Many performance benchmarks failed with NullPointerException exceptions in promoted build b96 in sw pipeline on Windows:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.sun.pisces.PiscesRenderer.fillLCDAlphaMask(PiscesRenderer.java:334)
at com.sun.prism.sw.SWGraphics.drawStringInternal(SWGraphics.java:776)
at com.sun.prism.sw.SWGraphics.drawString(SWGraphics.java:732)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGText.renderText(NGText.java:319)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGText.renderContent(NGText.java:277)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGNode.doRender(NGNode.java:412)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGNode.doRender(NGNode.java:69)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.BaseNode.render(BaseNode.java:1283)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGGroup.renderChildren(NGGroup.java:237)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGGroup.renderContent(NGGroup.java:203)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGRegion.renderContent(NGRegion.java:1254)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGNode.doRender(NGNode.java:412)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGNode.doRender(NGNode.java:69)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.BaseNode.render(BaseNode.java:1283)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGGroup.renderChildren(NGGroup.java:237)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGGroup.renderContent(NGGroup.java:203)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGNode.doRender(NGNode.java:412)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.prism.NGNode.doRender(NGNode.java:69)
at com.sun.javafx.sg.BaseNode.render(BaseNode.java:1283)
at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.ViewPainter.doPaint(ViewPainter.java:99)
at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.AbstractPainter.paintImpl(AbstractPainter.java:210)
at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.PresentingPainter.run(PresentingPainter.java:95)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:471)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.runAndReset(FutureTask.java:304)
at com.sun.javafx.tk.RenderJob.run(RenderJob.java:58)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615)
at com.sun.javafx.tk.quantum.QuantumRenderer$PipelineRunnable.run(QuantumRenderer.java:129)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:724)

See also:
 http://aurora-ds.us.oracle.com:9500/runs/245183.FX2-4/20130628221323.245183.FX2.8b95.win-high.ColorfulShapes.Blur10Circle.app.prism-sw.runBenchmark/.workload.log

Benchmarks which don't fail mostly show up to 100% performance regression.