Cinebench APK 2026: Free Download, Scores, Versions and Full Guide Whether you are buying a new CPU, tuning thermals, or comparing systems, Cinebench gives you a reliable number to work with. It is free, cross-platform, and built on the same Cinema 4D engine that professional 3D artists use every day. Single-core, multi-core, and GPU scores in one tool. This guide covers every version from R15 to 2026, every score type, the new SMT test, the MP ratio, and why two identical systems can score differently. If you are not sure which version to run or what your score actually means, you are in the right place. == What Is Cinebench? == Cinebench is a free software for testing the performance of CPUs and GPUs. Developed by Maxon, it has served as a gold-standard test for the hardware industry for more than two decades. The reason Cinebench is unique among other tests is its core. The application does not generate arbitrary calculations. Instead, it runs a full rendering of a 3D model using the same engine used by professional designers in their day-to-day workflow. The results reflect the true performance of the hardware rather than just a synthetic workload. - Available free of charge, without registration or subscription - Works on Windows (x86-64 and ARM64) and macOS (Apple Silicon included) - Used by hardware reviewers, PC enthusiasts, IT professionals, and overclockers - Scores are cross-platform, so you can compare a Mac against a Windows PC fairly == Cinebench 2026 System Requirements == Cinebench 2026 is more demanding than previous versions. Not just on your CPU during the test, but on your hardware as a baseline requirement. Windows: OS Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit or ARM64); RAM 8 GB minimum / 16 GB recommended; GPU VRAM 8 GB dedicated VRAM (for GPU test); GPU compatibility NVIDIA Blackwell, Ada and AMD RDNA 4; CPU architecture x86-64, ARM64. macOS: OS macOS 12 or later; RAM 16 GB recommended; GPU 16 GB unified memory; GPU compatibility Apple M4, M5; CPU architecture x86-64, Apple Silicon. You can run the CPU tests without meeting the GPU requirements. The GPU test simply will not run if your graphics card does not meet the VRAM threshold. That is not a failure; it just means the test does not apply to your hardware. == How to Download Cinebench == Cinebench is free. No account, subscription, or payment is required to download it. Which version to download: - Benchmarking current hardware in 2026: Cinebench 2026 - Comparing against older CPU databases: Cinebench R23 - Testing a GPU released before 2024: Cinebench 2024 - Historical comparison only: R20 or R15 How to Download: 1. Scroll to the download button on this page 2. Select the version you need from the options listed 3. Choose your operating system: Windows, macOS, or ARM 4. Click the download button and save the installer to your system 5. Verify the checksum before running; Maxon publishes these officially and it confirms your file is clean If you are benchmarking new hardware in 2026, Cinebench 2026 is the right choice. If you need to compare against an existing score database from older reviews, download R23 alongside it. == How to Run Cinebench 2026 the First Time == Preparing your system for benchmarking: - Update your OS, BIOS, and GPU drivers to the latest available versions - Restart your PC fresh; do not benchmark a system that has been running for hours - Plug your laptop in, never benchmark on battery power - Set your Windows power plan to High Performance or Balanced - Disable any overclocks temporarily if you want a clean stock baseline - Let the system sit idle for 5 minutes after boot before you start Closing background applications: - Close browsers, Discord, Spotify, and any streaming or communication apps - Pause cloud sync tools like OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive - Disable antivirus real-time scanning temporarily if possible - Open Task Manager and kill anything using more than 1 to 2% CPU at idle - Disconnect from the internet if you want to eliminate background update checks entirely Selecting your test: - Single Core: one core, measures IPC and clock speed - Multi Core: all cores at once, measures total rendering throughput - SMT: new in 2026, measures threading efficiency and produces your MP ratio - GPU: measures Redshift rendering performance on your graphics card Run them in order: single core first, then multi core, then SMT, and then GPU. Running the benchmark: 1. Click Start on your chosen test 2. Do not touch the system while it runs 3. Do not open apps, move windows, or plug in USB devices mid-test 4. Let it finish completely. Cinebench 2026 enforces a minimum runtime by default 5. Wait for the score to appear on screen before doing anything else Reading your results: - Score is your result as a number, higher means faster - MP Ratio appears after the SMT test, shows threading efficiency - The result screen includes a basic comparison against other hardware in Maxon's database Write down your score alongside your system config: CPU model, cooler, RAM speed, and BIOS version. Run it twice: - The first run is often slightly lower because the CPU is still warming up - The second run gives you the stable, representative number - If the second run drops more than 10% below the first, you have a thermal issue worth investigating Advanced Benchmark Mode: - Runs multiple consecutive loops instead of one - Reveals whether your CPU holds performance under sustained load or drops off - Essential for laptops, small form factor builds, and any system where throttling is suspected - Run 3 to 5 loops and compare the first score against the last - A drop over 20% across loops means your cooling cannot keep up Tips for consistent scores: - Run the benchmark twice; the first run is always