What is a good program to use to benchmark a PC?

[RU482]

I always see the benchmarking results in the AT articles about new hardware. I'm just curious how my system stacks up. I'm not much of a gamer, so graphical performance is of little concern to me. I am more concerned about video/mp3 ripping and general office tasks (office suites, internet and such). Is there a program available for download that will test these things (and maybe more)?

 

[Zim Hosein]

redly1, I want a benchmark program as well

 

[Scootin159]

AT says what program they use for everyone one of their benchmarks. They normally use 5-10 programs to test any one product. Some basic ones are Madonion 3DMark, SiSoft Sandra, and Quake 3 Arena.

 

[fatbaby]

open calculator

switch to scienfitic mode

input 25000

click on n!

Under 5 seconds means ur computer is uber l33t!

under 10 should be average for a 1ghz + pc



If you really wanna stress ur pc

input as many 9s as you can into the input box, click on n!!!

 

[RU482]

Are there any free/<$30 programs?

 

[RU482]

Originally posted by: fatbaby
open calculator

switch to scienfitic mode

input 25000

click on n!

Under 5 seconds means ur computer is uber l33t!

under 10 should be average for a 1ghz + pc

6 seconds and change

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: fatbaby
open calculator

switch to scienfitic mode

input 25000

click on n!

Under 5 seconds means ur computer is uber l33t!

under 10 should be average for a 1ghz + pc



If you really wanna stress ur pc

input as many 9s as you can into the input box, click on n!!!

lmao

 

[Thegonagle]

SiSoft Sandra has a free version that still gives a lot of useful information.

 

[RU482]

how about PCMark?

 

[Kadarin]

There's always the old standby of how fast it can crank out SETI@Home work units.

 

[joohang]

Originally posted by: fatbaby
open calculator

switch to scienfitic mode

input 25000

click on n!

Under 5 seconds means ur computer is uber l33t!

under 10 should be average for a 1ghz + pc



If you really wanna stress ur pc

input as many 9s as you can into the input box, click on n!!!

haha

 

[Maggotry]

You can try this. It's from the company that makes 3DMark, but isn't designed for game performance.

Here's a copy/paste from their site:

PCMark2002 consists of a series of tests that represent common tasks in home and office programs.

You could try HDTach 2.61 for hard drive performance.

 

[fatbaby]

oh yea, and i actually tried the 9999... input...

My pc didnt even finish! After waiting 30 minutes, it still says "This operation may take awhile, do you still wanna continue?"..so i gave up..

 

[RU482]

If you really wanna stress ur pc

input as many 9s as you can into the input box, click on n!!!

The requested operation may take a very long time to complete.

Do you want to let the calculation continue, or stop the operation now?

Hmmm, why is my PC smoking?

 

[kduncan5]

PC Pitstop might give some useful information. Also, a 3rd vote for SiSoft Sandra, free for personal use. -kd5-

 

[RU482]

Astaroth33
Platinum Member

Posts: 2400
Joined: Nov 2001

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: fatbaby
open calculator

switch to scienfitic mode

input 25000

click on n!

Under 5 seconds means ur computer is uber l33t!

under 10 should be average for a 1ghz + pc



If you really wanna stress ur pc

input as many 9s as you can into the input box, click on n!!!

9 seconds on my laptop

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: redly1
Astaroth33
Platinum Member

Posts: 2400
Joined: Nov 2001

huh?

 

[RU482]

NM

 

[RU482]

OK, my goal was to explore the difference between a fresh XP install and one with all the XP critical and recommended updates from Windows update. (wow, 51.3MB)


System: Asus A7N266e, 2x256MB PC2100 Crucial, XP1800+, 80GB Maxtor ATA133 drive....only things I've added are acrobat and N-force drivers

PCMark Original score:
CPU: 4588
MEM: 2914
HDD: 863


In more detail below

CPU Score 4588
Memory Score 2914
HDD Score 863

CPU Tests


Jpeg Decoding 15.2 MPixels/s
Zlib Compression 6.0 MB/s
Zlib Decompression 70.9 MB/s
Text Search 160.7 KRounds/s
Audio Conversion 83.8 KB/s
3D Vector Calculation 62.6 FPS

