How to Run A Computer Performance (Benchmark) Test on Windows. How to benchmark pc

The Novabench test process is faster than many other full test suites. In our test system it took about a minute while other test suites took much longer.

The 10 Best Free Benchmark Programs for Windows

Use this fantastic and free Windows test software to fix system problems and keep it up-to-date.

You have just overclocked your GPU or installed a new hardware component on your computer. Is it working? Benchmarks are a great way to take a snapshot of your PC’s performance, and the best benchmarking software is often free.

Whether you want to gauge how poorly or how well your computer is performing, there is a comparative tool to help everyone. Don’t wait for someone else to test your computer to fix the problem!

General Performance

Benchmarking software usually allows you to overclock or change fan speed settings. These options allow users to configure hardware changes through software. Keep in mind that testing a computer is a bit more complex than simply running the software.

Head over to our article on how to perform a benchmark like a pro to find out how to accurately compare components.

1. CPU-Z

CPU-Z is a free test software that will provide users with a complete overview of the computer’s hardware specifications, especially regarding the CPU.

It also includes motherboard, RAM and graphics card specifications, making it an excellent all-round program for visualizing hardware brands and models. You can even save a TXT file with the information using the Tools option.

Download: CPU-Z for Windows (Free)

2. HWMonitor

HWMonitor is a PC testing software that visualizes the make and model of hardware components in your PC and displays specific parameters live.

These parameters include energy consumption, fan speeds, usage percentage, clock speed, and temperature. This can be crucial as problems like overheating of a component in your computer can lead to frequent computer crashes.

HWMonitor’s simple interface makes all values ​​easy to display and understand. Of course, you can also save this information for further troubleshooting with the File option.

Download: HWMonitor for Windows (Free)

3. SiSoftware Sandra Lite

SiSoftware Sandra Lite is a fully functional test suite intended for users who are very well informed about the internal operation of their computers and for companies that need to conduct detailed analysis on multiple computers.

Want to test your computer’s memory bandwidth? No problem. Do you want to test your network performance? Sure. Do you want to test the energy efficiency of your computer? Yes, Sandra does it too.

Another useful feature of SiSoftware Sandra Lite is the online reference database. SiSoft Sandra will benchmark your component or connection online and then compare your performance with other similar processors to get a better idea of ​​how an upgrade can help you.

Download: SiSoftware Sandra Lite for Windows (Free)

4. Speccy

From the makers of CCleaner, Piriform’s Speccy is a favorite of the gaming community due to the simple layout of the computer’s hardware configuration.

Once opened, Speccy will provide a thorough overview of all components and most drivers currently available on your computer.

If you click on the individual parameters on the left side of the window, you’ll get even more information about your specific hardware, including temperature, voltage, fan speeds, and more.

Download: Speccy for Windows (Free)

5. Fraps

Fraps is the de facto FPS testing tool in every player’s arsenal. Easy to use and configure, Fraps will allow users to view and save their FPS ratings over time.

While Fraps is largely used to display FPS ratings over time, which is very handy for testing new hardware or overclocking your PC, you can also use it for screenshots and recording your gameplay.

Download: Fraps for Windows (Free)

Benchmarking a laptop is a great way to see how well your machine performs compared to other systems, and the best part is that you can do it without paying a dime.

Option 1: Using Performance Monitor

Every distribution of Windows has this handy built-in diagnostic tool. You can use the Performance Monitor to view the performance in real time or from a log file. You can also configure how the results are output to be able to analyze them.

On the Diagnostic Results tab, you will find the following subsections:

Warning: This section appears if there are any warnings about problems your computer is facing. Provides related links to more information about the situation and how to resolve it.

Informational: Contains more information about CPU, network cards etc,

Basic System Checks: Shows information about the operating system, disks, information related to the Security Center, system services, hardware, and drivers.

Resource Overview: This section provides an overview of the major parts of your system including CPU, Disk, Memory, and Networking. Uses red, amber, or green light to indicate the severity of problems and provides detailed information about the current state of the system.

