3D WinBench measures the performance of a PC's 3D subsystem, which includes the Direct3D software, the monitor, the graphics adapter, the graphics driver, and the bus used to carry information between the graphics adapter and the processor subsystem. You can use 3D WinBench 2000 to test hardware graphics adapters, drivers, and the value of such enhancing technologies as MMX. What you can't test is Windows NT 4.0, because it doesn't support hardware acceleration of the Windows Direct3D interface that 3D WinBench 2000 uses; 3D WinBench 2000 runs only on Microsoft Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, and Windows Me. 3D WinBench aims to measure both the current and future state of hardware 3D accelerator performance.

3D WinBench 2000 uses the DirectX 7.0 interface, which means you get to see the benefits and the performance of such features as hardware transformation and lighting up close and personal. Other highlights of the new version include a new processor test suite and new quality tests for the latest innovations in 3D rendering.