Cpu user benchmark: CPU UserBenchmarks — 1372 Processors Compared

13 февраля, 2023

UserBenchmark Can’t Be Trusted, Here’s Why

For many casual PC users (especially those who fancy themselves tech gurus), UserBenchmark has been crucial in helping them figure out whether or not their rig can handle a certain amount of work, and for good reason: UserBenchmark is very easy-to-use, little-to-no-training required, and displays the information it gathers from your PC (a standalone system that is one-time usage with no installation required) in an organized and easy-to-understand fashion.

There’s just one problem: UserBenchmark is wildly inaccurate.

Why Experts Shun UserBenchmark

UserBenchmark has become one of the most controversial websites over the past couple of years after hundreds –if not thousands –of tech experts found various inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and biases in their system. What was once one of the most treasured tech developments to go public is now universally condemned and looked down upon by the tech community.

One of the most glaring inaccuracies in UserBenchmark’s system is its favoring of single-core and quad-core processors, with octa-core processors being given negative assessments despite the fact that the latter objectively pumps out more power and speed. It took the Ryzen 5’s launch –which many users used as a new benchmark of sorts –to figure out the inaccuracies presented in UserBenchmark’s results.

But despite the almost-universal condemnation of UserBenchmark, a quick Google search of anything related to PC benchmark tests will almost-always yield the site as a top result. This is because the UserBenchmark team relies heavily on SEO manipulation of certain keywords to put themselves at the top, whether it’s CPU reviews or GPU performance tests, UserBenchmark tries its best to corner those keywords so that search engine users see their site first. This is, of course, despite their claims in their “About” page, a claim widely contested by thousands of users who accuse the website of hating AMD.

Of course, SEO is a viable marketing strategy that pretty much any site worth its salt uses, but for many tech experts, UserBenchmark is leveraging SEO to further spread their wholly inaccurate and biased findings which, for many, is dangerous for the average user.

UserBenchmark: Biased Towards Intel and NVIDIA

Perhaps one of the most glaring examples of UserBenchmark’s bias is the lack of any AMD products on its website. UserBenchmark will have us believe that this is not due to any curation on their end, but rather, a reflection of user input.

However, consider this: UserBenchmark mentions the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super in their GPU section as faster than the Radeon RX 5600 XT. However, a quick glance at the specs of each GPU –not to mention user reviews in pretty much every other website –will show that Radeon’s GPU is actually 30% faster than NVIDIA. In fact, the Radeon RX 5700XT, which coincidentally ranks dismally in UserBenchmark, is around 10% better (according to, again, pretty much every website that isn’t UserBenchmark) than the GeForce RTX 2060 Super (which, coincidentally, is universally condemned by every other website that isn’t UserBenchmark).

UserBenchmark: Banned from Trusted Subreddits

Due to growing criticism and widespread mistrust, citing UserBenchmark on various subreddits has pretty much been banned, with reputable threads r/Intel and r/Hardware even going so far as to ban any UserBenchmark user from posting or commenting on their subreddit, mostly because many self-proclaimed UserBenchmark users were either acting like trolls or were completely biased towards UserBenchmark’s inaccurate results.

But despite Reddit bringing down the banhammer, UserBenchmark actually doubled-down on their user’s behavior, with their blog and About page calling anyone who criticizes them as “paid for by billion-dollar companies”, “an army of shills”, and so on and so forth.

r/Hardware was the first subreddit to ban the UserBenchmark team, with the mods garnering a whopping 97% of subreddit users to approve their decision to ban UserBenchmark. Of course, UserBenchmark called this a “smear campaign”

So Should We Stop Using UserBenchmark?

Yes, and here’s why:

UserBenchmark focuses its system to test PCs primarily for gaming, with results being skewed in favor of the latest, most expensive hardware available. This isn’t in and of itself horrible; after all, some of the most powerful CPUs and GPUs out there do cost an arm and a leg. However, that doesn’t mean that less expensive CPUs and GPUs can’t deliver something comparable to their high-end counterparts.

In fact, we’ve shown before how you can build a gaming PC under $1000, and this will give you specs that will allow you to play triple-A titles in medium settings (high if you overclock, although we’re not officially endorsing that *wink*).

What does this imply? Well, frankly, the implication is that UserBenchmark gets paid to push more expensive products in order to get higher commissions. It’s an over-simplification to be sure, but it is something they are regularly accused of by various tech journalists. Of course, the UserBenchmark team whole-heartedly denies this, and while we’re not passing judgment per se, it is suspicious.