There are several other reports that provide advanced information in the Performance Monitor. You can take the time to read them, but if not, the diagnostic results will give you only the information you need.

Option 2: Using Prime95

Prime95 is a popular CPU load test and benchmark tool among overclockers. Includes torture test and benchmark modules.

1. Download Prime95, unzip the zip file, and then run Prime95.exe
2. Click the “Just Stress Testing” button to skip creating an account.
3. On the next screen, click “Cancel” to exit Torture Test Mode.
4. Go to the “Options” menu and click “Benchmark” to test

To interpret the benchmark results, note that lower values ​​are faster and therefore better. You can also compare your test results with other computers on the Prime95 website.

Flexible licensing without crap. After purchase, you can transfer the software between computers as needed. No hardware locking. No online activation process. No time-based expiry. No annual fees. Multi-user and site licenses are also available.

Benchmark your laptop CPU

Cinebench R23 for Windows after testing the Intel Core i3-7100U processor.

When it comes to testing processors, Cinebench is a solid choice. This is a quick and easy test that takes about 10 minutes and can often be found in PCWorld processor reviews. Cinebench has a ranking pane on the left that shows you one system compared to another and includes your system’s score when you first booted it up. There are also sites like CG Director and CPU-Monkey that list results from other users.

As of this writing, the latest version of Cinebench is R23, which has both multi-core and single-core test. Modern processors have multiple cores (up to eight cores in the most advanced mobile chips, such as the Ryzen 5000), and each core can handle an independent processing load. This is important as some applications may only use one core while others are optimized for multiple cores.

Try to run both tests as this gives a more complete picture. The multicore test in the R23 is more of a stress test than it was on earlier versions, but if you compare your results with other computers that also use the R23, you’ll get an accurate picture of how your system is stacking.

Compared to other systems, your PC may destroy it in a multi-core test, but it won’t have a single core. This is instructive because poor single-core performance can indicate problems with programs that rely heavily on a single core, such as in many office applications.

The second test to try is Geekbench. The demo version of this benchmark is free and will automatically upload your results to the Geekbench results site where you can compare the results with other Windows systems (don’t waste time comparing results with phones). Geekbench also has a GPU test.

Benchmark your laptop productivity performance

PCMark 10 is the standard performance test for PCs.

Beyond the Cinebench Single Core CPU Test, you’ll want to know how well the system handles spreadsheets, web browsing, application launch, photo editing, and video chat. For this, try the PCMark 10 Basic test, which runs the laptop using open source office applications such as Gimp or LibreOffice, among others. PCMark 10 is one of the most used benchmarks for testing system performance in general computing tasks and we use it quite often in PCWorld for testing laptops.

PCMark also includes a section that uses a 3D ray tracing modeling application. But for most people, the score for Essentials (which includes browsing and videoconferencing) and Productivity (which includes editing spreadsheets and text documents) probably matters the most.

You can download the official version from Steam by clicking the Download Demo button.

It’s as real as it gets: while the other benchmarks will test the overall performance of your PC or the CPU and GPU benchmark combination, CineBench in particular will test all available CPU cores. After running the test, the CPU will be scored in points: the higher the score, the higher the CPU performance.

Before You Benchmark

Now running the test application is pretty easy. You just install it, open it up, and let it run. However, there are a few things you’ll want to do before you begin testing your computer:

• Close everything else, including unnecessary applications running in the background. You want your results to be as accurate as possible, and you want your applications running will lower your results, especially your CPU performance.
• Set aside some time. While most tests should take no more than a few minutes, this time can be extended by 10-30 minutes, depending on your system. Make sure there is nothing urgent to do before you start recording your benchmarks and that you have something to take your time while they’re running.
• Be patient. Don’t expect immediate satisfaction from any of the test packages, and don’t stop them at all if you want good results. It may seem obvious, but there is a lack of patience with more people than you might think, so we keep saying it.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that all of these tests are compatible with Windows, including Windows 10 (and some are even compatible with Android and iOS devices). Are you covered with all of these basics? Great. Let’s move on to a comparative analysis!

