Which type of pie is the best? Apple pie? Pizza pie? Steak and potato pie? It is impossible to say because they each serve their purpose and each does their job. The same is true of rendering machine CPU/GPU performance testing programs. There are many of them, more than is mentioned on this list, and it is very difficult to say which are best. That is why we are going to leave the decision up to you. The tools are free, so go nuts trying them out.
The Most Popular GPU/CPU Testing Tools
Here is a list of free tools that will test your GPU performance. Many of them also have tools for testing your CPU too. Many are free by their own standards, and others have a free basic package where you have to pay for their more advanced features, benchmarks, and tools.
- Heaven UNIGINE
- Novabench
- PassMark
- 3DMark
- Geekbench
- MSI AfterBurner
- Basemark
- Cinebench
- HWMonitor
- OverClock Checking Tool
- GFXBench
- FurMark
- UserBenchmark
- Speccy
- CPU-Z
Why are there so many? It is mainly because different industries require different types of benchmark tests, so they go ahead and create them. Over time, the tools are either refined or forgotten and invariably, the ones that are refined will grow their features so that they are more useful to a wider group of people.
Which Rendering Machine Performance Tool Should You Pick?
They are free, so pick three of them and try each of them out. You should try more than one because you are more likely to find a tool that suits your needs. And, more importantly, you can compare their results. You want to be (generally) sure that the result you are receiving is accurate. If you try more than one testing program, you can compare their results and then judge those programs (and your hardware) by the results that are produced.
Are You Overclocking?
If you are, then try out quite a few of these tools. Some offer special tools just for overclockers, and some even make suggestions on ways to overclock at a rate that doesn’t make your system unstable. Some of the free tools are free because they are openware, or they are tools that the developers launched onto the Internet and forgot about. They still work well, but some of them look at little dated.
The Tools Won’t Answer All Your Problems
People who start suffering performance issues are often victims of their power supply. Power problems are one of the primary causes of unexpected performance dips. If your computer crashes during a benchmark test, then it is likely that your graphics card is faulty (unless you are putting your device under a massive amount of pressure during your tests). Old drivers and overheating are also quite common when it comes to unexpected performance problems. Consider these potential problems when you are searching for answers to your performance problems.
When Rendering Takes Up Too Much Time
If you are growing concerned about your rendering machine’s performance. Perhaps it looks like you need to upgrade and update your equipment. Before you lay out thousands of dollars, consider transitioning your process over to a cloud computing system. Rather than running all your renders yourself, you run the basic demo and framework stuff on your devices, and you render the final versions or graphics-heavy content through a rendering farm. This is a cloud rendering service where all you need to do is send your data files/plans quickly over the Internet, and the cloud service does all the rendering and sends you back a finished product. Take a look at this and see what you think, it may save you thousands over the short and long term.