Official Benchmark

Introduction
The purpose of this tool is to provide potential players with feedback on how well their system will run the game. In order to run the Benchmark it is important to make sure that DirectX 9.0c+ and the latest drivers available for the system's graphics card have been installed. DirectX is available from Microsoft's site. ATI drivers and NVIDIA drivers are available from their respective sites.

The Final Fantasy XIV Official Benchmark is available from SquareEnix's official game site.

Execution
After downloading the benchmark you must extract the tool to a file folder. You may then run the executable (be sure to start up the file in admin mode on Windows Vista/7 Operating Systems) and choose your settings.

The language dropdown allows switching the UI between the four official languages. The benchmark may be run on either high (1920 X 1080) or low (1280 X 720) resolution settings by selecting the appropriate radio button. You may select a character race and gender to view during the benchmark or allow the tool to select randomly. There is also the option to check a box and loop the benchmark.

Multi-GPU Benchmarking
In order to utilize multiple GPUs during the benchmark you must trick application:

Browse to folder FFXIVBenchmark\data\

Rename FFXivWinBenchmark executable to 3DMark06 for CrossFireX ( Crysis for SLI )

Copy full screen wrapper d3d9.dll to this folder.

Run 3DMark06 ( Crysis for SLI )

With any benchmarking done using multi-GPU setups it is important to remember that actual game performance using such configurations can vary widely depending on client, driver, and profile optimizations. It is concievable that a multi-GPU setup could give an artificially high score while not performing as well under game conditions. In most cases benchmarking with a single card active will give a sufficient baseline indicator, with the multi-GPU benchmark giving the theoretical potential performance.

Benchmark Score Interpretation: Official
The following table shows what kind of performance can be expected from scores attained using the tool, as stated by SquareEnix:

Benchmark Score Interpretation: Unofficial
The tool is only a representation of the potential performance of a system. This is made even more complicated by the fact that SquareEnix has not made it clear what the difference between low and high resolution scores might actually mean to game performance.

As a general rule running the benchmark on low and high and looking at the difference between the two gives you the best "guess" possible as to how the game will run. For example, if a benchmark of 2500/1000 were scored (low/high) the system in question would most likely be best running at a resolution of 1280 X 720 with medium settings. A player who scored 3500/2000 would be able to consider moving up in details and/or resolution, but would not likely be able to play in high resolution without sacrificing quality.

In all cases the benchmark is to be considered an estimate and not a solid indicator of in game performance. Only the official release client under standard game conditions is to be considered a true measurement of a system's performance.

Benchmark Results Resources
The FFXIVCore forum community has undertaken an initiative led by user Pseudopsia to collect a wide variety of benchmark scores gleaned from members' systems. These scores have been compiled into a Google Document.

The color coded cells of the spreadsheet indicate potential bottlenecks in the system configurations. A red cell shows a potentially large bottleneck. Yellow cells can be considered moderate issues. Green cells show balanced configurations.

Other Technical Info

 * Beta Test and Release
 * Online System Information
 * System Requirements
 * Graphics Card Matrix