Maxon Cinebench R23: Key Features & Improvements for Benchmarking

Maxon release:
Cinebench 24

Maxon Cinebench is an industry-standard benchmarking software based on the cutting-edge technology that makes Maxon One the preferred choice of professionals.

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Technical Information​

• Cinebench 2024 tests GPU and CPU performance by using Maxon’s powerful Redshift render engine.
  
  
• Cinebench 2024 supports AMD and Intel x86/64 CPUs, Apple’s M1 & M2-powered computing systems as well as the Snapdragon compute platform.
  
  
• Cinebench is based on the latest Cinema 2024 and Redshift code using updated compilers (Clang) and has a minimum runtime activated by default.
  
  
• Cinebench 2024 provides improved benchmark accuracy for current and next generation CPUs to test if a machine runs stable on a high CPU load, if the cooling solution of a desktop or notebook is sufficient for longer running tasks to deliver the full potential of the CPU and if a machine can handle demanding real-life 3D tasks.
  
  
• Users have the option to directly test the single core performance without manually enabling the “Advanced benchmark” option. The “Advanced benchmark” allows users to set arbitrary minimum runtimes to stress test the hardware for even longer periods of time.
  
  
• Because of the code and compiler changes and a different scene being used, Cinebench score values are readjusted to a new range so they should not be compared to scores from previous versions of Cinebench.
  
  
• Compared to Cinebench R23 the computational effort for the scene increased sixfold in the multithreaded rendering test. This reflects the CPU performance improvements as well as the increased demands artist have to deal with these days.
  
  
• The higher complexity of the scene also means the memory footprint has increased threefold. Depending on your CPU configuration Cinebench 2024 will need at least 6.5 - 8.5 GB RAM. The minimum memory requirement is therefore set to 16 GB (while macOS can execute the CPU test also on 8 GB machines – with significant influence of paging – Windows usually has several GB assigned to non-purgeable memory which prevents the execution of Cinebench 2024 on 8 GB machines).
  
  
• GPUs need more memory for efficient operation, and as such, they need 8 GB or more of GPU memory. On Apple silicon, this memory is part of the unified memory system, and therefore Redshift GPU can only run on machines with at least 16 GB.
  
  
• Cinebench 2024 will not execute on unsupported processors.
  
  
• On systems lacking sufficient RAM to load the test scene, a warning will be displayed, and the CPU and/or GPU benchmark will not be executed.
  
  
• Background tasks can significantly influence measurement and create diverse results. It's always a good idea to shut down all running programs and disable any virus checking or disk indexing but it's impossible to eliminate all background processes. Modern operating systems perform various background tasks that cannot or should not be disabled, even though they could have a minor influence on the results.
  
  
• Test results can vary slightly because it's impossible to disable every background task of an operating system. These tasks are one factor that may have a slight influence on measurements. Also, modern computers and graphics cards dynamically adjust clock speeds based on environmental conditions like power and temperature. For instance, processors will reduce clock speed when running too hot to allow for cooling and prevent damage. With many modern processors, the reverse is also true. They can overclock themselves when the temperature is low enough. Therefore, a system freshly started in a relatively cool environment will typically run faster than the same system that has been performing benchmarks for several hours in a heated office.
  
  
• It is also possible to launch Maxon Cinebench with command line options. Please refer to your operating system manual on how to start an application using the command line. After the name of the application enter one of the options listed below. Maxon Cinebench will then be executed, run the specified test, then quit and display the result in the command line console. The result is not saved as a file.
  
  
• The following command line options are available:
  • g_CinebenchCpu1Test=true – runs only the Single Core test procedure
  • g_CinebenchCpuXTest=true – runs only the Multi Core test procedure
  • g_CinebenchAllTests=true – runs all test procedures sequentially
  • g_CinebenchMinimumTestDuration=100 – sets a minimum test duration of 100 seconds
    
• To get a proper console log on Windows, you must add an additional command before the Cinebench executable name. Example:
  • start /b /wait "parentconsole" Cinebench.exe g_CinebenchAllTests=true

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Limitations​

There is no "limitless" or "without compromises" in real life and engineering:

• The range of hardware covered on GPU and CPU is vast. For extreme GPU configurations (e.g. having half a dozen or more of the most powerful GPUs in one machine) Maxon’s Redshift GPU benchmark creates a more demanding workload.
  The Redshift GPU benchmark can keep these hardware setups busy for several minutes with its benchmark scene (on the flip side this will get quite slow on non-high end GPUs and you can’t compare those results relative to the CPU in your machine anymore)
  
  
• Cinebench unfortunately can’t measure the wall power to determine how much energy was used for the render task. Depending on your use case - e.g. working on a notebook (without having access to power connector) or having high energy costs do deal with - energy efficiency of the hardware vs render speed might be an important metric for you to consider.

