3DMark API Test – Compare DirectX 12, Mantle and DirectX 11

By Nathan Kirsch

Futuremark has announced their first 3DMark API Overhead feature test that is part of 3DMark v1.5.884! This is the world’s first independent test for measuring differences in DirectX 12, DirectX 11 and Mantle API performance. It’s also the very first public application to use DirectX 12 full stop. The benchmark tool was developed with input from AMD, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and the other members of our Benchmark Development Program, the 3DMark API Overhead feature test lets you compare the performance of DirectX 12, DirectX 11, and Mantle.

The purpose of the test is to compare the relative performance of different APIs on a single system, rather than the absolute performance of different systems. The API Overhead feature test is not a general-purpose GPU benchmark, and it should not be used to compare graphics cards from different vendors.

The 3DMark API Overhead feature test measures API performance by making a steadily increasing number of draw calls. The result of the test is the maximum number of draw calls per second achieved by each API before the frame rate drops below 30 fps.

Test system requirements:

  • The DirectX 12 test requires a PC running an up-to-date version of Windows 10 Technical Preview (Build 10041 or later), 4 GB of system memory, and DirectX feature level 11_0 compatible hardware with at least at least 1 GB of graphics memory.
  • The Mantle test requires 4 GB of system memory and AMD hardware that supports the Mantle API.
  • The DirectX 11 test requires DirectX feature level 11_0 compatible hardware with at least 1 GB of graphics memory and 4 GB of system memory.

You can take a look at the video of the benchmark running below.

The API test cannot be run from the free 3DMark Basic Edition or Steam demo, so you’ll need to be running the latest version of 3DMark Advanced Edition and 3DMark Professional Edition to run this test.