Comparing results

A benchmark score becomes more useful when you can see how it compares to other systems. Novabench provides several comparison tools, from histograms to detailed percentile rankings and plain-English analysis on Plus.

Score histograms

After running a benchmark, the results screen shows a histogram for each component (CPU, GPU, Memory, Storage) that plots the distribution of scores across all systems in the Novabench database.

How to read a histogram

Your score appears as a highlighted vertical line on the histogram. The bars represent how many systems scored within each range. A score near the right edge of the distribution indicates above-average performance for that component, while a score near the left edge suggests room for improvement.

The histogram also shows the percentage of results in each bin, so you can see whether your score is in a common range or an outlier.

Histograms give you a general sense of where your system stands in the entire Novabench population. This is useful for understanding absolute performance: is your system in the top half of all computers, or the bottom half?

Percentile rankings

Percentile rankings compare your scores against systems with the same hardware. Instead of showing you the full distribution of all users, percentile rankings tell you what percentage of identical configurations you outperformed.

Novabench calculates three percentile comparisons:

• Vs. identical hardware: compares your system against other systems with the same CPU and GPU combination. This is the most useful comparison for understanding whether your specific machine is performing as expected.
• Vs. same era: compares your system against hardware from the same generation, giving you context among contemporary systems.
• Vs. all systems: compares your system against every system ever benchmarked with Novabench, showing where you stand in the broadest possible context.

A percentile of 85 means your system outperformed 85% of the comparison group. Percentiles are reported on a 0 to 99 scale.

Component-level comparison

Each component's results screen includes:

• Your score with the distribution histogram
• Median and average for the comparison group, so you can see the typical range for similar hardware
• Health indicators (Plus): pass or warning status for your score, temperature, and power draw relative to the same hardware. A warning means your value deviates meaningfully from the typical range.
• Temperature and power comparison (Plus): your actual thermal and power readings next to the typical values for identical hardware, with percentage deviation shown. This helps distinguish between a hardware limitation and an environmental or configuration issue.

Efficiency comparison

If your system recorded power sensor data during the benchmark, the results screen includes an efficiency view. Efficiency measures performance relative to power consumption: a system that achieves a high score at low power draw is more efficient than one that requires more energy for the same performance.

Efficiency data is useful for comparing laptops where power and thermal constraints matter, or for evaluating whether a desktop system is drawing more power than expected for its performance level.

Comparing across your own results

Novabench tracks your benchmark history, so you can compare results over time. The results view includes a score trend chart that plots your scores chronologically with a linear regression trend line. This is useful for detecting performance degradation after system changes like driver updates, OS upgrades, or hardware modifications.

Side-by-side comparison

Novabench includes a comparison grid that lets you place multiple results side by side. The comparison grid shows scores and test results results in a single view, highlighted (red to green) to make it easy to spot performance differences.

Sharing results

You can generate a shareable link for any result. The link lets anyone view your scores and system configuration in a web browser without needing Novabench installed.

Results can also be exported to CSV or JSON format (Pro) for use in reporting to external analysis.

Comparison features by plan

For a complete feature comparison across all plans, see plans and features.