. As DVD playback functionality is not included in Windows 8 by default, we recommend using PCMark 7 for benchmarking Windows 8 systems.

To get the update, download and run the PCMark Vantage version 1.2.0 installer. The major changes include:

Improvements

• Trial edition removed. PCMark Vantage Basic Edition is now free and can be run an unlimited number of times without registration or restrictions.
• The benchmark no longer tracks application focus, which helps avoid unintentionally ending the benchmark run. Using the PC for other tasks while running the benchmark will influence the benchmark score and should still be avoided.

Compatibility

• Now compatible with Windows 8, however, the TV and Movies suite requires DVD playback capability (MPEG2) which is not available in Windows 8 by default. The missing functionality can be added by purchasing the Windows 8 Media Center Pack from Microsoft. Without the Media Center Pack the TV and Movies suite is skipped with a score of 0.
• Windows Mail test now works in Windows 8.
• SystemInfo updated to version 4.15 for Windows 8 compatibility.

Advanced and Professional Editions

• Fixed issues with opening saved benchmark result files.

System Requirements:

Processor

• Modern processor with SSE2 support
• Intel Pentium 4 at 3.0GHz or equivalent AMD processor
• Multi-core processors recommended

Graphics Card

• Shader Model 2.0 compliant graphics card
• Shader Model 3.0 compliant graphics card for the GPU image manipulation test
• 256MB of graphics memory for the GPU gaming test recommended

Hard Disk

• 1.7 GB of free hard disk space
• NTFS File System

System Memory

• 1024 MB or more

Operating System

• Microsoft Windows 7® Ultimate / Professional / Home Premium
• Microsoft Windows Vista® Ultimate / Home Premium / Home Basic / Enterprise / Business

Additional Required Applications

• Windows Media Player 11
• Latest DirectX Update for Windows Vista
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or later