PCMark 7 Editor's Review

Insure your computer is performing the way it should be with this awesome set of tools and utilities.

PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests suites for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads. Covered workloads include storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Each workload is specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.

If your PC is unable to run the standard suite of tests, PCMark allows you to run different types of tests, provided you upgrade from the Basic Edition. The Lightweight test contains a collection of workloads to measure the performance of systems unable to run the PCMark test. This includes entry level systems and netbooks. The Entertainment test is a collection of workloads that measure system performance in entertainment scenarios. This includes recording, viewing, streaming and transcoding TV shows and movies, importing, organizing and browsing new music and several gaming related tasks. If the target system is not capable of running DirectX 10 workloads then those tests are skipped. The Creativity test contains a collection of tests to measure the system performance in typical creativity scenarios. This includes tests for viewing, editing, transcoding and storing photos and videos.

The Productivity test is a collection of tests that measure system performance in typical productivity scenarios. Tests in this suite include loading web pages and using home office applications. The Computation suite contains a collection of tests that isolate the computation performance of the system. Finally, the Storage suite is a collection of tests that isolate the performance of the PC’s storage system. You can choose to test other storage devices in addition to the system drive.

Pros: Unlimited runs, free version available

Cons: Basic edition only includes only the PCMark 7 test suite, Limited usefulness past the initial diagnosis of your specific problems or optimization needs unless you have problematic hardware. Download is huge at 306MB

Conclusion: The PCMark Basic edition suite should give most users enough information on how their computer is running.  If you're a PC vendor or repair depot, having either the Advanced or Professional versions will give you access to additional test suites and functionality.  While this type of application is valuable during troubleshooting scenarios, its range of usefulness is limited unless you're constantly tweaking the configuration of your PC or gaming system, you're dealing with problematic hardware and/or drivers, or you're a professional PC repairman.

version reviewed: 1.04