How to Benchmark my PCs CPU?

PassMark

Our first processor testing tool is PassMark, which comes with a free 30-day trial (later costs $ 29). (So ​​almost free if you only plan on running it once or twice!) Technically it offers a full system test, but I most recommend it for its CPU testing suite, which is fairly thorough. This includes the ability to compare performance with similar systems, “baselines”, and more.

If you need a free and reliable CPU benchmark, PassMark is a pretty solid choice. However, it is not the only…

Geekbench

Geekbench is another great processor testing tool. While its premium versions also offer CUDA and Metal Benchmarks testing, its trial version offers a 64-bit benchmark right out of the box, which is exactly what you expect from a CPU test tool.

Since Geekbench is also cross-platform, you can even compare your computer’s performance with, say, your iPhone’s latest results! It won’t really change anything, but it’s pretty cool!

CPU-Z is primarily an application focused on obtaining accurate specifications and information about the performance of the processor. It’s not exactly a “benchmarking application” per se, but can be used to determine if your CPU is performing as expected, and you can compare your results with others using the same CPU.

If you’re worried that something is wrong with your CPU, this could be a pretty good app to run to get to the bottom of the problem.

You can also save your results for later comparison, which is useful if you are comparing configuration changes such as overclocking or replacing graphics cards.

Test All-Around PC Performance with PCMark

PCMark is also being developed by Futuremark, the same company that develops 3DMark. PCMark focuses on all-round PC usage performance rather than 3D gaming performance. The free, basic edition has a small subset of the tests available, but can still be useful. There are several versions available and which one you use depends on the version of Windows you’re using:

• Use PCMark 10 for Windows 10 PCs.
• Use PCMark 8 for Windows 8 PCs.
• Use PCMark 7 on computers running Windows 7.

As with 3DMark, you can get each version of PCMark as the free, basic edition or the paid, advanced edition ($ 29.99). The free version includes video playback, web browsing, image manipulation, and storage tests, as well as some 3D graphics and gaming performance tests. The paid version adds additional benchmarks and more elaborate graphs of the results.

The free version of PCMark 10 weighs in at around 2GB, so be prepared for a big download.

After downloading and installing the edition you want, run PCMark. We’re going to be using PCMark 10 here, but most of the options will be similar in the other versions. On the “Home” page, click the “Run” button to start the benchmark.

The benchmark can take a while – almost 15 minutes on our test system. PCMark shows the test progress at the bottom of the screen, and additional windows will appear while testing video and graphics playback. When you do this, you will see results and as always, higher scores are better.

Scroll down the window a little and you can click the “View Online” button to see how your results compare with the other systems tested.

It may take some time for the benchmark to be performed. After doing this, you will see detailed information about the benchmark results on the Futuremark website. As with Futuremark’s 3DMark, higher scores are better.

Get a Well-Rounded Look at Performance with SiSoftware Sandra

Overall Score benchmark includes benchmarks for CPU, GPU, memory bandwidth, and file system performance. Make sure “Refresh results by running all benchmarks” is checked and then click “OK” (checkmark button) to run the tests.

Sisoft also offers the ability to customize ranking engines, which is free but requires registration via email. If you’d rather not do this, you can just hit the “Cancel” button to start the benchmarking.

Fair warning: Sandra runs a fairly intensive suite of tests, and this could take some time – almost an hour on our test system. While testing, you won’t really be able to do anything else on your computer, so schedule some tests to run when you don’t need them for a while. During testing, it may seem that little is happening with Sandra’s window, and sometimes it may appear that the system is frozen. Do not worry. It will eventually show some progress as it passes the tests.

After the benchmark is complete, you will see detailed graphs comparing the results of each benchmark against the results of the reference computers. You can use the checkboxes on the left to select the reference computers that you want to use for the comparison.

Switch to the “Ranking” tab to see how your system compares against other user-submitted results. Click the “View SiSoftware Ranker” button to view detailed information about your system and other users’ systems on Sisoft website.

