Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC)

SPEC CPU 2026 is here! 🚀 We are proud to announce the availability of the SPEC CPU 2026 benchmark suites, the industry gold standard for vendor-neutral compute performance. For 37 years, SPEC CPU has been the trusted "yardstick" for server buyers. This update reflects a massive multi-year collaboration between competing organizations to ensure performance metrics reflect today’s real-world software and hardware evolution. A True Industry Collaboration This release was made possible by the dedicated effort of the SPEC CPU committee members, including: AMD, Ampere Computing, Arm, Dell Technologies, HPE, IBM, IEIT Systems, Intel Corporation, NVIDIA, Oracle, and SiFive. What’s New? ➡️ 52 Real-World Benchmarks: Expanded from 43 to include modern workloads like an LLVM optimizing compiler and a Python interpreter. ➡️ Multidisciplinary Growth: Expanded to a wider array of domains—from scientific areas like astrophysics and flight dynamics to general-purpose areas like databases, EDA, and graph analytics. ➡️ Modern Language Support: Full compliance with C++17, C18, and Fortran 2018. ➡️ Next-Gen Scalability: Memory utilization has been quadrupled to 64GB to properly stress high-core-count CPUs and high-density hardware. ➡️ Expanded Datacenter Support: Formalized methodologies for bare-metal cloud platforms, ensuring relevance for both on-prem and cloud deployments. Whether you are a server buyer, a system architect, or a hardware engineer, the SPEC CPU 2026 benchmark suites provide the unbiased, relevant insights needed to make informed technology investments. Beyond Servers While primarily for servers, these suites provide valuable insights for workstations, laptops, tablets, and smartphones as well. Whether you are a server buyer, a system architect, or a hardware engineer, SPEC CPU 2026 provides the unbiased, relevant insights needed to make informed technology investments across the entire compute spectrum. 🔗 Download the suites and read the full announcement here: https://ow.ly/55C950YV3Jf #SPEC #Computing #ServerPerformance #CPU #DataCenter #HardwareEngineering #Benchmarking

Congratulations to Mohammad Bakhshalipour of Carnegie Mellon University, the winner of the 2025 SPEC Kaivalya Dixit Distinguished Dissertation Award! 🏆 This annual honor recognizes outstanding doctoral dissertations that push the boundaries of scientific originality, practical relevance, and industry impact within the scope of the SPEC Research Group. Mohammad’s winning thesis, “Bridging Real-Time Robotics and Computer Architecture,” (completed under the supervision of Phillip B. Gibbons) was selected for its exceptional technical depth and its dual-benefit to both academia and industrial practice. Why this work stands out: Comprehensive Benchmarking: Introduced open-source benchmark suites and performance studies specifically for real-time robotic applications. Architectural Innovation: Proposed application-specific hardware accelerators and domain-specific processors. Proven Impact: Demonstrated substantial performance gains through targeted architectural design and rigorous empirical evaluation. By bridging the gap between robotics and computer architecture, Mohammad’s work provides a roadmap for the future of high-performance, real-time autonomous systems. Please join us in celebrating this remarkable achievement in the field of computer science and research! #SPEC #ComputerArchitecture #Robotics #Benchmarking #AcademicExcellence #CMU #Innovation #TechResearch #STEM #ResearchExcellence #PhD #Engineering #FutureTech #HigherEducation #AwardWinner #OpenSource #AutonomousSystems

🚀 SPEC Releases PTDaemon® Interface v1.11.4 Attention SPECpower_ssj® 2008 and SERT® suite licensees: A new version of the PTDaemon interface is now available for download! This update (v1.11.4) introduces key device enhancements, notably adding support for Chroma 66203 & 66204 multichannel as accepted AC and DC devices. 📅 Important Deadline: If you are planning a SPECpower_ssj 2008 submission, please note that all submissions made after July 13, 2026, must utilize v1.11.4 or higher. We encourage all users to download and apply the update today to ensure your benchmarking environment remains current. ⚠️ Technical Note: While the update includes DC device support, please remember that no SPEC benchmarks or tools currently operate within DC environments. For more information, please visit: https://ow.ly/YLGm50Ybpua #SPEC #Benchmarking #PTDaemon #EnergyEfficiency #TechUpdates #SERT #SPECpower

