You just overclocked your GPU or installed a new hardware component in your PC. Is it working? Benchmarking is a great way to take a snapshot of your PC's performance, and the best benchmarking software is often free to use.
Whether you want to assess how poorly or how well your PC is performing, everyone can benefit from benchmark tools. Don't wait until someone else has to benchmark your PC for you to troubleshoot an issue!
General Performance
Benchmarking software typically allows for overclocking or fan speed settings changes. These options allow users to configure hardware changes through software. Keep in mind, benchmarking your PC is a bit more complex than simply running software.
1. CPU-Z
CPU-Z is free benchmark software that will provide users with a complete rundown of your PC's hardware specifications, particularly concerning your CPU.
It also provides specifications for your motherboard, RAM, and graphics card, making it a great all-around program to visualize hardware makes and models. You can even save a TXT file of the information via the Tools option.
Download: CPU-Z (Free)
2. HWMonitor
HWMonitor is PC benchmark software that visualizes the make and model of hardware components in your PC and displays certain parameters live.
These parameters include power consumption, fan speeds, utilization percentage, clock speeds, and temperature. This can be crucial, as issues like an overheating component in your PC can lead to frequent PC crashes.
HWMonitor's simple interface also makes all values easy to view and understand. Of course, you can also save this information for further troubleshooting via the File option.
Download: HWMonitor (Free)
3. SiSoftware Sandra Lite
SiSoftware Sandra Lite is a fully-featured benchmark suite aimed at users who are well-informed about the inner workings of their computers and for businesses that need to perform a detailed analysis on multiple computers.
Want to test your computer's memory bandwidth? No problem. Want to benchmark network performance? Sure. Want to benchmark your computer's power efficiency? Yes, Sandra does that as well.
Another useful feature of SiSoftware Sandra Lite is its online reference database. SiSoft Sandra will benchmark your component or online connection and then compare your performance with other similar processors to give you a better idea of how an upgrade may or may not help you.
Download: SiSoftware Sandra Lite (Free, pro version available)
4. Speccy
From the creators of CCleaner, Piriform's Speccy is a favorite among the gaming community for its simple layout of a PC's hardware configuration.
Once it's open, Speccy will provide a thorough rundown of every component, and most drivers, currently available on your PC.
If you click on the individual parameters on the left-hand side of the window, you'll get even more information concerning your specific hardware, including temperature, voltage, fan speeds, and more.
Download: Speccy (Free, pro version available)
5. CineBench
CineBench provides one of the most thorough and trusted CPU benchmarks available. It renders an image—rendering being a task largely undertaken by the CPU—and compares it to other real-world tests to gauge your CPU's performance.
It's as real-world as it gets: while other benchmarks will test your overall PC performance or a combination of your CPU and GPU benchmark, CineBench specifically tests all available processor cores of your CPU. After the test is run, your processor will be graded in points: the higher your points, the stronger your CPU's performance output.
Download: CineBench (Free)
6. RealBench
RealBench is another example of real-world CPU benchmarking. It uses four tests, all involving rendering in some capacity: Image Editing, H.264 Video Encoding, OpenCL, and Heavy Multitasking.
You can upload your finding to the RealBench website to compare where you stand with other benchmarked hardware configurations. Possibly the best aspect of RealBench is that it simulates a regular course load; no stress testing to push your CPU to the max to gauge its performance. Although, of course, stress testing is also an available feature in RealBench.
Download: RealBench (Free)
GPU Benchmarking
GPU benchmarks are much like a CPU benchmark: they will update the user on the clock speeds, bus speeds, temperatures, and fan speeds of your GPU.
7. MSI Afterburner
Not exclusive to MSI graphics cards, MSI Afterburner is the best live monitoring GPU tool around. Afterburner allows users to overclock and monitor their software in one program.
It tracks every parameter you need to chart graphics card parameters: clock speed, temperature, RAM usage, fan speed, and CPU usage (by core). You can also save and activate overclock profiles at startup, so you'll always be overclocked at the outset.
Download:MSI Afterburner (Free)
8. Unigine Suite
The Unigine suite has been the go-to benchmarking software for graphics cards for years. If, for example, an overindulgent overclock has the possibility to damage your GPU over the long run, Unigine engines will make sure they benchmark and stress-test the GPU to ensure maximum performance and stability. It also allows users to test varying degrees of detail, so any GPU—budget or otherwise—can be tested using the software.
Download: Unigine (Free, paid version available)
9. Catzilla
Catzilla is one of the most popular free GPU benchmarking apps for gamers. It has an impressive animation and recommendation system that can provide you with a score and a badge (from one to 12).
After running, it provides hardware and software advice, allowing users to make instant changes to their PC or laptop to achieve more power.
From a GPU standpoint, it will provide information on whether your machine can handle the latest games and stream HD movies, as well as other insights.
Download: Catzilla (Free)
10. Novabench
Novabench is a free benchmark software designed to test your PC’s performance. Luckily, it's also a cross-platform software available for Windows, Linux, and Mac.
What stood out about the tool was its feature to compare your results against a massive online dataset from Novabench and then compare where your PC stands. Moreover, you can by tuning, repairing, and upgrading your tool.
The app is available for free as well as in paid version. The free version itself packs an impressive set of features. For example, it offers full-system tests for CPU single & multi-core, GPU graphics, Memory, etc.
And if you grow a liking for the tool, you can then move on to the paid version, which comes with scheduled and automatic tests, temperature & battery history, a portable USB version of the app, etc., that make the app even handier. This makes the app a fitting candidate for our list of the best and free benchmark tools for Windows.
Downloads:Novabench (Free, pro version available)
11. CrystalDiskMark
CrystalDiskMark is an open-source, free benchmark software specializing in conducting disk benchmark software tests. It measures the performance and transfer speed of your storage devices such as HD, USB memory, SD cards, and even SSD.
Apart from the usual tests, it comes packed with other quirky features like Measure Sequential, Random Performance, and measure modes like Peak, Real World, and Demo.
The app comes in many themes and supports multiple versions of Windows.
Download:CrystalDiskMark (Free, paid version available)
Benchmark Your PC the Right Way
There is plenty of system benchmark software available online, most of which do a poor job of truly revealing your component's performance. The list above comprises tested and trustworthy benchmarking programs that IT professionals and casual users can both use for gathering information concerning a PC's hardware configuration.
