SPEC Updates SPECviewperf 2020 v3.0 Benchmark with Linux Edition

The SPEC Graphics Performance Characterization (SPECgpc) group updated the Windows version of the workstation GPU benchmark suite – SPECviewperf 2020 – twice last year. The intent of the benchmark is to replay GPU workload traces from real-world professional applications (Maya for media and entertainment, Catia, Creo, NX, and Solidworks for CAD/CAM, OpendTect for the energy industry, and the Tuvok visualization library for rendering medical images). Version 3.0, released in December 2021, updated the Solidworks viewset to better reflect the OpenGL API calls in the latest version of the software. Version 2.0 had enabled selective downloading of the viewsets.

While the Windows version of the benchmark had been through three versions, the Linux community was left out, having to rely on the SPECviewperf 13 released almost a decade ago. That is changing today with the availability of the Linux edition of SPECviewperf 2020 v3.0. The benchmark updates the viewsets with traces from the latest versions of the relevant applications and also updates the models to match the Windows version. Since the benchmarks wrapper framework (even for the Windows version) is based on Node-Webkit (now NW.js), the creation of a Linux edition had to mainly deal with the actual viewset processing. Automation and results processing are identical between the Windows and Linux versions.

Unlike SPECviewperf 13 Linux Edition which was distributed as a compressed tar archive, the SPECviewperf 2020 v3.0 Linux Edition is a .deb package. The benchmark requires Canonical Ubuntu Linux 20.04, 16GB or more of RAM, and 80GB of fixed disk drive space. Viewsets are processed at two resolutions – 1080p and 4K, with 1080p being the minimum. The GPU drivers are required to support OpenGL 4.5, and the GPU itself needs to have 2GB minimum VRAM.

The benchmark is available for download free of cost for everyone other than vendors of computers and related products / services who are not members of SPEC/GWPG. Such vendors can purchase a license for $2500.

Linux has a much greater market share in the workstation segment compared to consumer desktops. It is heartening to see SPECgpc update the aging SPECviewperf 13 Linux edition. The latest viewsets and models in the SPECviewperf 2020 v3.0 Linux Edition bring it on par with the benchmarking capabilities of the Windows edition.

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