2025: A Landmark Year for Graphics Performance Standards 🚀 The graphics industry moves fast, and in 2025, the SPECgpc Committee moved even faster. We're excited to share a new retrospective from Committee Chair Ross Cunniff on the massive momentum behind the SPECviewperf 15 benchmark. 2025 year was defined by two major milestones that modernized how we measure professional graphics performance: 1️⃣ The May Launch: We rebuilt the foundation, adding support for DirectX 12 and Vulkan alongside OpenGL. We also introduced heavy-hitting workloads for Blender, Enscape (ray tracing), and Unreal Engine (Lumen/Nanite). 2️⃣ The December "Snap-in" Update: Perhaps the biggest innovation was the new "snap-in" architecture. This allowed us to release the snx-05 (Siemens NX 2406) workload as a modular update in the December SPECviewperf 15.0.1 benchmark. The Result? Users can now stay current with the latest software versions without the need to re-run their entire benchmark suite—saving time and increasing testing agility. Industry-Standard Support SPECviewperf 15 now provides performance data for the latest versions of the tools professionals rely on every day: 👉 Solidworks 2024 & CATIA 👉 Siemens NX 2406 (New Snap-in!) 👉 Autodesk Maya 2025 & 3ds Max 2023 👉 Creo 9 👉 Unreal Engine 5.4, Blender, and Enscape For enterprises, this means better-informed hardware procurement, optimized resource allocation, and a superior user experience for engineers and designers. 🔗 Read the full story here: https://ow.ly/6BPr50XQaZb #SPECviewperf #GraphicsPerformance #GPUComputing #EnterpriseIT #CAD #VFX #Benchmarking #TechInnovation #WorkstationPerformance

📢 SPECviewperf 15.0.1: New Workload for Siemens NX and the Power of "Snap-In" Architecture 📢 SPEC is excited to announce the release of the SPECviewperf 15.0.1 benchmark, an important update for high-end CAD and professional graphics evaluation. This release delivers on the promise of the original SPECviewperf 15 benchmark (released May 2025) by introducing our first "snap-in" workload: snx-05 (Siemens NX 2406). - The snx-05 workload enables accurate performance assessment against the most current demands of high-end CAD systems (like Siemens NX, CATIA/3DEXPERIENCE, and Creo), directly supporting smarter hardware lifecycle and investment decisions. - The "snap-in" capability means SPEC can now rapidly support the newest professional applications while ensuring the validity and comparability of your prior benchmark results remains intact. - Beyond new features, this release includes important bugfixes and usability improvements and is verified to run on Windows 11, ensuring stable and reliable testing across the latest operating environments. This update empowers organizations to make better, faster decisions on graphics hardware. ➡️ Learn more: https://ow.ly/Y2CM50XHCQc #SPEC #SPECviewperf #ProfessionalGraphics #Workstation #CAD #SiemensNX #Benchmarking

The SPEC Kaivalya Dixit Distinguished Dissertation Award is accepting nominations! This prestigious award recognizes outstanding doctoral dissertations in the areas of: 👉 Computer Benchmarking 👉 Performance Evaluation 👉 Experimental System Analysis We're looking for dissertations that demonstrate exceptional scientific originality, significance, practical relevance, and impact. Contributions can span from designing new metrics to developing innovative methodologies and tools for measurement, workload characterization, dependability, and efficiency evaluation. The winner will receive a $1,000 prize and will be celebrated at the ACM/SPEC International Conference on Performance Engineering (ICPE 2026). 🏆 Eligibility: Dissertations defended between October 2023 and September 2025 are eligible. Please note that a thesis can only be nominated once. Know a deserving candidate? Spread the word and help us recognize the next generation of leaders in quantitative system evaluation! Learn more at: https://ow.ly/Rliz50WBA2E #PhD #Dissertation #Research #ComputerScience #PerformanceEngineering #ComputerBenchmarking #SPEC #ICPE2026

Attending SIGGRAPH 2025? Don't miss our Birds of a Feather session on "Unlocking the Power of New Graphics APIs with SPECviewperf 15". New graphics technologies, from advanced ray tracing to virtualized geometry, are delivering incredible capabilities. But they also bring a critical challenge: how do you accurately benchmark and compare different hardware configurations? This question is vital for developers, designers, and system buyers who need to make informed decisions. This BoF will discuss how SPEC developed the new SPECviewperf 15 benchmark to address these challenges. We'll explore the new, graphically intensive workloads and share insights into interpreting benchmark results to enable more informed decisions. It's a chance to learn how to evaluate system performance without the need for purchasing expensive applications. When: Sunday, August 10, 2025 Time: 9:00am - 10:00am PDT Where: East Building, Room 9 Learn more at: https://lnkd.in/g4Df_naa We look forward to seeing you there! #SIGGRAPH2025 #SPEC #SPECviewperf #Graphics #RayTracing #PerformanceBenchmarking #ComputerGraphics #TechTalk