Comparing CPU Benchmarks

[pazbiker57]

To all,

I read the CPU Benchmark information and I still have a question. If I'm looking to buy new desktops and I'm trying to compare the new PCs to the old or current ones, how can I use the Benchmark numbers? All other things being equal, say RAM speed and amount, video, and installed OS, if my old CPU is rated a 400 and the new CPU I'm looking at is rated a 1600, what does that mean in terms of computing power? Do I have 4 times (1600/400) the computing power, max? How do I use these values to make sure I'm putting my dollars to the best computing value? Thank you.

Pazbiker57

[David (PassMark)]

Yes, a CPU mark increase from 400 to 1600 means the CPU can potentially perform 4 times the calculations in the same amount of time.

But there are some assumptions in this. For example in real life the hard drive, RAM or Internet connection speed, might be more of a bottleneck than the CPU. Or that the software you currently use can not fully use the power of a new quad core CPU. So this new PC will probably not seem to be 4 times faster most of the time, if the disk, RAM and everything else is the same.

[pazbiker57]

Thanks for your reply. For these particular machines, it has probably been network response and the web-based application that were the bottlenecks. We're working on the network portion of the problem, software is from a vendor that we probably can't do much about. Memory speeds are faster now so that would be a plus, local disk is not used very much other than paging file but it is faster than current hardware, too. I appreciate your fast response.