Speaking of suspicious, perhaps one of the most sus things about the site is that no one knows for sure who the UserBenchmark team is. On their site, they simply say that they are “an independent team of scientists and engineers”. Granted, we believe that everyone is entitled to anonymity, especially on the internet, but it does call into suspicion many of their results, especially after various tech experts have debunked their algorithms as favoring one brand over the other and rumors of the team being sponsored by Intel.

Is UserBenchmark a target of a smear campaign? It honestly doesn’t seem like it. Sure, it looks like it, given the amount of negative press they’ve received over the past couple of years, but while it might be tempting to believe that they’re at a center of a billion-dollar conspiracy that is threatening to silence them for speaking the truth, the simplest reason might just be the realest one: UserBenchmark is sponsored by a tech company and they’re tasked with convincing people to buy products on the sly.

You can test out the GPUs we mentioned on your own, but fair warning: it’s going to cost you.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super

Gigabyte Gv-N166SOC-6GD GeForce GTX 1660 Super OC 6G Graphics Card, 2X Windforce Fans, 6GB 192-bit GDDR6, Video Card

$364.99

Check on Amazon

Radeon RX 5600 XT

MSI Gaming Radeon RX 5600 XT Boost Clock: 1620 MHz 192-bit 6GB GDDR6 DP/HDMI Dual Torx 3.0 Fans Freesync DirectX 12 Ready Graphics Card (RX 5600 XT GAMING MX)

$499.99

Check on Amazon

UserBenchmark Updates CPU Ranking By Lowering Multi Core Importance And Raising Single Core?

UserBenchmark may not be a favorite amongst enthusiasts but it is a very heavily used benchmarking tool.  Just drop in any forum or Facebook group for PC gaming and you’ll find people tossing out their scores.  I actually did a run yesterday myself out of curiosity as a few people in a local gaming group were sharing their results. Then I was looking into what it was actually testing as a friend tossed me a link to a Reddit post discussing a recent update to the CPU ranking algorithm which sounded like a good idea.   After all their old algorithm (archive link) used the Core i7-7700K as the leader and things have changed a fair bit with the release of high clocked high core count chips for Intel like the Core i9-9900K and with the latest release of the Ryzen 9 3900X you would think their new algorithm would take into account the rise of core counts in mainstream CPUs. New weighted rank here.

That’s where you would be wrong.  UserBenchmark has updated the CPU that they put in the lead by dropping the Core i7-7700K and putting the Core i9-9900K there, not many would argue with that.  The odd part is the shift that incurred in weighting the CPU ranking. The Single-Core weight went up from 30% to 40%, odd move but okay, and the Quad-Core weight went down from 60% to 58%.  That leaves Multi-Core performance to shift some and if you’ve been doing math along the way then you’ve already figured out that leaves what used to be 10% has actually GONE DOWN to 2% weight.  This is a bizarre move as the testing I’ve been doing over the past couple years has shown that more often than not games are taking advantage of more and more cores.   My findings don’t discount Amdahl’s Law as that’s part of why the i9-9900K is objectively one of, if not, the fastest gaming CPUs on the market.  But, with the launch of Zen 2 and Ryzen 3000 Series AMD has significantly closed that gap and a change like this from a common benchmarking tool used by the general public may be giving users an even worse metric that doesn’t necessarily reflect the real-world experience they may experience.  Just as an example the Core i3-8350K is ranked a fair bit higher than the Ryzen 7 2700X despite losing in most of the tests that the benchmark measures.

Now with that out of the way what I want to urge people who are using UserBenchmark to make purchasing decisions to do is go below the fold when looking at comparison results.  Take for instance the above image and how I mentioned the Ryzen 7 2700X winning most of the time, if you scroll down you’ll start to see that the ‘Speed Ranking’ is such a small part of the equation that you shouldn’t stop at that and take it as the end all be all. Most enthusiasts will scroll through the individual results and find a bit of a different story while someone trying to make a quick decision on which CPU to go with might just stop at the Speed Ranking and think «Well, this is faster» and call it a day while only having a very small part of the story.

News Source: Use Benchmark Have Updated

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Processor and RAM Stress Testing Methods — Blog

Stress testing a PC or server is done to check the correct operation of the equipment, as well as to find out its maximum performance. The reasons may vary, but the test process is always the same: the hardware under test runs at maximum power for an extended period of time.

The processor and RAM are most often subjected to a stress test.

Processor stress test

Lucas-Lehmer test

Its essence is to check whether a particular number is prime. Carrying out such a test requires large computing power, which means that it can be used as a tool for loading (stress testing) the processor. Read more about the Lucas-Lehmer test in the article.