Is your preferred benchmarking tool not on this list? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Chris Hoffman
Chris Hoffman is the editor-in-chief of How-To Geek. He has been writing about technology for over a decade, and for two years he was a columnist for PCWorld. Chris has written for The New York Times, has been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations such as NBC 6 in Miami, and his work has been covered by news sites such as the BBC. As of 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read nearly a billion times – and it is right here at How-To Geek.
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In terms of benchmarks, this is a much newer player in the scene and probably won’t be very useful with older GPUs. However, it’s a great way to see how a modern GPU is dealing with heavy graphics effects like depth of field, advanced lighting, etc.

Run Windows 10 Performance Monitor Tool

While not at par with the Windows Experience Index mentioned above, Windows 10 has a built-in performance monitoring tool. We’ll be the first to say that this does not replace the benchmarking tool, but provides some useful system information that you may find helpful. Here’s how to run the monitoring tool.

1. To get started, right-click the Windows Start menu icon and select “Run” from the contextual list that appears on your screen.
2. In the empty Run field enter “perfmon / report” and press “Run” below.
3. Windows will run the performance monitoring tool and collect system data for 60 seconds before compiling the report. Let the process go on.
4. Upon completion, you will receive an overview of your system along with a series of tests detailing any potential computer problems.
5. Click the “Hardware Configuration” section and then “Desktop Assessment.”
6. Click the “+” sign under “Query”, then do the same for “Returned objects.”
7. You will get an assessment for different processes from CPU to disk using graphics. The results are rated out of ten, giving you a system performance value.

Run The Windows System Assessment Tool

The method below is very similar to the one above, but provides additional information about how well the system is at dealing with CPU, GPU, and memory indices. Follow the steps below to run the tool.

1. To get started, right-click on the Windows Start menu and hit “Run” from the options listed.
2. Type “cmd” in an empty run box and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter on your keyboard.
3. When you are prompted “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?” message, select “OK.”

1. In the command prompt window, type “winsat prepop” and press Enter.
2. Allow Command Prompt to run the test.

1. Upon completion, you’ll get a complete list of how well the system performed for each type of test. For GPU testing, results are measured in FPS while CPU performance is billed in MB / s and so on.

Overall Score benchmark includes benchmarks for CPU, GPU, memory bandwidth, and file system performance. Make sure “Refresh results by running all benchmarks” is checked and then click “OK” (checkmark button) to run the tests.

Run from USB

You can run PerformanceTest directly from the USB drive. No network connection is required. Perfect for IT administrators, technicians and computer enthusiasts on the go.

Flexible licensing without crap. After purchase, you can transfer the software between computers as needed.
No hardware locking.
No online activation process.
No time-based expiry.
No annual fees.
Multi-user and site licenses are also available.

See here for more information on licensing.

Advanced testing

Seven advanced, customizable tests allow experienced users to create their own test scenarios and conduct in-depth analysis of hardware behavior.

Test your disk speed with a variety of file sizes, block sizes, and caching options. Test with multiple threads and measure IOPS.
Read more

Put your CPU to the test by running our advanced individual CPU tests on a specific number of threads read more

Test the speed of your 3D graphics card by choosing from options such as haze, lighting, alpha blending, wire frame, texturing, resolution, color depth, object rotation and object displacement.

Separate tests for DirectX 9,10,11 and 12. Supports 4K resolution read more

Measure the speed of the network between any two computers using TCP / IP. A network speed test can be performed on a corporate LAN or the Internet to determine the throughput between points.

Customize parameters such as hostname, IP address, port number, and block size. Works with dialup and ADSL modems, cables and LAN networks read more

Measure RAM read and write speed. The parameters include the data size (8 bits to 64 bits) and the choice of two test modes. Sequential line access with different block sizes or non-sequential access with different step sizes.

This allows you to study both the RAM buffering effect and the memory controller optimization read more

Get a visual representation of what the Standard CPU Physics Test does. You can also adjust the simulation parameters to get different effects read more

Test the computing performance of your video adapter with a series of tests. Both DirectCompute and OpenCL read more