Benchmarks Explained — What Do the Numbers Mean?

Benchmarks Explained — What Do the Numbers Mean?

Benchmarks Explained

Benchmarks are standardised tests that measure the performance of PC components under controlled conditions. They’re useful for comparing products, verifying your system is performing as expected, and diagnosing performance issues. But benchmark numbers only tell part of the story.

CPU Benchmarks

Cinebench (Maxon): The most widely used CPU benchmark. Tests single-core and multi-core rendering performance.

  • Single-core score: Reflects gaming and lightly-threaded application performance. More important for gamers.
  • Multi-core score: Reflects video rendering, 3D modelling, and heavily multi-threaded workloads. More important for content creators.

Geekbench: Cross-platform benchmark covering single and multi-core CPU performance. Useful for comparing across different architectures.

PassMark CPU: A composite score covering integer, floating point, and memory performance. Good for quick comparisons.

GPU Benchmarks

3DMark (UL Benchmarks): The industry standard for GPU benchmarking. Key tests include:

  • Time Spy: DirectX 12 benchmark. Best for comparing modern gaming GPUs at 1440p.
  • Fire Strike: DirectX 11 benchmark. Good for 1080p gaming comparisons.
  • Port Royal: Ray tracing benchmark.
  • Speed Way: DirectX 12 Ultimate benchmark for high-end GPUs at 4K with ray tracing.

Gaming Benchmarks (FPS)

Real-world gaming benchmarks measure average and 1% low frame rates in actual games — often more meaningful than synthetic benchmarks.

  • Average FPS: The mean frame rate over the benchmark run. Higher is better.
  • 1% Low FPS: The frame rate at the 1st percentile. A low 1% low indicates stuttering even if average FPS looks good.
  • 0.1% Low FPS: Even more extreme outliers. Useful for identifying severe stuttering.

Always check the resolution, graphics settings, and driver version used — these dramatically affect results.

Storage Benchmarks

CrystalDiskMark: The standard tool for measuring SSD and HDD performance.

  • Sequential read/write: Large file transfer speeds. Measured in MB/s or GB/s.
  • Random 4K read/write: Small file access speeds. More representative of real-world OS and application performance.

How to Use Benchmarks Wisely

  • Compare like for like: Only compare scores from the same test, same version, same settings, and same resolution.
  • Check multiple sources: A single result can be an outlier. Look at results from multiple reviewers.
  • Synthetic ≠ real-world: Synthetic benchmarks measure peak performance under ideal conditions.
  • Verify your own system: Run benchmarks on your PC and compare to published results. Significant deviations may indicate a cooling, driver, or configuration issue.
  • Don’t obsess over small differences: A 3–5% difference in benchmark scores is rarely noticeable in real-world use.