Prime95.

This program is based on the Luc-Lehmer test algorithm and subsequent comparison of the obtained results with the reference ones. This is a great way to determine if the processor is doing its job correctly or not. The program is part of the GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search) project. nine0003

Pay attention to the following:

1. Since the load on the processor will be very high during the test, it is better to monitor its temperature.
2. If the processor temperature rises to a critical level, stop the stress test.
3. Most modern processors will decrease their clock speed or shut down if the temperature threshold is exceeded.

CPU test with Prime95

1. Download Prime95.
2. After starting prime95. exe, an introductory window will appear, in which you need to click the «Just Stress Testing» button:

Number of cores to torture test — by default all cores are used in the test
Smallest FFTs — High CPU load; cache levels will be used: L1, L2
​​​​​​​Small FFTs — Maximum CPU load; cache levels will be used: L1, L2, L3
Medium FFTs — Test cache levels: L1, L2, L3, L4 (if available)
Large FFTs — Check RAM only
Blend — General test: checking the processor, all cache levels and RAM
Custom — Custom settings

4. Select the desired test and press the OK button.

​​​​​​ Smallest FFTs for 4 cores

For each core of the prime95 processor, displays a separate window with the status of the calculation in real time. If an error is found in the calculation results, the test will stop. One core can make a mistake in calculations. Despite this, the rest of the tests will not be automatically completed. However, this already indicates that the processor is unstable. nine0005 ​​​​​​

If your CPU temperature exceeds the threshold, you can stop stress testing by pressing the «Stop» button in the «Test» menu:

​​​​​​ Completed Smallest FFTs

How long to test the processor with Prime95

In most cases, problem processors are not able to perform calculations in the Prime95 test without errors for more than 20-30 minutes. If during this time no errors are detected and the temperature of the processor does not become too high (look for the maximum allowable temperature for the processor on the website of its manufacturer), then 98%, you can be sure both in the stability of the processor and in the efficiency of its cooling system. For greater certainty, the test can be extended to 1-2 hours.

In special cases where increased reliability is required from a computer, some experts recommend testing the processor with Prime95 for 8-10 hours or even longer. But it is not advisable to mock a simple home or office computer like that. If your computer lasts 1 hour in the Prime95 test, then it will be able to perform any everyday tasks without errors [1]​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ . ​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The readme.txt file contains a lot of useful information about the program and its advanced settings:

Prime95, like other similar programs, can only detect the presence of an error, but, unfortunately, it does not accurately determine its cause. A computer is a complex of interconnected and interdependent devices. If the processor «falls out» from the Prime9 test5, this does not mean that the problem is necessarily in it. The defect may be in the motherboard, RAM, power supply, etc. In each individual device, there may not be a defect at all. It’s just that some of them may not be compatible with other devices ​​​​​[1] .

Memory stress test

MemTest86

MemTest is a fairly well-known program for testing RAM. During the test, processors are also loaded, which plays into our hands. You don’t need an operating system to run MemTest [2] .

You need to create a bootable USB stick:

  1. Download the archive with the imageUSB by PassMark utility and the memtest86

    2. image

  2. Unpack the contents of the archive and connect the USB stick to the computer/server
  3. Run imageUSB.exe
  4. Select the USB stick and press the Write button (it will be formatted before)

    ​​​​​
    ​​​​​

  5. Connect USB with MemTest to computer/server and reboot it
  6. Enter boot mode by pressing F2, Del, F8, F10 or any other key your system uses
  7. Boot from USB stick
  8. Config

After running MemTest, press the T key to select tests. You can leave everything at the default:

In this case, the check can take tens of hours. As a rule, the PC/server is left running overnight. nine0003

​​​​​​The number of passes can be reduced by setting Number of passes: 1, thus reducing the test run time.

The program will let you know if something is wrong with the RAM. Also, if the motherboard is unstable, you will observe periodic freezes of the test ​​​​[2] .

