What's new in Novabench 6

Novabench 6 is the biggest update to Novabench since its original release in 2007. The goal was to make Novabench easier to use, more customizable, and capable of telling you more about your system.

What's new at a glance:

Redesigned interface with test customization and unified reporting
Expanded benchmarks (CPU, memory, storage) with deeper insights
New NPU benchmarking
Built-in network testing (speed, traceroute, DNS)
Stress testing improvements
Test result explanations
Application tests (for Team plans)

Added since the 6.1 releases

Point releases have added several test categories and a new tab.

Inspect System. A new tab that describes the machine rather than scoring it. It gives a full hardware, firmware, and configuration inventory, plus installed software and drivers. It also covers sensor and battery history, benchmark result trends, and Windows crash reports with decoded call stacks and cause attribution. See Inspect System.

AI test. Benchmarks local large language model inference on your own hardware. It reports tokens per second per model, hardware target, and runtime. It now covers Intel and AMD Ryzen AI NPUs alongside CPU, GPU, and Snapdragon. See AI test.

HTTPS test. Measures the full request path from DNS through TLS handshake to first byte. This is closer to what a browser experiences than a raw throughput number. See HTTPS test.

Warranty and coverage. Reads device warranty and support entitlements from OEM management software on Windows, and AppleCare coverage on macOS. See warranty and coverage.

Crash reports. Decodes Windows crash dumps locally to name the driver or component responsible, with a stated confidence level. See crash reports.

Boot Times. Records startup, resume, shutdown, and sleep history on Windows and Linux. The Plus plan compares each transition with the system's typical range and shows recorded evidence for changes. See Boot Times.

For Work users, the same point releases added:

A rebuilt baselines engine
Fleet jobs that combine tests, inventory collection, scheduling, and monitoring in one deployable unit
Network filter change tracking
Installed monitoring agents for Windows, Linux, and macOS

New interface

Test customization and device selection. On multi-GPU systems, select which GPU to benchmark. You can also choose specific drives for storage tests, pick stress test targets, and configure test parameters before you run.

Unified results and comparison. Novabench now combines scores and comparisons into a single results report. With online comparison enabled, you see charts, health indicators, and comparison rankings alongside your test data.

Deeper hardware insights

Version 6 adds depth to each existing benchmark and introduces new test categories.

CPU: more detailed measurement

The CPU benchmark now runs 16 test units (up from 5 in v5) with dedicated scalar and SIMD throughput measurements. Novabench 6 prominently shows the single-threaded versus multi-core breakdown. It also surfaces hybrid topology details (P-cores, E-cores, LP-cores).

Tests run the same workloads across x64 and ARM, Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Memory: timings and profile optimization

Version 6 surfaces detailed memory configuration directly in the interface:

Current timings, clock frequency, and channel count
Available JEDEC, XMP, EXPO, and AMP profiles with their rated frequencies and timings

You can immediately see whether your memory runs at its rated speed or at a lower default.

Storage: technology details and drive health

The system information panel now identifies PCIe generation and lane count for NVMe drives. For supported systems, Novabench reads S.M.A.R.T. data. It shows drive health indicators including life remaining, power-on hours, and overall health status.

NPU benchmarking

Novabench 6 measures NPU performance across two areas that matter for real-world AI and ML workloads:

Throughput (TOPS): peak inference capacity from a calibrated pool of concurrent inference requests. This reflects how the NPU handles sustained concurrent workloads.
Inference latency: per-frame response time for real-time processing such as background blur, portrait effects, and video segmentation.

When Novabench detects supported hardware and drivers, the test runs automatically.

Network testing

Novabench 6 introduces a complete network testing suite. This is an entirely new test category, and it ships in the free version.

A network quality score (1-5, poor to excellent) summarizes your overall network experience.

Speed test: download speed, upload speed, idle latency, and packet loss.
Traceroute: hop-by-hop route analysis with per-hop latency. Identifies exactly where in the network path slowdowns occur.
DNS benchmark: measures DNS resolver performance, which can be a critical bottleneck for page load time.

Stress testing

The core stress test is now available in the free version. Every user can run CPU, GPU, and VRAM stress tests with configurable duration and device selection, with pass/fail results. This covers the most common needs including validating cooling solutions and checking overclock stability.

Plus adds throttle detection, sensor charts (temperature and frequency over time), and account syncing.
Pro adds parallel execution mode. It stresses all selected devices simultaneously for worst-case thermal and power validation.

Explain analyzes your results

After you run a benchmark, Explain (available on Plus) analyzes your scores in context and returns:

A summary of your overall performance
Key insights about specific strengths and weaknesses
Recommendations you can act on

Explain combines your test results with online comparison data to help you understand what matters most for your system.

Novabench scoring remains the same

Novabench scores in v6 use the same calculation as v5. Your existing scores remain comparable. Many users and organizations rely on these scores in their processes, so we chose to maintain continuity.

Version 6 captures significantly more test data per benchmark. We plan to use this data to inform a future scoring update. When we update the formula, we will tell you what changed, why, and how it affects comparisons with older results.

In the meantime, look at the detail behind your score:

Component scores (CPU, GPU, Memory, Storage, NPU) for system balance
Single-core versus multi-core CPU scores for workload-specific insight
Sub-test results for granular performance data
Percentile rankings to see how your hardware performs relative to similar configurations

See our benchmark methodology and understanding your scores documentation for more.

Free and upgrade features

Every test in Novabench remains free. The full benchmark suite, stress testing, network tests, basic online comparison, and shareable result links are available to all users, with or without an account.

For monitoring trends over time, deeper diagnostics, or managing results across multiple devices, our Plus and Pro plans add the features you need.

For existing subscribers, your current plan carries forward at its original terms.

Novabench for Work

Novabench Team plans are built for desktop engineering, procurement, and IT teams that need to establish and enforce performance baselines across a fleet.

Application tests are the headline addition for work users in v6. Unlike hardware benchmarks, application tests run real operations inside real software. Categories include word processing, spreadsheets, photo and video editing, code compilation, web browsing, and local LLM models. The result is a practical performance picture that reflects what your users experience day to day.

Baselines connect these results. Define minimum hardware scores or application performance targets per role or team. Then test devices against those baselines for an instant pass or fail.

Validate and Resolve complete the device lifecycle: regression-test updates before rollout, and continuously monitor fleet health in production. Learn more about Novabench for Work.

Get started

Novabench 6 is available now as a free download for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Run your first benchmark in minutes.

Download Novabench 6

Test your PC and network performance for free.

Novabench 5 LTS remains available for download for Plus and Pro customers who need it.