How we test
Powerful machines demand powerful tests. We put each of the workstations through a demanding suite of benchmarks to find the best option in each task
W e wanted to give the broadest possible workstation advice, so we used a wide variety of software for testing – as the huge number of graphs on these pages shows!
To start with, we ran our standard PC Pro benchmark suite to assess image processing and video encoding abilities, and then multitasking ( see results on p93). Each of these categories has an individual score, which indicates relative speed compared to a Core i7-4760K desktop PC with 8GB of RAM. If a machine scores 150 in a test, it’s 50% faster than the reference PC. All these results are combined into an overall score, giving an indication of ability in these contentcreation tasks as well as general activities.
On top of our regular benchmark suite, we added tests specifically aimed at a range of higher-end workstation tasks. To test 3D modelling in all the main content types, we used SPECviewperf 2020, which runs OpenGL viewsets (and one uses Direct3D) based on popular 3D content creation, engineering and medical applications. These include Autodesk 3ds Max and Maya, PTC’s
Creo, Siemens NX, plus Dassault Systèmes CATIA and SolidWorks.
Maxon Cinebench R20 contains a highly multithreaded 3D rendering test, which benefits from multiple processor cores. But GPU rendering is slowly becoming used in live production, particularly since AMD introduced its ProRender system. We tested GPU-accelerated 3D rendering with the OpenCL-powered Luxmark 3.1, IndigoBench 4 and a real-world test frame created in Blender for the Cosmos Laundromat animated movie, codenamed Project Gooseberry. Blender now supports CPU and GPU rendering, and we tested both using the latest 2.93.1 version. This is a gruelling, lengthy render that really taxes cooling and can cause core throttling.
To assess professional-grade video encoding, we rendered the Blender Tears of
Steel movie from UHD (3,840 x 2,160) to a YouTube-compatible 4K file using H.264 compression. For this test, we used Adobe Media Encoder CC 2021, and ran the encode with GPU acceleration enabled and disabled. We also tested the raw performance of workstations’ SSDs and hard disks with the CrystalDiskMark 7.0.0g benchmark.
The consequence is a set of results showing which type of content-creation software and activity each workstation is best suited for.