Picture-Level Benchmark Project Retires

The Picture-Level Benchmark (PLB) Project Group has voted unanimously to disband and to retire its namesake benchmark. The action was taken based on declining interest in the benchmark, as vendors moved toward API-level benchmarks such as Viewperf and GLperf, and application-level benchmarks such as those developed by SPEC/GPC's Application Performance Characterization (APC) project group. The PLB was last updated in 1993.

The PLB was the first effort to address the ambiguities in measuring graphics performance. The Picture-Level Benchmarking Group was formed in 1986, with original members Digital Equipment Corp., Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun Microsystems. At its peak in 1994, the group had eight members and regularly reported performance results in the GPC Quarterly Report for more than 100 different system configurations.

Since the PLB is still used in some environments, the benchmark remains available for free downloading. Information on the benchmark and the standard files that run on it, as well as archived PLB results, will continue to be available through this page.

Download the BIF Specification, the standard files, test files, and a PLB sample implementation (PEXlib or OpenGL version) via anonymous ftp
The PLB Overview
A Description of Standard Benchmark Files
Sample Report Page
Results -- Updated 12/98