PC Benchmarking / Load testing

[Podie]

A quick request for info from my fellow IT bods..

PC Benchmarking
Is there a particular piece of software that the industry uses to benchmark PCs..? If so, what is it..?

I have a variety of PCs that I need to compare, in terms of a baseline figure. These PCs cover a variety of chips and amount of RAM installed.

Something that gives me a number would be ideal (whether in MWIPS or MDIPS, or some sort of proxy KPI).


Load testing
The vast majority of our apps are web based these days, and things like Load Runner are a tad long winded (and don't like web apps!). Again, is there a definitive piece of software I should use..?

Alternatively, do I just crank out Windows Resource Monitor..?


Suggestions on a postcard to the usual address!

[jimmyjimjim]

www.futuremark.com
For starters. Lots more out there.

[mr_yogi]

The load testing, is that to test for stability?

If so Prime95 will test the PC (CPU/RAM) to melting point

[jimmyjimjim]

Wiki lists most of the major ones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer

And for burn in /load testing:-

www.passmark.com/

[Podie]

Load testing wise, I want to see how the PCs perform with our software load.

I know there are plenty out there, but is there an "industry standard" that people use..?

[rlk500]

I have done some of this in the past and used an app called pcmarks. It's not great, but a few of the mags used it for baseline testing. It had data from other machines that you could use to compare your results against. The other source you could try is ZDNet, where I think you can get a copy of the tools they use for evaluating hardware and software. It's interesting work to do, because you can see what really makes a difference to performance and what is just vapourware. The biggest difference I found was that video cards play a much bigger part in performance and perceived performance than any amount of uber processors/cores.