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Graphics card benchmarking is the best way to assess your graphics card performance. GPU Benchmarking helps you to know more about the graphics card, how powerful it is compared to others and how much performance gain you will get when overclocking it. It can also help you to make a wise decision when upgrading your graphics card as you can compare your benchmarks results with that of other newer graphics cards.

There are some very good tools and softwares available for benchmarking graphics cards. They can be used to test the performance of your graphics card so that you can get a clear idea of where you stand in the crowd. But before discussing them you should know that there are two types of benchmarking and there are separate benchmarking tools available for them.

GFXBench is a free, cross-platform and cross-API 3D graphics benchmark that measures graphics performance, long-term performance stability, render quality and power consumption with a single, easy-to-use application. Using console-quality 3D content, GFXBench provides tools for cross-platform 3D graphics benchmarking on all major. Benchmark For Mac free download - Technitium MAC Address Changer, Mac Video Downloader, Paragon NTFS for Mac, and many more programs.

Graphics Card Benchmarking can be categorized into two types:

Synthetic Benchmarking – This is a type of benchmarking which is done using synthetic benchmarking softwares. These softwares have their own inbuilt benchmarking tests and on the basis of it the performance score is calculated. The benchmark score is generally in some big numbers. Higher the score the better is your graphics card performance to the ones that have lower scores. These softwares are reliable and their benchmark scores are one of the most credible ways to know the performance or power of any graphics card. It is also called artificial benchmarking.

Well, the results in these benchmarks do provide a good idea about the capability of your graphics card but for gamers, they may not be of that much importance and some of them do not even know what these complex tests do or mean. For them, the performance in games means more than these synthetic benchmarks. They want to know how much frame rates they are getting in games or how much is the minimum, maximum or average fps. For this, you have to perform Real-time benchmarking which I am going to discuss next.

Real-time Benchmarking – Real-time benchmarking is also known as Real-world benchmarking. In this, you measure the frame rates with the help of fps measuring software during live gameplay. The more the fps the smoother will be the gameplay. For NO lagging you should have at least 30 fps and for super-smooth gameplay, you should get an average of 60+ fps. I have previously written an article on how you can increase the fps in games which you can find below.

Real-time Benchmarking is what gamers love to see as it gives a specific result for a particular game. This is because it may be possible that your graphics card may be running some games super smooth and some may be suffering serious FPS drops. It can also help you to make the required changes or take appropriate steps if the game you are playing is seriously lagging. It must be noted that in this real-world benchmarking all other major computer components (Processor, RAM, Hard disk) does come into play besides the graphics card. So you may take them into account also because it could be possible that you have a powerful graphics card but the performance in games is bottlenecked by CPU and RAM.

Check out:Best PC Test Bench Cases for Benchmarking & Hardware Testing

Best Synthetic Benchmarking Tools for GPU

Here are the best Synthetic Benchmarking tools for Graphics Cards. These below mentioned graphics card benchmarking softwares supports both Nvidia and AMD based graphics cards.

3DMark

3DMark is one of the most widely used and popular graphics card benchmarking tools. It is the preferred benchmarking tool for gamers and overclockers. It is a product of FutureMark which is a software company that makes various benchmarking tools for both home and business users.

There are three types of 3DMark versions available for download which are being mentioned below.

3DMark – The version of the 3DMark that includes Time Spy (DirectX 12 Test), Fire Strike, Sky Diver, Cloud Gate, and Ice Storm tests.

3DMark 11 – It is the DirectX 11 graphics card benchmark tool that includes Deep Sea and High Temple Graphics tests, a Physics test and a Combined test.

3DMark Vantage – The DirectX 10 benchmark tool for older DirectX 10 graphics cards. It includes two graphics tests, two CPU tests, and six feature tests.

Depending on your graphics card you can download any of the above 3DMark versions and benchmark your graphics card. The basic version of 3DMark is free to download and use. For more benchmarks tests and features, you have to buy its advanced edition or professional version.

PassMark

PassMark is another popular name in PC and Graphics card benchmarking. It also offers various other benchmarking, testing and monitoring softwares that include MemTest86 (for RAM testing), MonitorTest, BatteryMon, KeyboardTest, etc. For PC and Graphics Card benchmarking you have to download the PerformaceTest from the PassMark website.

Using PerformaceTest you can benchmark your CPU, Graphics Card, Hard disk and RAM. For the graphics card, there are two types of tests which are 2D and 3D graphics tests. 2D graphics tests include Vectors, bitmaps, fonts, text, and GUI elements tests and 3D graphics test include DirectX 9 to DirectX 12 in 4K resolution, DirectCompute & OpenCL tests.

