Finished My Build, Help Benchmarking Please!

[Joel Allen]

I just finished my first build and I want to do some benchmarks or stress tests to see how it does.

Intel Core I3 6100 (Stock Cooler)
Gigabyte H170N WIFI Mini ITX
MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G
8GB GSKILL RIPJAWS 4 Series DDR4 2133
WD Blue 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s
EVGA 500W PSU
WIN 10 64 Bit

I've never done any stress testing or benchmarking before so I don't really know where the best place to start is. But I have windows setup and all the drivers updated so I should be good to go. Right now I idle at about 28C and while playing Left for Dead (quickest game to DL I had on steam) on max I was running in the mid 40C range. I haven't decided what higher end game I'm going to get first so I figured Id do some benchmarking and stress tests to see what I can handle.

Any help would be appreciated. i.e. Which benchmark software (FREE SOFTWARE??) or stress tests to run or anything else I should do with my system before running these tests. Or even if there is any general information I should really know before running tests.

Thanks!!

 

[anti-duck]

I'd start with Unigine Valley and Heaven and might as well grab the trial version of AIDA64.

 

[xapoc]

Take a look at this, it lists some useful benchmarking programs.

http://www.howtogeek.com/111733/how-to-benchmark-your-windows-pc-5-free-benchmarking-tools/

 

[WildCard999]

CPU- Prime95 Version 26.6, run Small FFT's for 10 min to test temp/stability.
GPU/CPU- Heaven and/or Firestrike and run the benchmark(s).

Use programs such as HWmonitor, Core Temp or RealTemp to record/monitor temps. The Intel Temperature Guide by CompuTronix is a excellent read/guide.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html

All software listed above is free.

 

[bambiboom]

I just finished my first build and I want to do some benchmarks or stress tests to see how it does.

Intel Core I3 6100 (Stock Cooler)
Gigabyte H170N WIFI Mini ITX
MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G
8GB GSKILL RIPJAWS 4 Series DDR4 2133
WD Blue 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s
EVGA 500W PSU
WIN 10 64 Bit

I've never done any stress testing or benchmarking before so I don't really know where the best place to start is. But I have windows setup and all the drivers updated so I should be good to go. Right now I idle at about 28C and while playing Left for Dead (quickest game to DL I had on steam) on max I was running in the mid 40C range. I haven't decided what higher end game I'm going to get first so I figured Id do some benchmarking and stress tests to see what I can handle.

Any help would be appreciated. i.e. Which benchmark software (FREE SOFTWARE??) or stress tests to run or anything else I should do with my system before running these tests. Or even if there is any general information I should really know before running tests.

Thanks!!

Joel Allen,

An excellent, well-developed benchmark is Passmark Performance Test. The value of Passmark is that the test shows results as: overall system rating, CPU, 2D ,3D, memory, and disk performance. The overall system rating is weighted towards what seems as experiential parameters- a system with a higher rating will feel faster to the user even. A system with amazing CPU power may not have a significantly higher score if the 3D or disk marks are not also very good.

I'm not certain of the total, but some times ago, I read that the baselines contained the results of testing over 300,000 systems. Passmark also maintains fantastic searchable charts for CPU/s, GPU, and drives

As an example of the usefulness, my current project is upgrading an HP z620 workstation and Passmark testing has been very useful in this project to chart progress and identify weak components:

HP z620 as delivered:

HP z620 (Original) Xeon E5-1620 4-core @ 3.6 /3.8GHz) / 8GB (1X 8GB DDR3-1333) / AMD Firepro V5900 (2GB) / Seagate barracuda 750GB + Samsung 500GB + WD 500GB
[ Passmark System Rating= 2408 / CPU= 8361 / 2D= 846 / 3D = 1613 / Mem =1584 / Disk = 574 ] 7.13.16

First upgrade:

