Hardware benchmarking tools

Note: This article is also available as an image gallery and a video hosted by TechRepublic columnist Tom Merritt. SiSoftware Sandra Figure A is a nice commercial tool for performance benchmarking.

It takes a modular approach and includes modules that focus on aspects that aren't traditionally associated with benchmarking, such as program management and computer management. Traditional benchmarks are included with the program, but the software breaks them down in some creative and useful ways. For example, rather than simply having a CPU benchmark function, CPU performance can be benchmarked using tests that emulate the way the CPU is used when performing tasks such as scientific analysis, cryptography, and financial analysis.

Passmark Performance Test Figure B is another useful tool for baselining and benchmarking your system's performance. PerformanceTest does a good job of compiling a hardware inventory and then showing you how your system stacks up against other available hardware.

FreshDiagnose Figure C is a free tool with a dizzying array of options that rival many commercial tools. In some ways, it could almost be thought of as a diagnostic tool rather than a benchmark tool because it provides a plethora of information about a system's hardware, software, operating system, etc.

However, FreshDiagnose does provide benchmarking capabilities as well. Our advisory services can help software developers, promoters, decision makers and investors keep on top of software and hardware markets with aggregated data on past and current market trends. Industry standard PC benchmarking and diagnostic solutions since News PassMark.

OS Forensics V9 Extract forensic data from computers, quicker and easier. Read more Download Add to cart. The definitive stress test PC reliability and load testing software for Windows Read more ». USB 3. Learn More. PC Diagnostic Hardware Browse all. SiSoftware Sandra Lite is another legendary freeware, which is arguably the most renowned and oldest of the bunch. Besides benchmarking, you can also conduct surveys across the network with this baby, or even remotely access smartphones, computers, tablets and anything in between.

The installation process will require some configuration, while the UI is intuitive and clean, with everything clearly listed: tools, benchmarks, hardware and software. Speccy will deliver a detailed list of both software and hardware components in a comprehensible fashion, which makes it a great system information utility. Finally, we have the PassMark PerformanceTest, i.

The PMPT can benchmark your machine via various speed tests, and it comes in two flavors: the fully featured paid version and a free trial version. First up, thanx so much for the reviews. Cheers, Rolf. Thanks MAN!! Rare to find GOOD info online anymore! Funny i had most. Are you having a joke with us? User bench mark is so inept it has been proven to favor only Intel CPUs I mean how can they state that an I3 is superior in perfomace to a X, their answer is that people do not use more than 4 cores.

So for testing they are pathetic. Your email address will not be published. Another great way to benchmark your GPU is to use it exactly as intended—in games. Several titles include automated built-in benchmarks that make it easy to see what sort of performance to expect, in a repeatable situation.

Check out our guide to benchmarking your graphics card for a much deeper dive into the topic. With ultra-fast NVMe SSDs becoming more popular and ever-faster , benchmarking their performance means more than ever.

Benchmarking the various storage drives in your PC also lets you know which ones run fastest and should thus house your most-crucial software. Benchmarking your SSD or hard drive can let you know if it is performing per specifications.