|     New SPECviewperf® 7.1 Gets Closerto Real-World Application Performance
 WARRENTON, Va., March 19, 2003 -- SPEC/GPC's 
                OpenGL Performance Characterization (SPECopc) project group today 
                released SPECviewperf 7.1, a new version of its performance evaluation 
                software that includes dynamic data changes to better reflect 
                real-world application behavior. SPECviewperf 7.1 can be downloaded for free on this 
                web site. Testing results using the new benchmark are also available 
                on the site. SPECviewperf 7.1 introduces new data changes to 
                discourage optimizations that benefit the benchmark, but might 
                not improve real-world application performance. The benchmark 
                inserts a small amount of variation at regular intervals within 
                its application-based test files, called viewsets. This ensures 
                that the test system examines and processes each frame individually, 
                as it would in typical real-world applications.  Also new to the benchmark is a second frame counter 
                that moves around within the frame. This provides visual verification 
                of whether frame changes are being rendered.
 All SPECviewperf viewsets have been updated to include these changes, 
                except for ugs-03, which is based on a display-list application 
                whose data by definition is static. The ugs-03 viewset 
                has been upgraded with new subtests that measure performance for 
                both aliased and anti-aliased lines.
 The frame variation upgrades in SPECviewperf build 
                on the move last year to generate viewsets from actual application 
                traces, which brought the benchmark tests closer to reflecting 
                real-world performance. "SPECviewperf 7.1 furthers our goal to measure 
                performance in a way that corresponds as closely as possible to 
                what everyday users experience with their applications," 
                says Ian Williams, SPECopc's chair. "We intend to evolve 
                SPECviewperf faster than ever before to reflect current application 
                behavior." As a result of the major revisions, results reported 
                under SPECviewperf 7.1 cannot be compared with those from SPECviewperf 
                7.0 or earlier versions of the benchmark.  About SPECviewperf SPECviewperf measures the 3D rendering performance 
                of systems running under the OpenGL application programming interface 
                (API). The benchmark's viewsets represent a similar mix of graphics 
                rendering and manipulation found in actual applications. There 
                are currently six viewsets based on popular applications for digital 
                content creation, CAD/CAM and visualization.  About SPECopc SPECopc is a project group of the Graphics Performance 
                Characterization (GPC) Group, which in turn is part of the Standard 
                Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC). SPEC is a non-profit corporation 
                formed to establish, maintain and endorse a standardized set of 
                relevant benchmarks that can be applied to the newest generation 
                of high-performance computers. SPEC's membership includes computer 
                hardware and software vendors, and leading universities and research 
                facilities worldwide. 
 ### Press contacts: Bob Cramblitt, Erin Hatfield
 Cramblitt & Company
 919-481-4599
 cramco@cramco.com
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