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System Requirements​

Operating Systems

• Windows 10 Version 20H2 or higher or Windows 11 for x86/64 hardware
• Windows 11 for arm64 hardware
• Apple macOS 12.6+ (Monterey) or 13.3+ (Ventura) for Redshift GPU support
• macOS 11.7.7+ (Big Sur), if you want to run CPU tests only

Minimum Requirements (Windows)

• 16 GB of RAM
• 64-bit Intel or AMD cpu with AVX2 support or Windows 11 on Snapdragon compute platform or ARM v8.1 64-bit CPU
• NVIDIA GPU with CUDA compute capability 5.0 or higher and 8 GB VRAM, or
• AMD "Navi" or "Vega" GPU or later with HIP capability and 8 GB VRAM or more (see GPU list below)

Minimum Requirements (macOS/Intel)

• 16 GB of RAM
• 64-bit processor with SSE4.2 support
• AMD "Navi" or "Vega" GPU or later with 8 GB VRAM or more (see GPU list below)

Minimum Requirements (macOS/Apple Silicon)

• 16 GB of unified memory; CPU rendering works on Apple Silicon machines with 8 or 12 GB of memory too, but OS memory paging can degrade the performance compared to machines with 16 GB of memory
• Apple “M” Series (M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra, M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, M2 Ultra)

Supported AMD GPUs for Windows:

• Radeon PRO W7900, W7800, W6800, W6600, VII and W5700
• Radeon RX 7950XTX, RX7950XT, RX7900, RX6950, RX6700XT, RX6600 and RX5700XT

In addition the following GPUs should be supported (but are not actively tested):

• Radeon Vega Frontier Edition, Radeon RX Vega 56, Radeon RX Vega 64 (gfx900)
• Radeon RX 5500 (gfx1012)
• Radeon RX 6800, Radeon RX 6900 (gfx1030)
• Radeon RX 6700 (gfx1031)
• Radeon RX 7800 (gfx1101)
• Radeon RX 7600, Radeon 7700 (gfx1102)

Supported AMD GPUs for macOS/Intel:
MacBook Pro

• Radeon Pro Vega 16/20
• Radeon Pro 5500M/5600M
  

iMac

• Radeon Pro Vega 48
• Radeon Pro 5500XT/5700/5700XT
  

iMac Pro

• Radeon Pro Vega 56/64
  

MacPro

• Radeon Pro Vega II / Vega II Duo
• Radeon Pro W5500X/W5700X
• Radeon RX 6800/6800XT/6900XT
• Radeon W6800X MPX
  

Thunderbolt eGPUs

• Radeon RX Vega 56/64
• Radeon Pro WX 9100
• Radeon VII
• Radeon RX 5500/5500XT/5600XT/5700/5700XT
• Radeon RX 6800/6800XT/6900XT
• Radeon W6800X MPX

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Cinebench 2024.0.1​

This hotfix addresses two small bugs from last week's Cinebench release.

Bug Fixes​

• Fixed an issue where thread scheduling would be thermally constrained on Apple Silicon machines
• Fixed a duplicate GPU display issue in the System Info of Cinebench.

Download:

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What you need to know about Cinebench 2024​

In this article​

1. Why are my scores worse than others?
2. Technical Notes

Cinebench is free software designed to evaluate your system's CPU & GPU abilities; the latest version can be downloaded from Maxon.net.

Why are my scores worse than others?​

Since Cinebench 2024, Redshift has been used to test the render performance of your computer.
Here, the performance of the graphics card (GPU) and that of the main processor (CPU) is tested and output as a performance value.

It is important to note that the performance of a processor (CPU or GPU) is influenced by different factors.
It is therefore possible that two systems with the same hardware can achieve different values.

So if you notice that your system is slower than the same hardware of others, the reason could be the following:

1. Can your computer be cooled sufficiently?
   Both the ambient temperature and the temperatures inside the case can influence the performance values. If the processor gets too hot, you will get different values, than with a good cooling.
2. Can your power supply provide enough power?
   If it is too weak or has fluctuations in the output power, this can affect the GPU and thus, in addition to poorer values, also the stability of the graphics card!
3. Is the CPU / GPU overclocked?*
   Most current processors can tolerate this well, but then the cooling of the system and the performance of the power supply must also support it! Otherwise, the two points above come into play!
4. Did you just run the test for one minute or 10 minutes as recommended?
   You may be asking yourself why the test should run for 10 minutes? Quite simply, a processor heats up over time. This in turn affects its speed. Therefore, the performance value is usually higher after only one test run than after several minutes. However, if the test runs for 10 minutes, an average value is calculated that represents a real performance.
5. Is your graphics card driver up to date?
   Since manufacturers ensure that drivers receive performance improvements and bug fixes as quickly as possible, a driver version quickly becomes outdated.
   This also applies to macOS users. Always install the latest macOS update to ensure that you have the latest drivers installed!

Always remember that the values determined by Cinebench 2024 should only be regarded as a guideline. If the values vary upwards and then downwards again, this is normal.