Not All Application-Based Benchmarks Are Equal Without sufficient transparency, the question can also arise as to whether the tests are selected to highlight one particular architecture over another. In the case of application-based benchmarks, this allows buyers to understand whether the workloads being used match their organization’s usage. This can be mitigated by following a general principle of using multiple benchmarks together to get a broader, more reliable picture of performance.Ī good benchmark should be as transparent as possible, with a clear description of what the benchmark is testing and its testing methods. Two types of benchmarks are commonly used to evaluate PC performance: “synthetic” and “application-based.” Both types can be useful in the decision process, although individual benchmarks can often have undesirable attributes. AMDįigure 1 – PC Evaluation Strategy What Makes A Good Benchmark? Rather than just using one benchmark, companies can get a broader picture of performance by building a composite score across several benchmarks.įigure 1 compares three different approaches to evaluating PC performance-benchmarks, application scripts, and user evaluations-and shows how the results have different levels of business relevance. Instead, most companies rely on the results of industry-standard PC benchmarks to evaluate system performance. However, it is still a considerable task and can be difficult to maintain between different PC generations. This approach can improve the consistency of performance measurements and provide repeatable results. This approach is not without downsides, however, including the time required to perform the evaluation, the difficulty of deciding which workloads to measure, and the challenge of measuring performance in a consistent, reliable, and unbiased manner.īeyond individual user testing, the next-best approach would be for in-house developers to take input from users and create “bespoke” scripts to measure application performance in a way that matches the priorities of those users. The experience of these users will likely correlate better with their future satisfaction, and it will be more accurate than any published benchmark. In other words, have actual users perform their everyday tasks in the working environment using real-world data. One of the best ways to evaluate the performance of a new PC is to conduct a real-world test. Many applications include functions that involve displaying graphics on the screen, reading data from storage or even the network for these workloads, CPU performance, while important, is not the only factor to consider. As a result, the measured efficiency of a processor-that is, its IPC-will often vary substantially between applications and even between workloads. Modern applications are highly complex, involving different underlying algorithms and data access patterns. Evaluating Performance With Real-World Tests Frequency will also vary dramatically depending on the type of task being performed, the task duration, the number of cores being used, etc. This is especially true for processors in notebook PCs, where the frequency is constrained by thermal considerations. The second problem is that for most modern processors, frequency is not a constant. First, you can have two processors that operate with the same frequency and see dramatically different performance due to the efficiency of their underlying implementations, something measured as “Instructions Per Clock” (IPC). There are two problems with this approach. Traditionally, companies have used various physical specifications, such as processor frequency and cache size, to set a baseline for PC performance. The Old-School Method Of Measuring PC Performance Are they based on professional applications or mostly consumer workloads? What were the environmental conditions? In this article, we’ll look at some key considerations for using benchmarks to evaluate the performance of modern business PCs-and how to ensure that you choose the right system for current and future needs. Yet, these benchmarks may not provide the complete performance picture. Many companies look to performance benchmarks to help determine which system would best meet their needs. While there are many factors that can go into PC purchase decisions, performance still ranks as the top concern for companies of all sizes.
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