The Best All-in-One Benchmark: Novabench
Full suite of basic benchmarks.
Some tests locked behind paywall.
Difficult to tell if components operating efficiently.
Additional tests and parameters are also available if you purchase the pro version.
The Best Gaming Benchmark: Can You Run It
Very fast and lightweight.
Provides practical and useful information.
Save money by not buying games you’ve got the option to’t play.
Doesn’t give information on actual performance.
The Best VR Benchmark: UNIGINE
Powerful benchmark and stress test.
Great virtual reality test.
Easily understood results for VR Ready test.
Confusing to find the proper benchmark.
Unclear organization of tests.
Not sure if your PC is up to the task of running VR games?
UNIGINE’s VR benchmark has you covered.
Like a lot of our favorite benchmarks, UNIGINE comes in a handful of different versions.
The main difference is you only have to download the specific benchmark that you’re interested in.
Since we’re interested specifically in virtual reality, their free Superposition benchmark is the go-to option.
After you download the Superposition benchmark, you’ll want to run theVR Readytest in the Benchmarks section.
The Best Lightweight Benchmark: Userbenchmark
Lightweight app with fast download.
Compares performance to other PCs with similar specs.
Results are easy to understand.
Questionable weighting on CPU assessments.
Not great for comparing components.
This tiny app is fast to download, and you don’t even have to install it.
Just trigger the executable file, and it’s ready to start benchmarking your PC right away.
The Best 3D Benchmark: 3DMark
Great free 3D benchmark.
Monitors hardware like temps and fan speeds.
Tracks frames per second during tests.
A lot of the benchmarks are locked behind a paywall.
Lacks custom adjustments and tweaks.
Can’t choose which display to use.
Since we’re interested in 3D performance, the free Time Spy benchmark is perfect.
When it’s done running the benchmark, 3DMark will present you with an in-depth results screen.
For more information, you might compare your results online.
The 3DMark demo is available exclusively throughSteam.
The Best Productivity Benchmark: PCMark
Basic benchmark covers almost all the bases.
Includes both scores and individual test results.
Free version provides a ton of information.
Can’t save results without making an account and uploading.
Takes a long time to run.
From the same people who brought you 3DMark, PCMark is our recommendation for the best productivity benchmark.
The free PCMark 10 demo is only available through Steam.
The Best Free Benchmark: SiSoft Sandra
Extremely robust free benchmark suite.
Exhaustive benchmark with option to run individual tests.
Results conveyed in colorful graphs.
No visual feedback during benchmark.
To enter the free benchmarks, you oughta select Benchmarks and then Overall Score.