PassMark supports Windows XP SP3, Vista, Server 2003, 2008, 2012, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10. You can download the 30-day trial version for free from the link below and can test your graphics card and PC performance.

Heaven UNIGINE

Heaven UNIGINE is a great GPU stress testing and benchmarking tool for gamers and overclockers. It can really stress test your graphics card and tell you how stable it. This can help you to overclock your graphics card better and tell you how effective is your graphics card cooler.

The various features of Heaven Benchmark include benchmarking presets, multiplatform support, GPU temperature & clock monitoring, hardware tessellation with DirectX and more. You can download it for free or can buy the advanced and pro versions. It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux and you can download it from the link given below.

FurMark

FurMark is an OpenGL benchmark stress test for graphics cards. It may be not that popular as 3DMark and PassMark but it is a good GPU stability and stress test tool. It is also called a GPU burner. FurMark requires an OpenGL compliant graphics card and can also be used to monitor GPU temperature.

It supports only the Windows operating system and is available for free to download and use.

UserBenchmark

UserBenchmark is a small tool for evaluating the performance of your major components that include a processor, graphics card, memory, hard drive, and USB drive. For GPU it calculates the effective 3D speed which is a measure of performance in recent games. It can be used as a reference for comparing the performance with other graphics cards.

It is available for Windows and you can download it for free from the link given below.

Other Benchmarking Tools

Here are some other good benchmarking tools that you can also try for GPU benchmarking and testing. Most of these below-mentioned stress testing tools are free, while some are available as a trial version.

Best Realtime Benchmarking Tools for GPU

I have discussed all the best Realtime benchmarking tools in another post which you can find below. These tools can be used to find the FPS in games and can help you to assess your graphics card’s real-time performance.

Final Words

In the end I would like to say that these are the only softwares that you need to benchmark or stress test your graphics card. They are compatible with both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards and few of them are multiplatform. Some of these benchmarking tools are completely free while the more famous ones offer only a basic or trial version to benchmark your GPU.

Why are hard drives one of the most essential computer components? They hold your operating system, meaning that even if you have a powerful CPU and lots of memory, a slow-performing hard drive will inevitably result in slow-loading times and computer lags when trying to multitask. If you’ve been experiencing lags, how can you tell if your hard drive is performing fine, needs some minor tweaks or a complete upgrade? Whether you’re on Windows or Mac, you can test the performance of your hard drive very easily using the best hard drive benchmarking tools.

A benchmarking software tests your hard drive in a number of situations and gives you an overall picture of its performance. The good news is that the internet has plenty of such benchmarking tools available for free.

Some benchmarking tools offer extremely comprehensive tests, while others are quick and efficient. In what follows, we’ll look into the 3 best free benchmarking tools for Windows and Mac so that you can pick the one best suited to your needs.

Three Best Hard Drive Benchmarking Tools For Windows

· CrystalDiskMark

CrystalDiskMark is considered one of the most trusted benchmark programs, and there are good reasons behind its prevalence. It works for just about everything, whether it’s a mechanical hard drive, a USB drive, or an SSD. It is also very user-friendly and offers a very quick setup process with little in the way of configuration.

This program can estimate sequential, random read/write speeds, select test data, and support multiple languages. The user-friendly interface means that you can easily browse through the complete details of the test results, all of which are displayed on the primary window.

Besides the accuracy of the test results, another neat feature of this application is that it is pretty fast, does not put undue stress on the computer’s RAM or processor, and takes only a few minutes to complete the benchmarks. For best results, though, it is advisable not to have many or any applications running in the background before hitting the start button.

Read more: Why Is SSD Faster Than HDD?

· ATTO Disk Benchmark

ATTO’s Disk Benchmark software is popular among professional hardware reviewers and has the seal of approval of manufacturers like Corsair when it comes to running tests on SSDs. The tool runs sequential tests for read and write operations and uses block sizes starting from 512 bytes to 64 MB.

While most benchmarking software can come with a ton of features, making it difficult for the average user to operate, the ATTO Disk Benchmark is relatively simple to configure and offers an easy-to-use interface. There are detailed help options available for every feature as well. Since all its utilities are presented in a single window, pre-testing configurations take very little time.

Running the test requires you to select the drive of your choice, the total length and size of the transfer, and then to choose whether you want to leave options such as direct I/O, overlapped I/O and force write access enabled. In case you enable the first two, odd results due to system caching will be ruled out.

The results also feature graphs and read/write statistics. You can easily save the results generated or even print them directly from within the application.

· AS SSD Benchmark

This tool, like the name suggests, is primarily geared towards SSD drives. Like the ATTO Disk, this software, too, is a favorite among hardware review sites, such as AnandTech’s benchmark charts for SSDs. The look of the AS SSD resembles the CrystalDiskMark.

