How to benchmark a CPU
We’ll show you how to benchmark a CPU for performance and safety
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Whether you’re a seasoned enthusiast, a dedicated gamer, or a professional seeking peak productivity, knowing how to benchmark a CPU is a critcal step in unlocking the performance potential of the best processors on the market.
But benchmarking can be daunting for the uninitiated. Benchmarking is the process of rigorously testing and measuring a processor’s capabilities to assess its performance across various real-world and synthetic workloads to see how it stacks up against thebest processorson the market.
While that might sound like a lot, trust me: I’ve been doing this for many years now, and there really is nothing to it. Using freely available tools, I’ll show you how to push your CPU to the limit, how to analyze your results, and give you some tips on what you can do to improve your scores.
Method one: Steps for how to benchmark a CPU
Tools and Requirements
Step by step guide
Before we show you how to benchmark a CPU, you’re going to need to update your antivirus software. The benchmarking tools I use in this guide are downloaded from the internet, and it’s vital to scan anything you download from the internet with thebest antivirus softwareyou can to keep your computer safe, regardless of how reputable the source.
Once you’re ready, we can start prepping our system for our benchmarking run.
1. Shutdown as many background tasks as you can
The point of CPU benchmarking is topush the CPU to its limitusing our benchmarking tools, so anybackground programsthat are eating up processing powerneed to be closed. You can do this byright-clicking on any open programs in the taskbarand selecting"close window,“or"close all windows"from the context menu.
Sometimes programs are more stubborn, and you need to shut them down at the root.Press CTRL+ALT+Deleteto bring up the Lock Menu. SelectTask Manager.
In Task Manager,look for any programs that are eating up significant CPU resources,right click on the processand select"End task"from the context menu. Once you’re downbelow 2-3% CPU utilization, that’s about as good as you’re going to get, so you canclose out of Task Manager.
2. Download and install HWiNFO to confirm proper installation
Head over to theHWiNFO download pageandgrab the Windows installerfor this tool, which we’ll use tocheck the CPU temperatureduring testing.
Once you’vedownloaded and run an antivirus scan on the installerand its confirmed safe, install the tool wherever you’d like, but make sure tolaunch it after it finishes installing.When you see the small popup windowon launch,press startto open up the system information panel.
There is going to be a lot of information suddenly on the screen, but the only thing we’re interested in ismaking sure that the CPU is showing up properly in the system information panel.
Before you go any further, at the top of the main HWiNFO window, you’ll see a button marked"Sensors”. Click itto open up theSensors Status window. Scroll downuntil you see your processor, and specifically the entries in the table forCPU PackageandCore Temperatures.
While we test, we’ll bekeeping a close eye on these two sensors.
3. Download and install Geekbench 6
There areseveral benchmarking toolsout there for CPUs, but Geekbench 6 is one of the most widely used. Free for personal use, the only catch is that your anonymized PC build information will be entered into the Geekbench database to keep track of all scores over time. If you’re not ok with that, you can skip this test, but you’ll be missing out if you do.
Navigate to theGeekbench 6 download pageand select theWindows installer(though this tool can also be used to benchmark your Mac and Linux devices as well). One you’ve downloaded it,scanning the installer for virusesand once you get the all-clear by your antivirus,install the toolto the directory of your choice.
4. Download and install the PassMark PerformanceTest Tool
Navigate to thePassMark PerformanceTest download pageandselect the Windows installeranddownload the toolfrom the nearest server to you.
After downloading it,scanning the installer for virusesand once you’vedetermined that it’s safeto run,install the toolto the directory of your choice.
5. Download the CineBench R23 Benchmark Tool
Navigate to theMaxon CineBench R23 benchmark download pageandselect the Windows ZIP fileto download. Once downloaded, scan the file for viruses, then extract it to the directory of your choice once your antivirus gives you the all clear.
5. Download the Chaos V-Ray 5 Benchmark
Navigate to Chaos’sV-Ray 5 Benchmark pageand click download. You might need to log-in in order to download,but if you have a Google account, one or two clicks will be all you need.
Once you’re at the actual download page, make sure you select to download the standard V-Ray GUI benchmark and not the command-line benchmark. There’s nothing wrong with the command line, but since this is your first rodeo, you might as well take it easy on yourself.
Once the benchmark is downloaded, scan it with your antivirus, and then that’s it. No more downloads.
6. Run Geekbench 6’s CPU benchmark
Once you’velaunched Geekbench 6,click the button that says “Run CPU benchmark”. The tool willrun for a few minutesbefore producing a web page with your results for both single core and multi core performance.Write these numbers downandrerun the benchmark twice more,writing down the scores each time.
After three runs,take the averages of the single core scores and the multicore scoresas your final two scores.
Now,navigate toGeekbench’s Processor Benchmark pagetosee all of the aggregate scoresthat have been uploaded to Geekbench.
