3DMark Steel Nomad will be free for all 3DMark users.

Last month, we introduced you to 3DMark Steel Nomad, our cross-platform successor to Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme as our recommended non-raytracing benchmark.

We’re happy to announce that Steel Nomad will be a free update for all 3DMark users.

3DMark Professional Edition customers with a valid annual license will also receive Steel Nomad as a complimentary update.

Games and PC hardware have changed significantly since Time Spy launched, and recent high-end hardware is starting to reach the limit of what Time Spy is able to give relevant scores for.

To appropriately measure the performance of such a wide range of devices, 3DMark Steel Nomad will include two benchmarks:

Steel Nomad

Steel Nomad will be our recommended benchmark for measuring the non-raytraced gaming performance of high-end computers running Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Steel Nomad Light

Steel Nomad Light will be our recommended benchmark for measuring the performance of Lightweight devices, such as Windows laptops with integrated graphics, Windows-on-Arm devices, Apple Silicon Macs, iOS, and Android devices.

Arriving soon

3DMark Steel Nomad will launch in the first quarter of next year for devices running Windows and Windows-on-Arm on Steam, the Epic Games Store, or direct from UL Solutions. Steel Nomad and Steel Nomad Light for macOS and Linux, and Steel Nomad Light for Android and iOS devices, will launch later in 2024.

We want 3DMark to provide gamers, overclockers, hardware reviewers and those in industry with a set of gaming benchmarks relevant to real-world gaming performance. With many games featuring a range of ray tracing workloads, a range of benchmarks are also required for a true measurement of a PC’s performance.

Get a broader view of gaming performance in one application.

Steel Nomad is designed to sit alongside our three ray tracing benchmarks, Speed Way, Port Royal and Solar Bay, to give you the best understanding of your PC’s gaming performance from a single application.

• Speed Way is a DirectX 12 Ultimate ray-traced benchmark — and our heaviest benchmark. It will stay our recommended test for those of you looking to measure the full capabilities of the very best hardware available for Windows PC gamers.
• Solar Bay is our lightest ray-traced benchmark, and our recommendation for those looking to measure the ray tracing performance of lightweight Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices.
• Port Royal is a Windows raytracing benchmark that sits between Speed Way and Solar Bay and helps you build a complete overview of a PC’s raytraced gaming performance.
• Steel Nomad will be our heaviest non-raytraced benchmark, designed to run on the latest high-end gaming hardware.
• Steel Nomad Light will be the recommended benchmark for non-raytraced performance on lightweight devices.