After seeing the brief guide on things to know to buy a new computer, it also becomes interesting to understand how your PC is, just purchased, compared to that of others and, therefore, do the so-called " benchmark ". A banchmark program is one that performs an analysis of computer hardware components, puts them under stress and tries to understand what performance they have.
Windows 7 and Windows 10 have their own computer power measurement tool and, in another article, it is explained how to read the Windows performance index .
Some more advanced benchmark programs (and almost never free) then do comparative tests and compare the results found with those found in a database with the most popular hardware configurations in the world.
In this way a person can understand if his pc is currently still powerful or if he is starting to get old.
READ ALSO: Compare processors, video cards and SSDs
However, it is clear that measuring the power of the computer remains an operation in itself because then it always depends on what you do with the PC.
I certainly do not need a computer program to make me say that I have an old computer and that there is better around, but knowing what you have and maybe what others have, can certainly be useful for the future.
Using programs to measure the power and performance of the computer is useful for understanding which computer was bought, what can be improved, the best there is around.
Some of the best free programs to benchmark your computer are:
1) Super PI is a very simple software very popular among those who overclock the processors to check if, indeed, the computing power of the CPU has increased.
It measures the speed of the processor to perform a complex mathematical calculation.
2) 3DMark and PCMark are two programs of the same FutureMark company that make different measurements.
3DMark measures the video card's capacity on video games while PC Mark is for more general use and tests various components. These programs, in addition to providing a summary card, also make a comparison with current technology. The results, even for more modern PCs, could be depressing because, it seems, FutureMark is quite demanding in its comparison parameters. These programs are downloadable in trial version.
3) Novabench is a free program, completely and without limitations (there is no paid version to be clear) that makes comparative tests on the hardware components of the computer and the performance of each part. This is therefore one of the few truly free benchmarking programs and the free version is the only version available. Novabench's tests are related to processing speed, 2D graphics performance, read / write hard drives. It is particularly suitable for computers that are intended for an office or home. Novabench also tests the graphics card, less deep than a 3DMark but still sufficient.
4) Similar to Novabench is Passmark which allows you to compare the computer with that of others to see if it needs to be changed or not.
PassMark Performance Test is a shareware, therefore paid software that can be downloaded for free and can be used without limitations for 30 days. Since, for most users, even a single comparison check is enough, 30 days should be enough to see if you need to buy a new computer, and if so, how much better it would be than you currently have. PerformanceTest manages a fairly complete set of tests, including the CPU, graphics (2D and 3D), memory, hard drives and CD performance. It therefore allows you to upload the results to its online database, to read comparative graphs and an overall score that can be compared with that of other users who mount the same operating system. Through a table you can read brands and models that offer better performance and it becomes a good way to understand which computer, if any, you need to buy.
Even if the report is in English, it is absolutely not difficult to understand the information described, just think that the higher the numbers, the better.
5) Excellent Auslogics Benchtown program that works completely automatically and measures the memory, processor, hard disk and video card capacity of the computer by doing several tests. In the end, an overall score is generated that can be compared online with that of other people to see if your PC is still good compared to what is available on the market.
6) Sandra is not the name of a well-known TV personality but the acronym for System Analyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant .
It is a complete suite of features aimed at users who are very well informed about the internal functioning of their computers and also for companies that need to perform a detailed analysis on multiple systems.
SiSoft Sandra offers a free version of the software that you can't miss, Sisoft Sandra Lite.
The benchmark tests available in SiSoft Sandra are staggering and, although I'm not an expert in the hardware field, it seems to me that there are truly measurements for everything, for the power intended in all possible ways. A useful feature of SiSoft Sandra is the comparative test with other similar pieces: therefore, by comparing the processor, a comparison with five other similar processors is provided to give an idea of how a possible upgrade can serve.
7) FRAPS is one of those non-synthetic benchmark tools.
This means that the program that performs the measurements and tests to generate the final report is not started.
Fraps benchmarks computer use by capturing performance information related to graphics in video games . So by activating Fraps, while playing on the computer, information about the number of frames per second is captured. Fraps is completely free, the paid version contains functions that have nothing to do with the benchmark.
8) Furmark is a free tool for measuring video card performance with stability and performance tests. This is one of those tools that stress the graphics card, simulating extreme situations to see if it holds and does not go haywire. Nothing dangerous of course but, if there are Furmark crashes, there is probably a problem with temperature or with excessive overclocking.
9) Lookinmypc report hardware is an easy tool to get a detailed description of what's on the computer with all the values and characteristics of the internal hardware.
The html report is well formatted for printing.
10) RealBench is another example of real-time CPU benchmarking. It uses four tests, all related to rendering: Image Editing, H.264 Video Encoding, OpenCL and Heavy Multitasking. You can upload your search to the RealBench website to compare your location with other computers and see how powerful ours is compared to other hardware configurations. Perhaps the best thing about RealBench is that it simulates a regular load, without necessarily taking a stress test to push the CPU to the maximum to evaluate its performance.
11) SpeedFan is used to control temperatures, fans and system voltages.
Another useful program for checking the fans and temperatures of the processor, video card and disk is HWMonitor .
12) SIW is a portable and free program, similar to the famous Everest (Aida) and other programs to have an extremely detailed computer hardware overview.
In another article there were other programs to test performance and stability of memory, Ram and CPU.
A spontaneous question that I can imagine is "which is better to use? ".
It is not so simple to answer; for example programs such as FRAPS and 3D Mark06 are recommended for those who play videogames on the computer while NovaBench and Sandra focus more on general performance, such as processor or hard disk speed. A tip I can give is to use them all, or at least the first 5, to get complete information and measure the power of the computer from different perspectives.
The Benchmark has nothing to do with the optimization of Windows that is obtained by cleaning the computer, defragmenting the disk, eliminating corrupt files and so on.