Eitherscroll downoruse CTRL+Fandenter your processor model to search for iton the list. When you find it,compare the average score and the score you havefor either Single Core or Multi-Core performance.
If they are reasonably close (within 300 points on Single Core and within 1,000 on Multi-Core), then you’re in good shape. If they’re more than 500/1500 points off, respectively, there might be an issue with thermal throttling holding the performance of your chip back.
7. Run PassMark’s PerformanceTest CPU Benchmark
Moving on to PerformanceTest, once you’ve launched the utility, you want toclick on “Run” in the yellow box labeled CPU Mark. This will run the CPU benchmarks, and after about two minutes, the utility interface will list the CPU score along with some other info. We’re just interested in the top-line number though, and we cancompare this figure to the official averagescompiled by Passmark on itsCPU List pageto see if your processor is performing as expected.
If it’s within a reasonable ballpark of the semi-official scores, then you should be fine. But if your score is substantially lower, then it might be an indication of a problem you need to address.
8. Run the CineBench R23 Benchmark
Navigate to where you unzipped the CineBench R23 benchmarkand run theCineBench.exe programinside. This should bring up a front end where you’ll have the choice of either single core or multi-core tests. First though,click on the File menuat the top-left, andcheck Advanced Benchmarks. This will allow you todisable the 10-minute minimum benchmarking durationto help speed things up.
Run at least the Multi-Core benchmark three timesandaverage the scores.Do the same for Single Core(if you decide to run that test) justbe prepared to wait, as the test takes a very long time.
There is no official webpage with Cinebench results, but several sites likeCGDirectorkeep a tally of Cinebench R23 scores for reference. There is also the comparative list in Cinebench R23 itself, at the bottom left, that shows your chip’s standing against some mainstream and workstation processors.
9. Run the V-Ray 5 CPU Rendering Benchmark
Finally,run V-Ray 5 directly from the file you downloadedandselect the V-Ray option on the leftto perform a strictly CPU-based rendering workload where the CPU will perform as many sampling passes as possible on an image in one minute. It will then give a score thatcan be compared online at Chaos' website.
10. Analyze the performance of the CPU and fix any issues
Now that you knowhow to benchmark a CPU, you need to know what to do with all this data.
For one, if all of your scores are more or less in line with what you’ve seen online. you canconsider yourself done.
If more than one scorecomes back wildly off from where you would expect it, you’ll need to figure out what’s getting in the way of your processor’s true potential.
In 99 times out of 100 cases, the problem is yourhow you installed the CPU cooler, in that it isn’t providing sufficient cooling to bleed off the heat generated by the intense workloads used in benchmarks. This leads the processor to throttle its performance to keep heat within acceptable levels.
If HWiNFOreports that the CPU hit it’s max temperatureor if itindicates that the CPU core performance is being throttledwhile running your benchmarks, you have almost certainly found the cause of your lower scores.
To fix this, you’ll need to check to see if your cooler is properly seated and tightly held against the processor itself (with a layer of thermal paste in between).
If you unhook the cooler from the processor and you don’t see a neat, rectangular smear of thermal paste, but instead it looks like one or more corners of the cooler wasn’t making proper contact with the CPU (which will look like a triangle of paste), it’s not cooling the CPU properly.Clean the processor and cooler of old pasteusing a disposable alcohol pad (70% or better) andreapply fresh pastebeforereattaching the cooler.A small bead of paste about the size of a pea is all you need.Spread it out evenly with your fingerto cover the whole processor die (you can clean the paste off your finger with another alcohol pad). Make sure tocarefully distribute the weight of the CPU coolerbyalternating the tightening of fastenersso that it fits even across the CPU die.
If that doesn’t work, you’ll also need toconsider whether you have the right cooler for the job, even if it’s in full working order. In this case, you’ll likely need to invest more money into getting thebest CPU cooleryou can afford, but it’s money well spent to unlock the full performance of your CPU.
Final thoughts
Benchmarking a CPU is an essential part of both PC building and testing as well as general PC maintenance.
Benchmark scores that are right on the nose for where they should be is a good sign that everything is in working order, but CPU benchmarks that swing wildly away from these numbers mean that you’ll have your work cut out for you diagnosing the problem. Still, start by making small changes to your PC over time, testing the PC after every change to narrow down what the issue is, and eventually you’ll have you a finely tuned PC that’s operating at peak performance.
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John (He/Him) is the Components Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY.
Named by the CTA as a CES 2020 Media Trailblazer for his science and technology reporting, John specializes in all areas of computer science, including industry news, hardware reviews, PC gaming, as well as general science writing and the social impact of the tech industry.
You can find him online on Threads @johnloeffler.
Currently playing: Baldur’s Gate 3 (just like everyone else).
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