Futuremark develops benchmark for VR hardware, workloads

Futuremark has this week announced that it had begun development of the world’s first comprehensive suite to measure performance of workloads associated with virtual reality. The new benchmark will test performance of personal computers as well as VR headsets. VRMark is expected to be released this year and currently Futuremark wants to team up with makers of VR hardware.

The developer does not release a lot of information about its new benchmark. What is known is that VRMark test a PC’s ability to deliver high quality virtual reality experiences for a range of content types, including photos, video, games and simulations. In particular, the benchmark will test a VR system's ability to deliver a consistently high frame rate across a range of quality settings and content types. In addition, VRMark will measure frame latency and the responsiveness and accuracy of the sensors present in the headset.

Since consistently high framerate, small fps variation and low latency are crucial for VR experiences, it is obvious that VRMark will test not only performance of PCs, but also sensors of virtual reality headsets as well as quality of software and drivers of both VR gear and graphics cards.

It is interesting to note that for the first time ever a Futuremark benchmark will use a combination of hardware and software to measure performance of virtual reality workloads.

At present Futuremark is inviting hardware developers to join its VRMark benchmark development program in order to shape up the software suite. Quite a lot of work has already been done since the application is expected to hit the market this year.

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KitGuru Says: Virtual reality seems to be an inevitable part of tomorrow’s video game world. It is unclear how big this part will actually be, but it is great to see that there will be a benchmark to test VR hardware and workloads!

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