Memory Tests


Raw Block Read - 3072KB 993.8 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 536KB 992.4 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 384KB 1005.6 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 48KB 18473.5 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 6KB 17996.8 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 3072KB 707.4 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 1536KB 708.6 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 384KB 710.4 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 48KB 11557.4 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 6KB 11348.0 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 3072KB 577.4 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 536KB 575.7 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 384KB 525.0 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 48KB 6181.0 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 6KB 6180.5 MB/s
Random Access - 24576 (1536KB) items 702.7 MB/s
Random Access - 12288 (768KB) items 695.1 MB/s
Random Access - 6144 (384KB) items 933.6 MB/s
Random Access - 1536 (96KB) items 3728.4 MB/s
Random Access - 768 (48KB) items 4512.8 MB/s
Random Access - 96 (6KB) items 5416.6 MB/s
Video - 1 line 580.7 FPS
Video - 4 lines 482.8 FPS
Video - 16 lines 291.9 FPS
Video - 32 lines 192.4 FPS

Hard Disk Tests


Cached File Write 20.4 MB/s
Uncached File Write 16.8 MB/s
Cached File Read 32.7 MB/s
Uncached File Read 39.7 MB/s
File Copy 13.3 MB/s

Crunch Tests


Jpeg Decoding 10.8 MPixels/s
Raw Block Modify - 3072KB 293.6 MB/s
Blit Test 174.7 FPS




after the reboot, I will reply with post windows update results

 

[RU482]

Hmmm, a little different


CPU Score 4604
Memory Score 2940
HDD Score 840

CPU Tests


Jpeg Decoding 15.3 MPixels/s
Zlib Compression 5.9 MB/s
Zlib Decompression 71.3 MB/s
Text Search 161.3 KRounds/s
Audio Conversion 84.4 KB/s
3D Vector Calculation 63.1 FPS

Memory Tests


Raw Block Read - 3072KB 1015.9 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 536KB 1016.0 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 384KB 1031.2 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 48KB 18547.5 MB/s
Raw Block Read - 6KB 18064.0 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 3072KB 721.5 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 1536KB 724.1 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 384KB 718.0 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 48KB 11609.2 MB/s
Raw Block Write - 6KB 11406.7 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 3072KB 570.1 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 536KB 586.0 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 384KB 529.4 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 48KB 6209.5 MB/s
Raw Block Modify - 6KB 6205.0 MB/s
Random Access - 24576 (1536KB) items 713.0 MB/s
Random Access - 12288 (768KB) items 704.1 MB/s
Random Access - 6144 (384KB) items 937.6 MB/s
Random Access - 1536 (96KB) items 3785.8 MB/s
Random Access - 768 (48KB) items 4084.3 MB/s
Random Access - 96 (6KB) items 5435.5 MB/s
Video - 1 line 582.8 FPS
Video - 4 lines 484.7 FPS
Video - 16 lines 294.5 FPS
Video - 32 lines 193.1 FPS

Hard Disk Tests


Cached File Write 20.7 MB/s
Uncached File Write 17.6 MB/s
Cached File Read 31.9 MB/s
Uncached File Read 38.4 MB/s
File Copy 12.2 MB/s

Crunch Tests


Jpeg Decoding 10.8 MPixels/s
Raw Block Modify - 3072KB 294.7 MB/s
Blit Test 172.2 FPS

 

[Maggotry]

Generally, when benchmarking, you run the benchmark 3 times, then average them to obtain a final score. A few points difference in your results from test to test are completely normal.

 

[RU482]

I think I've lost faith in bechmarks. I've run this 3 times in a row and the numbers keep changing, some better some worse

 

[Maggotry]

Originally posted by: redly1
I think I've lost faith in bechmarks. I've run this 3 times in a row and the numbers keep changing, some better some worse

I see nothing unusual in your posted scores. What's got you concerned?

 

[RU482]

Well, maybe I jumped to conclusions. I didn't post results from the 2nd and 3rd "post windows update" benchmark. The numbers changed, not dramatically, but the did change. The only advantage any one cycle had over the other was that it was run before or after another cycle. No programs were opened up between tests. There was also ~1 min in between tests.

So, why the different numbers?

Why does it matter? because, when an article states the brand x beat brand y by , for example, .01%, people remember that brand x is better and, in their minds, is the superior product. Now, what if the tests, even though performed with identical peripherals and operating systems, were not equal due to the time after startup or some other factor. WHAT IF BRAND Y IS ACTUALLY BETTER?


Yes, I do realize I am being rediculous