HP z620 (Rev 1) Xeon E5-2690 (8-core @ 2.9 /3.8GHz) / 40GB (4X 8GB +4X 2GB DDR3-1600) / AMD Firepro V5900 (2GB) / Seagate Barracuda 750GB + Samsung 500Gb + WD 500GB / 800W > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit >
[ Passmark System Rating= 2304 / CPU= 14532 / 2D= 723 / 3D = 1665/ Mem =2709 / Disk = 538 ] 7.20.16

Second upgrade:

HP z620 (Rev 2) 2X Xeon E5-2690 (8-core @ 2.9 /3.8GHz) / 40GB (4X 8GB +4X 2GB DDR3-1600) / Quadro K2200 (4GB) / Seagate Barracuda 750GB + Samsung 500GB + WD 500GB / 800W > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit >
[ Passmark System Rating= 2468 / CPU= 20083 / 2D= 731 / 3D = 3535/ Mem =2278 / Disk = 541 ] 8.1.16

Updated BIOS:

[ Passmark System Rating= 2589 / CPU= 19671 / 2D= 728 / 3D = 3542/ Mem =2397 / Disk = 587 ] 8.2.16

By checking the average for a pair of Xeon E5-2690's on the Passmark chart, it's possible to see that the terrible SATAII disk is holding back the system.

Another round of upgrades to an HP z420:

HP z420 (2015)(Original) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 /4.0GHz > 16GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K600 (1GB) > WD Blue 500GB
[ Passmark Rating = 3330 > CPU= 13680 2D= 797 / 3D=860 / Mem= 2558/ Disk= 1253]

Adding a Quadro K4200 and Intel 730 480GB SSD:

HP z420[ (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) > 32GB DDR3 1866 ECC RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555]

Adding a Samsung SM951 M.2 256GB AHCI SSD:

HP z420[/b] (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) / 32GB DDR3 -1866 ECC RAM / Quadro K4200 (4GB) / Samsung SM951 M.2 256GB AHCI + Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) + Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5581 > CPU= 14046 / 2D= 838 / 3D= 4694 / Mem= 2777 / Disk= 11559] [6.12.16]

Which for awhile made this the highest rated HP z420..

Passmark generously offers a 30-day free trial of Performance Test , but I think it's well -worth the modest cost and just have it. Every time I'm thinking of buying a component, and often when replying to questions on Tom's, I make advanced searches using Performance Test baselines.

There are of course, a quite a number of useful benchmarks tests, and I also like Cinebench, but Passmark breaks down the ratings by the fundamental hardware and by researching comparisons with other systems using the same parts,makes it easier to see what is working well and what can use improvement.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

 

[Joel Allen]

Wow lots of information! Thanks guys! I'll play with it tonight after work, I'm excited to see what my little cube can do!

 

[Joel Allen]

Hey Guys,

So far I got around to doing prime95 and Heaven.

prime95: small FFTs for 10 minutes Peaked at 70C

Heaven:
FPS: 78.7
Score: 1983
Min FPS: 8.8
Max FPS: 184.0

Settings:
Direct3C11
1446x883 8xAA
Ultra
Extreme Tessellation

During Heaven I only peaked at 53C for the CPU.

Can you guys comment on these results? Good? (considering my system)

Any other thoughts? I'll probably do passmark tomorrow.

 

[WildCard999]

Your Prime95 test is good if your using the stock Intel cooler and those scores/temps seem correct for that system. What's your native resolution for your monitor?

 

[Joel Allen]

Native resolution is 1440x900. Its the only monitor I have at the moment. Will be buying a 1080p in the near future. Also, during the heaven extreme test the graphics card peaked at 65C. That seems good to me? The fan barely had to run!

Also, I was considering an aftermarket cooler because I was thinking the PC might get pretty hot when running quad core games. Thoughts on that?

 

[WildCard999]

You could always replace the stock cooler with a budget cooler like the EVO 212 or Cryorig H7 which would help keep it cooler and would run much quieter then the stock cooler.