How We Test PCs

WorldBench 7 Scoring

Though the mix of applications and workloads in WorldBench 7 differs from that of previous versions of WorldBench, the general principle is the same: We run all PCs through the same set of primarily real-world applications and workloads, timing how long each one takes, and comparing the result against a baseline configuration meant to represent an average PC.

For WorldBench 7, the specs of our baseline configuration are as follows:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K
• RAM: 8GB DDR3-1333
• Hard drive: 1TB 7200-rpm
• Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti

This machine forms the basis for determining the WorldBench 7 score, with the baseline represented as a score of 100. For example, if a PC completes a test 20 percent faster than the baseline, it earns a score of 120; if it is 20 percent slower, it receives a score of 80. We compute this score for each test, and then combine them all into a weighted average to produce the final WorldBench 7 score. We put all PCs--laptops, desktops, and all-in-ones--through the same WorldBench 7 tests, and score them against the same baseline. This consistency means that you can compare the WorldBench 7 scores of a laptop, a desktop, and an all-in-one against one another.

We break the WorldBench 7 tests into five sections: Office Productivity, Content Creation, Web Performance, Storage Performance, and Startup Time. Some of these sections comprise multiple tests, while others are a single test. Each section claims a percentage of the total WorldBench 7 score, as follows:

Next Page: WorldBench 7 Tests in Detail