{"id":78529,"date":"2019-07-29T16:00:53","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T14:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=78529"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:38:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:38:01","slug":"best-free-benchmarking-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/best-free-benchmarking-software\/","title":{"rendered":"Best free benchmarking software"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Benchmark\"<\/p>\n

There are many reasons to benchmark your computer. Knowing the technical details <\/strong>of your computer can tell you what it\u2019s capable of doing or if you can run a specific game. Regardless if you only use your computer for tasks such as playing games or editing photos or video<\/a>, it\u2019s important to know if your system is up to the job.<\/p>\n

Here are the best free benchmarking programs all designed to test your computer\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

Best free benchmarking software<\/h2>\n

Futuremark PC Mark 8<\/h3>\n

\"futuremark<\/p>\n

Futuremark is famous for its graphics testing software, 3DMark<\/a>. Designed to stress your graphics card using complex computations that translate to games, 3DMark is a great test to see how powerful your GPU is. Futuremark also makes PCMark, which is designed to test your computer\u2019s capability in a more real-world setting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

PC Mark 8 focuses on your using your computer for everyday tasks like office suite<\/a> productivity, web browsing, and video chat. The test simulates these situations<\/strong> and gives you the results. It supplies a breakdown, but these numbers may be a little confusing. You can also compare your scores to others who have tested their machines online.<\/p>\n

While the full version of PC Mark has more advanced options, the free version still gives you a general idea<\/strong> of how well your computer runs. If you\u2019re looking to benchmark your computer for gaming, then use 3D Mark.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"PCMark\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n PCMark 8<\/span>\r\n Download now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Novabench<\/h3>\n

\"novabench\"<\/p>\n

Novabench is another great option if you\u2019re an advanced user. The test Novabench runs is relatively simple on the surface; it tests your\u00a0RAM<\/strong>, CPU<\/strong>, GPU<\/strong>, and the hard drive. The score can be compared online and will give you a better idea of how good your computer is relative to others.<\/p>\n

The problem with Novabench is that many of the test results are strings of numbers that might not mean much to a normal user. Even the results don\u2019t tell you much and you\u2019ll have to go online to compare results.<\/p>\n

Novabench might be worth considering as a secondary test<\/strong> rather than your primary one to compare numbers like CPU tests or RAM speed rather than using the final Novabench score.<\/p>\n

\r\n
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\r\n
\r\n \"NovaBench\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n NovaBench<\/span>\r\n Download now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>9<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/span>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

PassMark Performance Test<\/h3>\n

\"passmark<\/p>\n

Performance Test is the best benchmarking app for people who want to learn more about their computer, but don\u2019t want to deal with arbitrary numbers. While the program gives you a benchmark number, it\u00a0displays more relevant information<\/strong> on other tabs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Performance Test also shows how your computer stacks up against others within the program. You will need to know a little about your computer like what kind of processor or graphics card it\u2019s using for the results to make sense. But the amount of information that Performance Test supplies is a perfect start to begin tweaking your system<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I suggest using Performance Test if you\u2019re looking to upgrade your computer because it’s great for figuring out what parts you need to upgrade your system. The program offers a free 30-day free trial<\/strong> before requiring a purchase.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Passmark\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Passmark Performance Test<\/span>\r\n Download now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/span>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

SiSoft Sandra<\/h3>\n

\"sissoftware<\/p>\n

When I ran SiSoft Sandra to benchmark my laptop, I didn\u2019t expect amazing results. My laptop is built for productivity and internet browsing but Sandra’s results compare performance between\u00a0manufacturer’s laptops<\/strong>. This means it\u2019s not a comparison to other users who may have built their own computers, but to off-the-shelf computers.<\/p>\n

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Three ways to benchmark web browsers<\/p>\r\n Read now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

The problem with Sandra is that it gives too much information, even for a power user like me. It contains comprehensive tests<\/strong> that will cover just about everything and anything. The initial test for Sandra took around 30 minutes, during which I let the laptop run through every test without touching it.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re using an ultrabook, there\u2019s no reason to run SiSoft Sandra unless you want to be depressed. These computers aren\u2019t meant to run games or resource-heavy apps. If you\u2019re benchmarking a custom-built gaming<\/strong> machine<\/strong>, the results of your test might be really useful in deciding how to further optimize your system.<\/p>\n

\r\n
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\r\n
\r\n \"Sisoft\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Sisoft Sandra<\/span>\r\n Download now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Fraps<\/h3>\n

\"fraps\"<\/p>\n

If you play games, you probably already know about Fraps<\/strong>. The real-time frames per second (FPS<\/strong>) benchmarking tool is widely used to test how well games run. As opposed to other benchmarking software, there are no artificial tests. Fraps will log the current FPS<\/strong> in the game you\u2019re running to give you an indicator of how well your system handles a particular game.<\/p>\n

There are other tools like a screen capture<\/strong> short key (which doesn\u2019t capture the FPS number) and a video capture<\/strong> tool so you can record gameplay to upload somewhere else. The program is light so it doesn\u2019t use system resources so you don\u2019t experience any lag when playing a game.<\/p>\n

Fraps\u2019 specialized benchmarking means that it\u2019s not the best choice for someone who isn’t playing games on their computer. But if you\u2019re a PC gamer, using Fraps can give you important statistics about your system.<\/p>\n

\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n \"Fraps\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Fraps<\/span>\r\n Download now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/span>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Knowing the potential and real-time performance<\/strong> of your computer is important. It\u2019s useful to test a new computer and see how well it can perform. Benchmarking the same computer, later on, will tell you if you should upgrade your components or buy a new computer. Benchmarking may seem overwhelming, but with the right program, you\u2019ll be able to know exactly what you can expect from your computer.<\/p>\n

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Make sure your computer is running at peak performance with these benchmarking apps!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2030,"featured_media":145692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":2},"categories":[2518,2441],"tags":[1036,1080],"usertag":[784],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-78529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","category-how-to","tag-productivity","tag-windows","usertag-gamer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78529"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325649,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78529\/revisions\/325649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78529"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=78529"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=78529"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=78529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}