The Evolution of 3DMark Benchmark Demos (1999-2010)

In this video, I'll be showing the evolution of the demos of the popular 3DMark benchmark series, from 1999 until 2010. 3DMark is a 3D benchmarking series for DirectX first released in late 1998, and maintained by Futuremark (now known as UL Benchmarks). Used dgVoodoo2 in some demos for better performance.

===== Timestamps =====
00:00:00 - 3DMark99 MAX (March 8, 1999)
00:06:20 - 3DMark2000 (December 6, 1999)
00:12:23 - 3DMark2001 Second Edition (February 12, 2002)
00:17:31 - 3DMark03 (February 11, 2003)
00:29:04 - 3DMark05 (September 29, 2004)
00:44:37 - 3DMark06 (January 18, 2006)
00:59:52 - 3DMark11 (December 7, 2010)

== ADDITIONAL INFO ==
3DMark99 MAX
Developer: Futuremark Corporation
Publisher: Gathering of Developers
Release Date: March 8, 1999
DirectX Version: 6.1
Engine: MAX-FX (licensed from Remedy Entertainment, Futuremark's owner at the time)

The first 3DMark, although slightly updated from the original 3DMark99, was one of the first 3D benchmarks to be aimed directly at the 3D gaming community, rather than offering a generic overview of a PC's capabilities.
The graphics tests use an early version of Remedy Entertainment's MAX-FX engine, which was later used in Max Payne.
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3DMark2000
Developer: MadOnion.com (Futuremark's trading name at the time)
Release Date: December 6, 1999
DirectX Version: 7
Engine: MAX-FX (licensed from Remedy Entertainment)

The 2nd generation 3DMark. It makes use of key features from DirectX 7 (such as hardware-accelerated T&L). DirectX 7.0 was the first release of that API to support hardware T&L, already supported by NVIDIA's GeForce 256 card.
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3DMark2001 Second Edition
Developer: MadOnion.com (Futuremark's trading name at the time)
Release Date: February 12, 2002
DirectX Version: 8.1
Engine: MAX-FX (licensed from Remedy Entertainment)

3DMark2001 Second Edition is an updated version of the 3rd generation 3DMark2001 (the core benchmark tests are as in 3DMark2001, but there is an additional Feature test and broader hardware support). This version was the last one to use the MAX-FX engine.
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3DMark03
Developer: Futuremark Corporation
Release Date: February 11, 2003
DirectX Version: 9.0
Engine: Futuremark Engine

The 4th generation 3DMark. It is the first version that supports DirectX 9.0 and introduces several new features. The graphics tests cover a range of rendering techniques and DX9 features, expanding on a similar system used in 3DMark2001.
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3DMark05
Developer: Futuremark Corporation
Release Date: September 29, 2004
DirectX Version: 9.0c
Engine: Futuremark Engine

The 5th generation 3DMark. Like the previous one, it is based on DirectX 9 but all of the graphics tests require a minimum hardware support of Shader Model 2.0.
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3DMark06
Developer: Futuremark Corporation
Release Date: January 18, 2006
DirectX Version: 9.0c
Engine: Futuremark Engine

The 6th generation 3DMark. The 3 game tests, renamed "graphics tests", from 3DMark05, were carried over and updated, and a 4th new test "Deep Freeze" was added.
The scoring formula was changed to incorporate CPU tests results: "For the first time in its history, the CPU result affects the final 3DMark score. This was done due to the fact that there are more and more games using complex AI algorithms and complex physics calculations."

Some of the graphics tests have the following features:
HDR rendering
Shadow mapping is used for all objects (specifically cascaded shadow mapping, with the depth textures filtered via hardware PCF)
Water surfaces are created using pixel shaders with HDR refraction, HDR reflection, depth fog and Gerstner wave functions
Atmospheric effects are generated via the use of heterogeneous fog, light scattering and cloud blending
Material surfaces use either Blinn-Phong shading model or Strauss lighting model, and even subsurface scattering in some cases

The CPU tests in 3DMark06 are different from those found in previous 3DMark versions - instead of using software vertex shading to provide the CPU workload, path-finding, physics and engine routines are used instead, across multiple threads.
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3DMark11
Developer: Futuremark Corporation
Release Date: December 7, 2010
DirectX Version: 11
Engine: Futuremark Engine

3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading.
This version includes 4 graphics tests - Deep Sea 1 & 2, High Temple 1 & 2 - for measuring GPU performance, a physics test measuring CPU performance, and a combined test targeting CPU and GPU performance.

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