Futuremark has quietly launched its new 3DMark 2016 Beta on Steam. (Quietly, because I didn’t receive any press release, the news is from Steam community page).

3DMark 2016 Beta brings new UI and first Virtual Reality benchmark

New 3DMark 2016 is currently in BETA. It’s a preview build designed to test new UI and new VR benchmark. We are getting a glimpse at ‘new features coming to 3DMark in 2016’, but not all of them.

Holiday Beta includes VRMark, upcoming virtual reality benchmark. It’s a demo, it does not generate score, in fact it doesn’t even work with CrossFire/SLI configurations. What’s interesting is that it does not require VR glasses, as the output will be shown on any screen, it just won’t give you any actual VR experience. However if you own Oculus Rift or HTC Rive don’t hesitate to share you experience in the comments.

New UI is meant to be simpler and more intuitive to navigate. The home screen will give you recommendation which benchmark is the most appropriate for your machine. The portfolio will grow and more benchmarks will be added later.

One of the more important changes is selective downloading, you no longer need to download all benchmarks if your machine can’t even run them.

The Holiday Beta does not include Time Spy demo we saw few days ago. As explained by developers it is not a finished product, but early work-in-progress build, which was only used for exclusive presentation in China.

One more thing: only those who bought 3DMark can test the new Holiday Beta. Here’s how:

3DMark Holiday Beta installation Open your Steam Library, and choose Software. Right-click on 3DMark, and select Properties. In the window that opens, click on the BETAS tab. Enter access code “HappyHolidays”, then click on the CHECK CODE button. From the drop-down menu, select “2016 UI & VRMark Preview” The beta will now start downloading. The DLC installation process will be a little awkward until Steam finishes automatically adding it to everybody’s account. For now, follow the steps below. You will then be able to install and uninstall each test from within 3DMark. Right-click on 3DMark in your Library, and select “View Downloadable Content.” In the new window, click on “View available downloadable content for this product” For each DLC, click through to its store page, and click on the “Play Game” button. This adds the free DLC to your account and allows you to install it in 3DMark. When you have unlocked all the DLCs, launch 3DMark and enjoy! You can leave the beta and revert to the public version of 3DMark at any time. You do that by going to the BETAS drop-down and selecting “NONE – Opt out of all beta programs.” Known issues and notes The VRMark Preview does not work on Windows 7 as that OS is not supported by the VR headset drivers. We’re looking into enabling monitor mode on Windows 7.

VRMark Preview does not support multi-GPU yet. Disable SLI/Crossfire to avoid rendering issues. We’re working on a fix for this.

The VRMark Preview fails on PCs set to Turkish locale in Windows.

The beta includes a workaround for the AMD driver issue where the preview videos in the UI caused some AMD graphics cards to use low power mode and run at lower clock speeds. If you experienced this issue earlier, please tell us whether the beta solves the problem for you and your exact video card model.

Source: Steam