How We Test Desktop PCs

Standardized testing is an important facet of reviews at Here's how we test every desktop PC we review.


The desktop PC review process at continues the traditions started when we created PC Labs in 1984: We compare each system to others in its category on the basis of features, design, and performance. Each benchmark test listed below is chosen to highlight the strengths and weaknesses in the PC's mix of software and components, from the CPU, to the memory subsystem, storage, and graphics. Where possible, we've chosen a standardized test created by an established benchmark developer, and we've created our own tests when necessary.

We run the following tests on OS X and Windows desktops whenever possible. For Chrome OS, we will test anecdotally, including video playback and web use, as Chrome is currently incompatible with our benchmark tests.

For productivity, use PCMark 8. It is an overall performance test that supports the Windows 7 and 8 operating systems only. The PCMark 8 score is derived from a compilation of common tasks that users perform in a typical day. This includes photo and 4K (Ultra High-Definition) video editing, music, gaming, communications, and productivity tasks.

Lenovo ThinkStation E32 SFF

For 3D testing, tests that are challenging to every system are essential. To this end, we chose Unigine's Heaven and Valley tests. Each test simulates movement through highly detailed environments. Heaven navigates a virtual manmade location and Valley flies through an expansive outdoor landscape. Both tests add atmospherics to each environment, and can stress even multi-GPU gaming rigs.

At the medium settings, we use the 1,366-by-768 resolution and set all quality sliders to medium or normal. Antialiasing (AA) and anisotropic filtering (AF) are disabled, in order to give us an idea of how a system plays games when frame rate is more important to the player than ultimate content quality.

For the maximum settings, we set all-in-one desktops' screen resolution to native (aka, maximum non-scaled resolution for that desktop) or 1,920-by-1,080 resolution for traditional desktops, and bump the quality settings to extreme or ultra. We choose whatever setting is the most strenuous. AA and AF (if present) are each set to 4X. This shows us the results when the player throws wants an immersive gaming session with the most eye candy turned on.

Digital Storm Coridium - Rear Panel

Finally, we use an industry-accepted synthetic 3D benchmark test that that truly taxes the graphics subsystem. FutureMark's 3DMark 11, another Direct X benchmark test, works with Windows 7 and 8. 3DMark has three built-in presets, one for entry-level systems, one with a moderate load for performance PCs, and an extreme setting. We chose to test at the entry and extreme settings, the first for a baseline, and the second to test high-performance gaming rigs at full 1080p screen resolution.


For video encoding, we're using Handbrake 0.9.8 to transcode a 1080p file ripped from a Blu-ray movie down to a preset suitable for viewing on mobile devices like the iPod Touch and iPhone. Transcoding a video file will save room by shrinking the video file to a size that better fits on your phone's limited internal storage. The test is timed, so systems that take less time to complete the task are rewarded. Handbrake runs on all current flavors of Windows and OS X.

The Adobe Photoshop CS6 test involves running a 12MP .JPG file through a series of 11 filters. The system is timed to see how long each filter takes to manipulate the image, and the total time is compared to times from similar systems. The Photoshop CS6 test runs on all x86-compatible versions of Windows and OS X.