PassMark PerformanceTest is a Windows benchmarking program. It measures how fast a PC’s processor, graphics card, memory and storage are. It then rates the machine against results gathered from other computers. The standard tests are free to use without a license. A paid license unlocks the configurable Advanced Tests after a 30-day trial that includes everything. PassMark also offers free Linux and macOS versions and a mobile version for Android and iOS.
Five suites and the PassMark Rating
PerformanceTest groups its standard benchmarks into five suites: CPU, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, memory and disk. Each suite produces its own mark, such as the CPU Mark or Disk Mark, and the five marks feed an overall PassMark Rating for the computer.
All scores follow the same rule: a bigger number means a faster result, and the scale is relative rather than a percentage. The overall rating is not a simple sum or average. The weakest component holds it back. A very fast processor paired with an ordinary drive and memory therefore still produces an ordinary PassMark Rating.
Processor workloads
The CPU suite runs each workload on every logical processor the system has, including hyper-threads, multiple cores and multiple CPU packages. Eight tests make up the CPU Mark:
- Integer and floating point math run basic arithmetic on large sets of whole numbers and single- and double-precision values.
- Prime numbers searches for primes with the Sieve of Atkin, a test where memory bandwidth also plays a part.
- Compression packs blocks of data with lossless DEFLATE compression.
- Encryption runs AES, SHA256 and ECDSA operations and uses hardware instructions such as AES-NI where the processor has them.
- Extended instructions runs sub-tests for SSE, FMA, AVX, AVX512 or NEON, depending on what the platform supports.
- String sorting sorts strings with a quicksort routine.
- Physics counts how often a physics simulation can be completed in the test period.
A separate single-thread score repeats part of this work on one core, which better reflects programs that use only one.
2D and 3D graphics
The 2D suite checks how quickly the video card handles everyday drawing work of the kind found in word processing, web browsing and CAD. It renders simple and complex vectors, fonts and text and Windows interface components, applies image filters and runs Direct2D drawing.
The 3D suite renders a series of game-like scenes, each built on a different DirectX generation from DirectX 9 to DirectX 12. The newest scene is a space scene with thousands of asteroids and dozens of spaceships. It runs at 4K resolution and uses DirectX 12 features such as command lists and multi-GPU support. GPU compute tests using DirectCompute and OpenCL, including an N-body gravity simulation, are part of the 3D Mark as well.
Memory and storage
The memory suite exercises RAM with database-style operations, cached and uncached reads, writes, latency measurement and reads spread across several threads.
The disk suite works with hard drives, SSDs and optical drives. It measures sequential read and write speed, random seek with mixed reads and writes, and input/output operations per second (IOPS).
Advanced Tests
The licensed Advanced Tests turn the fixed benchmarks into adjustable experiments, useful for measuring the effect of a hardware upgrade or configuration change:
- Disk: users can vary file size, block size, caching and the number of threads while the test measures IOPS.
- CPU: individual CPU tests run on a chosen number of threads.
- 3D graphics: separate DirectX scenes with settings such as lighting, texturing, wireframe, resolution and color depth.
- Memory: users can change data size and access pattern to study caching effects.
- Network: the test measures throughput between two computers over TCP/IP on a local network or the Internet. Settings include host name or IP address, port and block size.
- Visualized physics and GPU compute: the physics simulation appears on screen with adjustable parameters, and DirectCompute and OpenCL workloads run on their own.
Baseline comparisons
PassMark maintains a baseline database built from results submitted by more than a million computers. From inside PerformanceTest, a user can search the baselines, download one and set it against the local results in the program’s charts. This shows whether a machine performs like others with the same processor or graphics card.
The free and licensed editions handle this data differently. In the free edition, the global chart data inside the program refreshes every 90 days, and the program uploads results automatically. A license adds the Advanced Search option for baselines, weekly chart updates and the choice to keep results private.
Licensing and other platforms
A PerformanceTest license has no hardware locking, online activation or yearly fee. It covers both x86 and ARM builds, and the program can run from a USB drive. The Linux edition is a free command-line tool running the CPU and memory suites. macOS has an app and a command-line tool. The mobile version tests phones and tablets. CPU scores are designed to compare across all of these platforms.
