PCBenchmark runs entirely in your browser. You do not install anything, and the test runs the same way on Windows, macOS, Linux and many phones. That convenience comes with limits, because browsers deliberately hide some hardware details to protect your privacy.
What a browser benchmark measures well
- Processor throughput. Web Workers run real computation on several threads, so the test shows how fast your CPU handles sustained work.
- Graphics performance. WebGPU, and WebGL 2 where WebGPU is not available, run compute shaders and rendering on the graphics chip.
- Memory speed. Copying and randomly reading a large buffer shows how quickly data moves between the processor and system memory.
- Stability. Stress mode keeps the CPU and GPU busy together, which exposes throttling and performance drops under combined load.
What a browser cannot see
- Exact RAM size. Browsers report memory only as a rounded class. A value of 32 GB can mean 32 GB or more, so it is never an exact reading.
- Graphics memory (VRAM). WebGPU does not report how much video memory a card has. PCBenchmark tests how much data it can upload, not how much memory is installed.
- All CPU threads. The browser may report fewer logical processors than your PC actually has.
- Temperatures, voltages and fan speeds. These require native tools with direct hardware access.
When to use a native tool instead
If you need sensor readings, overclocking validation or exact memory timings, use native software such as HWiNFO, Cinebench or 3DMark. A browser benchmark is the right choice when you want a fast, comparable check of how a PC performs today, without installing anything.
You can read exactly how every phase works on the methodology page, then start a benchmark to see the numbers for your own system.