Best Free and Paid GPU Benchmark Software

When building your gaming PC, you want to make sure everything runs as it should when you’re done. So if you want to test everything, let’s take a look at the ins and outs with the best GPU benchmark software with free and paid options.

Benchmarking is a great way to compare how different parts compare to each other. It’s an important part of how we test GPUs and a necessary tool for many reviewers. It’s something handy, so it’s easy to compare how different GPUs compare to each other.

While also delivering a good range of results, you can compare what you get to what you can expect. Then you can figure out what other issues you might be having when it comes to the card itself or the rest of the setup.

What to look for in GPU benchmark software

When it comes to choosing the right GPU benchmark software, there aren’t too many choices. However, there are still some decisions to be made about which ones to use.

So there are some factors that vary between softwares that you need to decide between as we look at some of these differences that you might be thinking of.

Free vs Paid

A big difference is whether you want to pay for the software or not. Both have some advantages, with the paid options most likely offering a wider variety of features and capabilities. As well as ongoing long-term support for your version and any upcoming hardware that is released.

But if you don’t do it long-term, and maybe once or twice, then it’s not worth the investment. Then you might just go for the free option, which might also lack rankings and comparisons. Since some of them may be missing the larger datasets, you can find the right comparison for your gear.

Tested functions

As graphics cards continue to expand and grow, there are many new features to test. Features like ray tracing and DLSS 3 have slowly crept into GPU territory, working in specific ways with specific parts in the cards.

That means you need software that targets those specific areas. A general test doesn’t access these and runs more general benchmarks, so there may be issues in these areas that more basic tests don’t show up.

Why you might need benchmark software

There are many reasons to consider using GPU benchmark software. It can range from personal use to something more commercial and as such there are many considerations on both sides to go with.

Test your hardware: An important use of any benchmark software is to check how your hardware is performing. So if you’ve just installed your new GPU, running a benchmark and comparing it to known results will help you know if it’s working as it should. In addition, the stress test should show any other problems under load, such as bad drivers or bad rendering cores.

Hardware comparison: If, like us, you compare hardware between many choices, then using GPU benchmarks means a good baseline comparison. Since only the hardware changes, this provides a good comparison of performance between different options, allowing you to make a better decision.

Best GPU benchmark software

3D mark

At the top is 3DMark, which is paid software but is an industry standard. With a full suite of in-game tests, it can be used for any type of work your GPU might be going through.

There are a number of choices for specific GPU tests. With three different tests for DX 11 and DX 12 based applications, they can test how they handle these types of games or other apps.

There are also tests specifically for DLSS and ray tracing. They can verify how the graphics card handles these functions in applications to ensure they are running correctly.

3DMark also has an entire leaderboard so you can compare your results. Since these have many users submitting results, you can compare yours to see how it performs.

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Superposition is more of a stability test, it still has a benchmark and leaderboard to compare your hardware against. There is a free version you can use, however more features and tests are locked behind a payment such as B. looping, ranking publication and commercial automation.

The test runs on Unigine 2 engine for top graphics options. This, along with the monitoring built into the software, means you can keep an eye on what’s happening. With the GPU temperature and available clocks, you can see how it behaves under stress.

Includes Screen-Space Ray-Traced Global Illumination for its dynamic lighting technology to push the boundaries. And of course, a ranking allows for easy comparison.

Furmark

Furmark is a fast OpenGL benchmark and is also used as a GPU stress test. It’s a simple and free test that’s very handy for both testing and benchmarking your GPU.

With graphics reminiscent of the Eye of Sauron, stare into it as it fuels your graphics card with its rendering. As well as comparing your score against a benchmark so you can see how you stack up against the others, there are also longer stress tests.

This way you can see if there might still be something wrong with your hardware. With a temperature and time display, you can see how the GPU is performing on these tests.

minimum score

Another paid software, Passmark, offers an extensive set of benchmark tests that you can run. It is not limited to only one part, but offers CPU, 2D and 3D graphics, hard drive and memory tests.

With an extensive ranking, you can easily compare your hardware to what others have achieved in this field. With an overall PassMark rating for your hardware, this has been a standard since 1998.

It also has the advantage of being run from a USB stick, making it much easier to use on multiple PCs. With a simple no-licensing issue, you can pay it off once and use it as a single user without a lock, or take advantage of the free trial.

GFXBench

For a wider range of platforms, GFXBench offers a variety of API benchmarks. That means you can test your GPU’s high-end graphics performance on OpenGL, Vulkan, DirectX, and more.

And with the range of devices you can test it on, the comparison chart is extensive. You can compare what devices can do in the software and what to expect, or see how different parts perform before deciding what to buy.

The test offers multiple tests that focus on different features and APIs. All are available for Android and Windows. These tests range from low-level API graphics and shaders to tessellation and geometry transformation and rendering.

Last word

With this wide range of GPU benchmarks to choose from, there are many options to choose from. If you are looking for paid or free and looking for some good comparisons to use.

These all differ in what they offer and how much they are worth to you. They actually test certain features in particular. Some of them also offer good stress tests to make sure everything is working as it should.

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