There is no rule that says how often you can or should stress test your system, but it is clear that frequent stress testing is not the best idea. If you’re happy with how the system works, don’t «test for the sake of testing.» If you do not know what the result of a stress test means, you can always find out about it on the Internet, fortunately there is a lot of information on the above tools. nine0003

The article contains materials taken from the following sources:

[1] | [2]

Processor test

It’s probably not a secret for anyone that the performance and stability of a computer system largely depends on the central processor, this «heart» of the PC, which is responsible for basic computing operations. The speed of the CPU, its ability to withstand overheating, capacity, number of cores and other parameters are of great systemic importance, predetermining the power of the computer, its performance and efficiency. With this in mind, it is important to have special test tools in the user’s arsenal that allow you to test the central processor, determine its performance, and test its ability to withstand loads. In this article, I will tell you how to test the central processor of your PC, and what software tools will help us with this. nine0003

Contents

  • Test for the processor — implementation features
  • Programs for testing the processor
  • AIDA64 — a program for diagnosing the operation of the CPU, etc.
  • CPU-Z — allows you to view the characteristics of the processor, memory, motherboard and video card
  • CPU Stability Test — a utility for testing the central processor
  • CPU MathMARK program — analyzes performance
  • S&M program
  • Conclusion

Test for the processor — implementation features

A qualitative CPU test is not possible without the use of special utilities designed to evaluate the overall performance of the system (as in the case of our video card test). Usually, in the functionality of these utilities, there are various ways to check the speed and quality of the central processor, its ability to work without errors, and measure its temperature during maximum loads (the so-called «stress tests»). nine0003

There are practically no network tools for online processor testing.

Programs for testing the processor

Let’s move on to the description of stationary programs that allow you to test the processor for performance, stability, ability to withstand overheating, and so on.

AIDA64 — a program for diagnosing the operation of the CPU, etc.

«AIDA64» is one of the popular programs for analyzing the configuration of a computer system, evaluating its performance and performance, which also allows you to generate a general statistical report on the components available on your PC. The program has gone through several important stages in its development («AIDA32» — «Everest» — «AIDA64»), and is now considered one of the best tools for diagnosing the operation of the central processor of your PC. nine0003

Two versions of the program are currently available free of charge (the version for home users «AIDA64 Extreme Edition» and the version for laboratories «Engineer Edition»). Representing the use of almost the full functionality of the program for a period of one month (further on, the capabilities of the product can only be used for a fee).

Download, install and run «AIDA64 Extreme Edition». After starting the program, you will be able to view data about your system (including the specifics of the central processor operating in the system). nine0003

  1. To test the processor, you must select click on the «Tools» at the top, select the option «System stability test».
  2. Check «Stress CPU» (test CPU), «Stress GPU» (test math coprocessor), «Stress cache» (test cache).
  3. And then click on «Start» at the bottom.
  4. A number of tests of the specified PC elements will be carried out, you can monitor them in real time, and then see the results. nine0105

«AIDA64 Extreme» window

CPU-Z — allows you to view the characteristics of the processor, memory, motherboard and video card

A small free program «CPU-Z» not only displays all the available information about your system, but also a general check of the processor, as well as perform a powerful «stress test» of the CPU.

To work with «CPU-Z», download and install this program on your computer (www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/cpu-z_1.79-en.exe). After launching it, in the “CPU” tab, you can view detailed information about the central processing unit of your PC.

  1. To perform a CPU test, go to the Bench tab.
  2. Press the «Bench CPU» button for a general test, or the «Stress CPU» button for a CPU stress test.
  3. After the end of the analysis, you will be able to familiarize yourself with its results.

CPU Stability Test0179

CPU Stability Test specializes in CPU Stress Testing. Despite the fact that the program is quite old (created at the end of 2002), it supports a multiprocessor system well, clearly fixes PC malfunctions, carefully monitoring any instability in the system.

  1. To get started, download «CPU Stability Test» (www.majorgeeks.com/mg/getmirror/cpu_stability_test,1.html) and install it on your computer. nine0105
  2. After starting, select «Normal Mode» and press the «Start» button.
  3. According to the recommendations of the developers, the normal test time should be about 2 hours, during which time the program will monitor the system under load, carefully fixing the problems that arise.
  4. To stop this utility, click on the «Stop» button.

CPU MathMARK — analyze the performance

This product allows you to test the performance of the processor when working with mathematical calculations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and so on). The results obtained after the end of the test can be saved, and then compared with the diagnostic results on other PCs. nine0003

  1. To work with CPU MathMARK, download and install this program https://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/getmirror/cpu_math_mark,1.html.
  2. To start the test, click on the «Benchmark» button and wait for the results to finish.

S&M program

The functionality of this S&M program is designed to test the stability of the CPU and RAM. At the same time, it is also possible to assess the general condition of the hard drive, the PC cooling system, and a number of other parameters. nine0003

  1. Download the program archive http://freesoft.ru/sm/download/snm.zip/getpage to your computer, unzip it, run this product.
  2. To configure the program, click on the «Wizard» button (decide on the required option), and to start the test, click on the «Run» button.

Conclusion

If it becomes necessary to perform a test for the processor, then the programs listed above will be invaluable help in this.