Maxon releases Cinebench 2026
Maxon has released Cinebench 2026, the latest version of its free CG benchmarking software.
The update adds support for new Apple Silicon processors, new AMD and NVIDIA GPUs, and introduces a new test to evaluate the performance of SMT-enabled CPU cores.
A staple tool for graphics hardware reviewers
For over a decade, Cinebench has been a standard tool in benchmarking graphics hardware, both for individual users looking to test their systems, and for studios.
Even CG Channel’s own hardware reviewer, Jason Lewis – not generally a fan of synthetic benchmarks – uses it in his reviews of workstations and graphics cards.
The benchmark is now based on Redshift, Maxon’s CPU/GPU production renderer.
Cinebench 2026: support for current-gen CPUs and GPUs
Although Cinebench 2026 isn’t as major an update as its predecessor, Cinebench 2024, which reinstated GPU benchmarking, there are a number of important changes.
One is simply that the complexity of the tests has been increased to reflect current production workflows.
The other is the range of new hardware that Cinebench supports, which now includes Apple’s M4 and M5 processors, NVIDIA’s Blackwell GPUs – the GeForce RTX 50 Series and new RTX PRO cards – and AMD’s Radeon AI PRO R9000 Series and Radeon RX 9000 Series GPUs.
New test for SMT-enabled CPU cores
In addition, a new test makes it possible to compare performance of CPUs that support simultaneous multithreading running with SMT enabled, and running in single-threaded mode.
But benchmark scores can’t be compared to previous versions of Cinebench
As with Cinebench 2024, the update is compatibility-breaking.
According to Maxon, Cinebench 2026 score values have been “readjusted to a new range” and should not be compared to scores from previous versions.
Price and system requirements
Cinebench 2026 is available free for Windows and macOS. It runs on both AMD and Intel CPUs, AMD and NVIDIA GPUs, and Apple Silicon, Snapdragon and Ampere Altra processors.
Read more about the new features in Cinebench 2026
Download free CG benchmarking tool Cinebench
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