UL Benchmarks, formerly known as Futuremark and MadOnion.com, has announced a launch date for its DirectX Raytracing (DXR) benchmark Port Royal - along with confirmation that it will be available only in the paid-for editions of its 3DMark benchmarking suite.
Pitched by the company as 'the world's first dedicated real-time ray tracing benchmark for gamers' when it was unveiled late last month, UL Benchmarks' Port Royal runs a gaming workload enhanced by Microsoft's DirectX Raytracing (DXR) application programming interface (API) - making it the only benchmark currently available for comparing the performance of DXR-compatible hardware like Nvidia's Turing-based RTX family and... other members of Nvidia's Turing-based RTX family.
While UL Benchmarks was initially somewhat cagey on the precise details of the release, it has now confirmed that the benchmark will be launching on January 8th - and, in news that won't be welcomed by gamers who've spent their last pennies on an Nvidia RTX card or two, that it will be available exclusively to the Advanced and Professional Editions of the 3DMark benchmark suite.
The decision to restrict it to paying customers means those who do not yet have a licence above the free Basic Edition or Steam-distributed demo version will be shelling out a minimum of $29.99 for the benchmark suite's Advanced Edition - but to get Port Royal included in the price, they'll have to wait until it launches in January before making their purchase. Those who already have the Advanced or Professional Edition, meanwhile, will be asked to stump up an extra $2.99 to add Port Royal to their licence.
More information on the benchmark is available on the official website.
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