The software displays the read and write scores (sequential and 4 KB) and access times, along with a general overall final score. You could also change the result to Input/Output operations per second (IOPS) from the View menu. The Tools menu also offers some additional benchmarks like the Copy benchmark (that simulates copying a game, a program, or an ISO) and a read/write compression benchmark.

Bear in mind that the AS SSD uses incompressible data, as a result of which some SSDs, which compress their data, may generate a lower score than usual. The software is also portable.

Three Best Hard Drive Benchmarking Tools For Mac

· Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test

Blackmagic’s benchmarking software can be downloaded for free on the Mac App Store. There are very few configuration settings that you need to worry about, and everything takes place on a single window, making this one of the more user-friendly Mac benchmarking tools out there.

This software tests the performance of your hard drive by writing large blocks of data to check its writing score, along with read tests that not only evaluate your hard drive’s current performance but also how its readability will be affected over time.

In case you have a single hard drive, then simply quit all your background applications and hit the ‘Start’ button. In the case of multiple drives, you can select the drive of your choice by pressing the gear button (between the two speedometer circles) to access settings or by using the File and Stress menus available at the top of the screen. Blackmagic also allows you to choose the stress level for the testing (with a minimum of 1 GB and a maximum of 5 GB).

On the speedometers, you can find the drive’s read speed on the right and the write speed on the left. This gives a very clear picture of how long it will take to load applications and videos and, conversely, the time it will take you to write a file to the drive.

Blackmagic was created for video editors, and hence, you’ll find a series of tables underneath the main measurements that are meant for video editing professionals. In case you are not interested in that particular field, you can ignore that information and just focus on the two gauges.

Read more: External Drive Is Read Only On Mac: Why And What To Do

· AmorphousDiskMark

CrystalDiskMark may not be available for Mac, but AmorphousDiskMark is a good alternative with similar features and functionality and a very-similar-looking minimalist user-friendly interface.

This software measures your hard drive’s performance in megabytes per second (MB/s) and Input/Output operations per second (IOPS). The result is shown in the main window. A neat feature of this application is that it features four types of tests, each for testing a different type of data block.

Free Benchmark Software Mac Os

Because of this, AmorphousDiskMark can perform read/write measurements on sequential 128 KB blocks, random sequence 4 KB blocks, sequential 1 MB blocks as well as random sequence 4 KB blocks. You can also adjust the value of the test counter and the test size (that goes from 50 MB to 32 GB) and pick the particular drive of your choice. The software can test internal disks as well as all drives connected to your Mac, which it automatically detects.

After finishing the test, the software allows you the option to take a screenshot of your result so that you can share and save it.

· NovaBench (Basic)

The basic version of NovaBench is free, and you can download it either from the Mac App Store or their official website.

This software again offers a very simple interface for users. To begin the test, simply click ‘Start Test’ on the splash screen. You may get a new window asking you to close other applications. Do that and you can proceed with testing.

After the click, the full tests are completed in a matter of minutes and saved with the date and time within the application. You can view them again from the NovaBench start screen.

Paid Benchmarking Tools:

If you are feeling a bit more ambitious and want to invest in carrying out a thorough check of your hard drives, you could always opt for a paid benchmarking application. Here are a couple of choices you could go with:

Mac Benchmark Software Free

· HD Tune (for Windows)

Free Benchmark Software Mac Computers

HD Tune is pretty well-known and is considered to be an essential part of every tech user’s USB toolbox. The free version has not been updated since 2008 and may have minor issues with the latest hard drives, which is why the paid version is the safer bet.

HD Tune allows you to change the block size from 512 bytes to 8 MB, and you can change the slider to opt for faster or slower test speeds. A faster test generally has lower accuracy, whereas a slower test is more comprehensive and thorough and offers greater accuracy.

After the test is done, the graph that appears will display the minimum, maximum, and average read speeds, along with the burst rate and the average access time (in milliseconds).

· NovaBench Pro (for Mac)

You can purchase NovaBench Pro from their official site. The paid version of NovaBench has some neat features along with the ones offered by the free version, such as portability, scheduled tests, private profile scores, and a command-line interface (CLI).

Unigine Benchmark

If you choose to schedule tests, NovaBench runs the test silently in the background when you are not using your computer during your chosen interval. You can schedule tests daily or monthly as you like. The CLI allows you to write scripts using NovaBench’s benchmarks and easily run tests via remote sessions. With private profile scores, you can make your NovaBench performance score private.

Free Benchmark Software Machine

Read more: 7 Best External SSDs in 2021