What does a benchmark tell me?

[codered]

I have seen these benchmark programs, but what exactly would a benchmark tell me?  I realize it has to do with how many frame rates you are getting, but I can select cntl-z to see what sort of frame rates I am getting.  I am just curious to find out what they are good for and how useful a benchmark can be.

Thanks

[Craig.]

i think they test the maximum limits of your computer, and then tell you just how much it really can do, i also think some tell you things to change to improve your systems performance
but i will leave any other info for others to correct

[FSTipster]

hmmmm...lol.....ok. Not everyone is going to agree with this but here's my take on it.

There are dozens of benchmarking programs out there. Depending on how they've been written (which is the real crux of comments I'll make at the end) they test the speed at which your P.C. can perform certain tasks.

These usually include how fast it can read from and write to your hard drives, process 2D and 3D graphics, all sorts of things like that. It just depends what tests have been written in.

The problem with them is that you have to be very careful which one you use. The coding of the program itself can have a significant effect on the results. One man's code for testing 3D graphics can significantly differ from anothers, producing different results.

My personal view is based on the "If it ain't broke - don't fix" it philosophy.

A benchmark test can only give you results. It won;t usually give you too many clues as to what has had the effect of producing them. So if you get a result that you feel is poor, you can screw something up that was working perfectly well trying to fix it. As outlined above, the reason for a poor result may lie in the way the test has been written rather than any particular problem with your P.C.

IF you have a problem with your P.C. that interferes with your use of your machine, whether that be running FS2002 or any other application, then a benchmark test might give you a pointer as to the problem.

Results from even a correctly coded benchmark test are generally interesting rather than useful. If you're into tweaking your machine, then they can give you useful comparisms in performance before and after the tweak but other than that, I'd steer clear of them.

[Brett_Henderson]

Agreed,,     benchmark obsession can leave you confused at best and overwhelmed at worst.

Unless you're willing to have a different hardware configuration and custom start-up for every application you run (and even then, do the old "shut-down-wait 20 seconds and reboot routine every time you change apps), you'll end up beating your head against the wall  ;)

Just keep your drivers current and you background tasks to a minimum.