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Bigger bar higher. My late colleague Gordon Mah Ung coined this catchphrase to summarize the final perspective towards benchmarks. When every successive era comes out, most individuals look to see if the numbers went up—and by how a lot.
You already know the result. The greater the bounce in quantity, the happier the conversations. (Or no less than, one “side” within the debate is way happier.) When the numbers seem to solely crawl ahead, everybody reacts in a extra subdued method.
But is that this really pure habits—or is it discovered? I’d say it’s each.
I wager a lot of you bear in mind when benchmark knowledge felt like a win. In the late 1990s, when Gordon first devoted himself to the benchmarking grind, having such knowledge simplified what felt complicated to measure. (Ex: Framerates might inform you what to anticipate from new {hardware} when gaming—and helped us calculate how lengthy to stretch the lifetime of our present setups.) More importantly, the neighborhood might replicate the assessments and thus confirm. If all of it checked out, then reviewers might be seen as reliable.
Hardware has elevated in complexity, although—as you’d anticipate over the course of just about 30 years. It jumped significantly dramatically within the final ten, with the concentrate on chiplet designs, extra silicon layers, and extra processors to assist with specialised duties. These advances make the {hardware} nice to make use of, however troublesome to judge.

As CPUs (and different {hardware}) have turn into extra complicated, so has benchmarking them.
Willis Lai/Foundry
I believe we’re overdue for a large dialog round benchmarks. Balancing consistency, repeatability, and ease has been a core tenet of testing. In our chat this week with visitor Matt Bach, who oversees benchmarking for revered workstation vendor Puget Systems, these themes span our complete dialogue. But I believe this steadiness is fraying at its edges.
It’s time to blow issues up. The a long time of expectations round easy numbers to encapsulate complicated conditions is doing us no favors. I believe reviewers and customers alike must rethink what consistency really encompasses as of late.
Because from the place I sit, variability is the important thing issue within the high quality of our expertise on PC as of late. Your 1 % lows or microstutters? Their frequency and severity affect the fluidity of your gameplay extra so than uncooked framerates. You might argue for related affect with how cores and threads increase or how effectively directions cross between CPU chiplets. Like with medical analysis, a more durable and extra thorough take a look at variables and their results would tackle a wider vary of experiences, and in some methods, extra precisely establish and tackle delicate nuances which have huge affect.
To be clear, we shouldn’t get rid of benchmarks carried out with constant, repeatable components. But the information that comes from purposefully inspecting conditions the place all components can’t be managed? Trends and even patterns lurk inside that seeming chaos, too.
I’ve hope that the web can adapt.
In this episode of The Full Nerd
In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Alaina Yee, Will Smith, and particular visitor Matt Bach, Labs Supervisor and PugetBench PM of Puget Systems speak about {hardware}, benchmarking, and the reliability of recent elements. The most necessary element we cowl: How to correctly pronounce “Puget.” (It’s “pew-jet.”)
We additionally dig into the significance of PC reliability total, first from the attitude of constant efficiency, after which of failure. In reality, the thought of consistency comes up usually in our dialogue—a lot in order that it might simply have influenced my focus for the e-newsletter this week.
Matt digs deep into his behind-the-scenes reveal of how the Puget Systems group benchmarks—not simply how they arrive to deciding how one can craft the assessments, but in addition their philosophy and method. Our virtually two hour discuss all however flew by!

Willis Lai / Foundry
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This week’s eclectic nerd information
A serious change to Intel’s possession, the brand new Commodore 64 smashing gross sales information, an really cool use of AI, and yet one more look of Doom in an sudden place—probably the most fascinating information to me at present spreads off in each route. (And there’s a lot!)
I find it irresistible.

Aaron Christophel / YouTube
- Ready to rumble? Rumors recommend that AMD’s upcoming RDNA5 structure could commerce blows with Nvidia on the high of the stack. (No one inform Brad I’m sharing hypothesis.)
- Huh, I don’t hate this use of AI: I really love the thought of hobbyist AI fashions serving to folks entry and expertise historical past extra simply. It’s probably a extra accessible format for digital museums. Key to this anecdote is the usage of top quality knowledge—if solely that had been a common method.
- Autofill is a double-edged sword: I like comfort, however not on the expense of safety—and this week’s information about 11 password managers susceptible to clickjacking assaults proves out my wariness.
- Is an intervention needed? Gen X and Millennials love throwing cash at nostalgia. It’s not a brand new phenomenon—my Boomer family members’ repeat purchases of 1950-1970s music CD units show that out—however let’s be actual. We don’t have the identical quantity of actual property to retailer continual reproductions of PC and gaming {hardware} from our youth. At the identical time, please take my cash.
- Slap some duct tape on that problem: More than as soon as, Will and I’ve bemoaned the wretched state of figuring out USB cables and ports. This tester helps mitigate among the points, if you wish to get deep within the weeds. Gordon would have cherished it, but in addition that meme of slapping tape over a crack in a water tank is relevant right here.
- Speaking of duct tape solutions: Amid all of the reviews of melting energy cables, ASRock has launched a cable with overheating safety. I believe we’d all fairly not have to fret about fires.
- RIP to my youth: The demise of TypePad is simply including to all of the indicators that vital time has handed since I used to be younger. Kind of hilarious that LiveJournal nonetheless is shambling about whereas its extra elegant competitor is being laid to relaxation.
- I’m not ready to say good-bye yet: AMD’s Wraith Prism cooler is among the most underappreciated inventory coolers, for my part. (I assume this opens the chance for Hall of Fame nomination, although. Hmm.)
Catch you all subsequent week—I’ll make a daring prediction that I’ll nonetheless be as unprepared then as I’m now for autumn’s imminent arrival. How is September already on our doorstep?
Alaina
This e-newsletter is devoted to the reminiscence of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and government editor of {hardware} at PCWorld.