The Maximum PC Test Bench

Allow us to introduce the machine we’ll be using to test hardware over the coming year

- Zak Storey

EVERY ISSUE, WE DISSECT a plethora of hardware for your reading pleasure. It could be anything from headsets to processors, graphics cards to motherboards. And for the vast majority of that hardware, it needs to be put through its paces on a quantifiable, standardized test bench. In short, we keep the system we use for each product we review identical, in order to ensure that our results across multiple motherboards, GPUs, CPUs, or memory kits aren’t affected by any spurious system irregularities or instabilities.

Getting these things set in stone is imperative for providing solid, reliable results, and something many a hardware reviewer will pride themselves upon, ourselves included. But when it comes to building a solid test bench, there’s a whole variety of factors to consider. First of which is the choice of chassis. Generally speaking, you have two routes: You can go with a fully enclosed case, or you can opt for an open air test bench. The latter, however, tends to be less conducive to accurate cooling benchmarks (after all, it doesn’t replicate a typical, everyday fully enclosed system). But case choice, accessible airflow, and ambient temperatures vary so widely among our audience, that it’s often less about what specific temperature the coolers and fans can maintain, but more what variances in temperature and noise are noted between two different cooler designs, something we then balance with strict ambient temperature controls and thermal load testing. On top of that, opting for an open-air test bench makes swapping out hardware far easier and quicker. Which means that when it comes to supertests and error testing, it can be achieved far faster than when we’re using a closed chassis.

As you’ve probably guessed, we’re about to show you our test bench for 2017—which hardware we’ve chosen, which niggles we’ve found, and how we’ve overcome them.