Tech Blog / Benchmarking

Benchmark & Performance Validation

Benchmarking is easy to do badly. Most results fail because the method is wrong: short runs, inconsistent settings, uncontrolled background load, or the wrong metric (averages instead of tails). This guide is about validation: repeatable tests that actually predict real-world behavior.

Read the guide Quick checklist
Focus Repeatability
Metrics Frametimes & p95
Method Controlled variables

Why most benchmarks don’t predict reality

Real workloads are messy: background services run, assets stream, temperatures rise, and power limits kick in. A benchmark that looks clean for 60 seconds can be useless after 20 minutes of sustained use.

Validation means you can reproduce results across runs, explain changes, and connect metrics to actual experience (smoothness, responsiveness, stability).

The three failures that ruin results

Uncontrolled variables

Driver updates, BIOS changes, background tasks, different power modes — even small differences can swing results and create fake conclusions.

Wrong metrics

Average FPS hides pain. For games, frametime tails matter. For systems, p95 latency reveals instability that averages smooth over.

Too short to matter

If you stop before thermals stabilize or caches fill, you’re measuring the “fresh” state, not the sustained behavior that users feel.

What to measure (and how to interpret it)

Good validation captures consistency and tails. It answers: does performance stay stable, and do spikes correlate with something controllable? If you can’t explain a spike, you don’t have a conclusion — you have a screenshot.

Rule: If you can’t reproduce it, don’t publish it — and don’t optimize for it.
  • p95 / p99 latency (system tasks, network calls, compile steps).
  • Frametime spikes (count, frequency, and worst-case, not only average FPS).
  • Sustained throughput after thermals stabilize.
  • Variance across runs (if variance is high, your method is noisy).

Quick checklist

Setup (before testing)

Lock settings: power plan, drivers, BIOS, resolution.

Close background noise (updates, sync tools, overlays).

Pick repeatable scenes/tasks and define the route.

Validation (during/after)

Run long enough to include thermal and cache behavior.

Compare tails first (p95/p99), then averages.

Repeat runs. If variance is huge, fix the method.

“A benchmark is a story. Validation is proof.”