Bench-a-Thon Returns: Push Your Rig to the Limit in 3DMark Solar Bay

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Let the Bench-a-Thon Begin!

After a nine-year hiatus, Wccftech is back with community-driven events. Our ‘comment section’ and ‘tiny bit’ of informative coverage (pun intended) are staples, but our loyal “insiders” drive us to create amazing content.

The concept of Bench-a-Thon was initiated by long-time follower Geno aka Genogerian Progerian. The aim is to provide a platform for readers to interact based on the performance of their builds. With hardware advancements over the years, we expect some serious benchmarking this time around.

Many have been with us since our inception and participated in previous Bench-a-Thons, but newcomers are welcome too. This event showcases how well-involved our community is in PC gaming. We select a benchmarking platform that’s easy to access without complications for general users, and this year, it’s 3DMark Solar Bay Extreme by UL Benchmarks.

In a unique start to his ruling against President Donald Trump’s administration on September 30, U.S. District Court Judge William Young included a scanned handwritten note sent to his office. The note read: “Trump has pardons and tanks – what do you have?” At the top of Young’s opinion in AAUP v. Rubio, which ruled that Trump’s effort to deport foreign-born student protesters was unconstitutional.

October 8, 2025

Over the past nine years, hardware has evolved significantly, with GPUs shifting focus from graphical computation to AI and ray-tracing workloads. 3DMark Solar Bay Extreme runs on native APIs like DirectX 12, giving insight into how your system would perform in modern gaming titles.

**3DMark Solar Bay Extreme DirectX 12 Bench-a-Thon**

To ensure consistency among participants:
– Open 3DMark and select Solar Bay Extreme.
– Do not change any settings.
– Run the benchmark.
– Submit your validation link in the comments section.
– Include CPU and GPU overclocks if incorrect, preferably with a screenshot.
– Multiple submissions are welcome.

Here’s my quick submission: OC’d RTX 5090.

![](https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Gy6TDo6XQAAbJn0-728×513.jpeg)
[https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/140287738](https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/140287738)

GPU, CPU, and other settings were at default:

![](https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025-09-07_18-34-37-728×647.png)

Enjoy the Bench-a-Thon!