Benchmark guide
Benchmark pages of AIDA64 Engineer provide several methods to measure system performance. These benchmarks are synthetic, ie. the results show only the theoretical (maximum) performance of the system. In contrast to application tests, synthetic benchmarks do not tend to reflect the "real world" performance of the computer. These benchmarks provide quick and easy comparison between computer states, e.g. when certain parameters (CPU clock speed, memory timings, etc) change in system configuration.
Memory bandwidth, CPU and FPU benchmarks of AIDA64 Engineer are built on the multi-threaded AIDA64 benchmark engine that supports up to 32 simultaneous processing threads.
[*NEW*] Since AIDA64 v3.20, the AIDA64 benchmark engine supports up to 640 simultaneous processing threads and 10 processor groups.
The attained results are scalable either in multi-processor (SMP), multi-core (CMP) and HyperThreading enabled systems. In other words, AIDA64 can utilize the full potential of the current and also the next generation of CPU technologies, such as the AMD FX, AMD Opteron and Intel Core i7, Intel Xeon processors.
Intel HyperThreading support
Intel's HyperThreading feature shows moderated performance improvement in AIDA64 benchmarks, because in HyperThreading enabled processors most internal resources (buffers, registers, caches) are shared between the two logical processor units. More specifically the Nortwood, Gallatin and Prestonia core based Intel NetBurst architecture processors do not contain sufficient internal resources for the extremely optimized benchmark routines AIDA64 uses, so on these processors the default HyperThreading setting is disabled, in order to avoid "bottleneck" situations and attain better benchmark results. The Prescott, Nocona, Irwindale, and Potomac based Intel processors have way more internal resources than their predecessors, so on these cores HyperThreading is enabled by default.
Enhanced Halt State and Enhanced SpeedStep support
In order to provide appropriate benchmark results, AIDA64 disables the Enhanced Halt State (C1E), Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST), Cool'n'Quiet (CnQ) and PowerNow! feature of capable AMD and Intel desktop processors during all benchmark measurement processes. Such features are available in most modern Intel and AMD processors. They are implemented to lower power consumption and heat production by lowering CPU clock frequency and CPU core voltage when the CPU is idle.
System requirements
AIDA64 Engineer benchmarks have considerably higher system requirements than the main AIDA64 application does. To get meaningful and comparable benchmark scores, at least an Intel Pentium class processor (implementing the Time Stamp Counter feature) and 128 MB system memory is required.
64-bit Windows systems are fully supported by AIDA64. All AIDA64 benchmark tests implement both 32-bit and 64-bit variations, and so they are fully capable of utilizing the 64-bit processing capabilities of modern AMD, Intel and VIA processors.
Before starting the benchmarks
In order to attain the highest possible benchmark scores make sure to close all background applications, including ICQ, Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Winamp, web browsers, email clients, hardware monitoring tools, etc. The least number of applications running in the background, the higher benchmark scores can be reached. For comparative benchmarks (ie. when comparing systems based on benchmark scores), make sure to perform benchmarking in a clean Windows installation.
Starting the benchmarks
Benchmarks are not started automatically, because it's possible to configure them before starting the actual performance measurement process. On CPU and FPU benchmark pages a new button appears on the tool bar named Parameters.
By clicking on the Parameters button, a dropdown menu appears to configure the number of processors to be utilizied by the benchmark method.
And it's also possible to configure whether the benchmark should use Intel HyperThreading technology. For more details please refer to the Intel HyperThreading support topic above on this page.
Comparing results
FinalWire constantly improve the benchmarks of AIDA64, hence comparing benchmark results of different AIDA64 versions is absolutely not recommended. For example, attaining a result of 200 scores in AIDA64 Version 2.50 cannot be directly compared to a result of 200 scores measured using AIDA64 Version 2.00.
Understanding the results
Except for the Memory Latency test, the higher score means the better performance.
Measurement unit of the results is MB (megabytes) per sec for Memory Read, Memory Write, Memory Copy, CPU ZLib, CPU AES, and CPU Hash tests; ns (nanosecond) for Memory Latency test; and MPixel (megapixelsa) per sec for CPU PhotoWorxx test.