[quinda]

What benchmarks do you use?

I tend to run the latest 3D Mark whenever I upgrade (I don't bother running the older ones like 2003, etc), and also keep Si Soft Sandra handy for the non-games related stuff.

For kicks I tried Prime 95 on my system after I upgraded to a dual core - the difference between the dual core / non dual core was pretty impressive :)

With the advent of Vista and the 'Windows Experience Index' to rate performance of machines (and what games they can run) I wonder what will happen to benchmarks. I have a feeling that they will go back to the realm of the geeks, and not be as mainstream as they are today.

[CG Man]

I look at bechmarks for games and 3D rendering tests on other websites. It's te only real way to see how they perform.