PCMark® Vantage

PCMark Vantage is a benchmark utility program developed by Futuremark Corporation. It was initially released on October 18, 2007. Its primary use is to conduct performance tests for Windows Vista. It comes in three editions – PCMark Vantage Basic, PCMark Vantage Professional and PCMark Vantage Advanced.

The program provides eight test suites. Six of these test suites offer targeted hardware scores based on common user scenarios. The other two test suites are HDD test set and an overall performance test score. The consumer test suites include Memories Suite (for testing digital video and image programs), Gaming Suite (for testing game graphics performance), Music Suite (for testing audio tasks programs), Communications Suite and Productivity Suites. Both the Productivity and Communications Suites are designed for testing the performance of security tasks, searching, browser functionality, word processing and application launch. All these tests produce performance scores that imitate real-world performance scores.

PCMark Vantage is not only used for testing computer performance. It also offers the ResultBrowser for tracking and comparing test results. This feature is available in the Advanced and Pro editions. Tracking of results can be done using the Pro Online ResultBrowser, or ORB. This tool can be used for uploading, storing and comparing generated test scores, results and system information.