This isn't really a proper article, just a quick page about one of the standard tools we at OCAU will be using for benchmarking in reviews for a while. I will in future link to this page rather than putting the same spiel in every review.

Quake3 Arena by id Software, while dated now, remains a popular game and serves well as an OpenGL benchmark via the use of its "timedemo" feature. The Q3 engine or modified versions thereof have also been used to power many more modern games, so it remains a useful tool for comparative benchmarking.

The need for a demo file other than the standard two provided with the game arose for 2 reasons. Firstly, the standard demos are quite short and on modern PC's with high-powered video cards it can be difficult to get much difference in the results, even with quite different components. A longer, more taxing demo will give more granularity to the results. Also, during a review in the past I found that the standard demos had dissapeared from my installation of Q3 and couldn't locate the files to reinstall them - in desperation I used this file and ended up being quite pleased with the results.

The "Slayer" demo is not by any means a showcase of Q3's abilities or anything spectacular, it's simply a more taxing demo that we have on hand and have standardised on. It was created originally for OCAU by Geoff "Sabretooth" Wilson for his Leadtek WinFast GeForce3 TDH review on OCAU. It was recorded using Quake 3 V1.31 and the Excessive mod, but you don't need that mod to replay the demo. For more info on the Excessive mod go to its homepage, but in essence it is an over-the-top mod that makes all the weapons super-powerful, turns off self-damage, gives all the players regenerating health and ammo, and makes every game into a wild and crazy frag-fest! This demo is Sabretooth playing against quite a few bots and due to the nature of this mod there is almost always a lot happening onscreen - hence it's good for stressing video cards and PC's, so good for benchmarking.

Here's some screenshots to give you an idea:

    
click images to enlarge

If you want to download the demo for comparing your own setup to our reviews, you can grab it here:

To benchmark using Q3:

• Load Q3 as per usual
• Go into Setup and choose the appropriate resolution and other settings
• Hit the ` key (top-left corner of keyboard, same key as ~ )
• Type "timedemo 1" (remove the quotes) and hit return in the console that appears (it won't respond)
• Hit ` again to hide the console
• Choose "Demos" from the menu
• Choose OCAU_SLAYER.DM_67 and click "Play"
• Let the demo run - when it's finished you will return to the menu
• Hit ' again, your FPS rating will be displayed in the console

Is your PC in the PC Database yet?