the warm-up - Match the ambient room temperature across test sessions if you are comparing over time - Write down your driver version, RAM speed, and BIOS version alongside every score - If scores feel unexpectedly low, temporarily disable XMP or EXPO in BIOS to isolate whether memory is causing instability == How to Read Your Cinebench Scores == Single-Core Score: - High single-core = faster at gaming, app launches, anything that runs on one thread - Scores vary by CPU generation and architecture, not just clock speed - A 2026 Ryzen chip will outperform a 2020 chip at the same GHz because of IPC improvements - Compare the same-version single-core scores only. R23 and 2026 single-core numbers are not comparable Multi-Core Score: - Reflects total rendering throughput across all cores and threads - The number that content creators and 3D artists care most about - Watch for drops between runs. A drop of 20% or more means thermal throttling - High-core-count CPUs win here; gaming CPUs with 8 cores lose to workstation chips with 24 SMT / MP Ratio: The MP Ratio is the multi-core score divided by the single-core score. In Cinebench 2026, it also reflects SMT efficiency specifically. A ratio of 1.3 means your CPU gains roughly 30% extra performance from running two threads per core. A ratio close to 1.0 means SMT is adding almost nothing. GPU Score: - Measures Redshift GPU rendering speed - Useful for Cinema 4D users and GPU rendering workflows - Not a gaming benchmark, frame rates in games are tested differently - Higher GPU score = faster Redshift renders in actual production work == How Cinebench Benchmarks Work == Cinebench renders a fixed, complex 3D scene and measures how fast your hardware completes it. The faster the render, the higher the score. Every version uses the same basic approach, but the scene complexity, engine version, and scoring scale differ between releases. Single-Core Test: uses one CPU core to render the scene, one thread at a time. Measures clock speed and IPC; tells you how fast your CPU handles tasks that cannot be parallelised; relevant to gaming, app launch speed, and everyday responsiveness; score scales with architecture quality, not just GHz. A CPU with a high clock speed but weak architecture can score lower than a slower chip from a newer generation. That is what IPC means in practice. Multi-Core Test: uses every available core and thread at the same time. Measures total rendering throughput; shows how well your CPU handles heavy parallel workloads; heavily affected by cooling and power limits; where high core count CPUs shine. If your multi-core score drops between runs while the single-core score stays stable, your cooling system is the problem, not the CPU. SMT Core Test (New in Cinebench 2026): SMT stands for Simultaneous Multithreading. Intel calls it Hyper-Threading. It allows one physical core to handle two threads at the same time. Previous Cinebench versions never directly measured SMT benefit; they just used it silently in the multi-core test. Cinebench 2026 isolates this. It runs a single physical core twice: once with SMT enabled, once without. The difference gives you the MP Ratio. AMD Ryzen CPUs show roughly a 31% performance gain with SMT enabled on this scene. Intel's SMT implementation performs differently, and you can now see exactly how. Useful for evaluating CPUs with asymmetric core designs (efficiency cores vs. performance cores). Helps diagnose whether SMT is enabled in your BIOS or is being blocked by power limits. GPU Test (Redshift): Introduced in Cinebench 2024 and updated in Cinebench 2026. Uses Redshift, a GPU-accelerated renderer, to measure graphics card rendering performance. Requires 8 GB VRAM minimum on Windows; requires 16 GB unified memory on Apple Silicon. Cinebench 2026 adds support for NVIDIA Blackwell (RTX 5000 series), AMD Radeon 9000 series, and Apple M4 and M5. Score reflects how fast your GPU renders the Redshift scene, not how fast it plays games. == What Is the MP Ratio in Cinebench? == MP Ratio = Multi-Core Score divided by Single-Core Score. In Cinebench 2026, this ratio has a new meaning because the SMT test now runs in isolation. You are seeing exactly how much SMT contributes to your CPU's performance on this specific workload. What the numbers mean: - Below 1.2: SMT is contributing very little or may be disabled - 1.2 to 1.35: Normal SMT gain for most Intel chips - 1.35 to 1.5: Strong SMT benefit, typical on AMD Zen 4 and Zen 5 - Above 1.5: Excellent SMT efficiency, usually high-core-count workstation CPUs If your MP ratio is lower than expected for your CPU, it often means your cooler is throttling the CPU during the sustained multi-core run, even if the single-core result looks fine. == What Is New In Cinebench 2026 == Cinebench 2026 was released on December 29, 2025. It is not a minor update. The scoring baseline reset completely. - Built on the latest Redshift rendering engine; same code running inside Cinema 4D 2026 - Compiled with Clang V19 compiler, which is more accurate and faster at translating workloads to modern hardware - A multi-threaded workload is 6x harder than Cinebench R23 - The SMT core test is now on the main screen. It was hidden in Advanced Mode before - The single-core test is also accessible from the main screen without switching to Advanced Mode - GPU support now includes NVIDIA Blackwell (RTX 5000 series), AMD Radeon 9000 series, and Apple M4 and M5 - Minimum runtime is enforced by default, which prevents burst-speed scores that do not reflect sustained performance - Scores cannot be compared to any prior version Your R23 database, your Cinebench 2024 scores, and your R20 results: none of them cross over to 2026. You start fresh. == Cinebench 2026 Scores == These are reference ranges. Your actual score depends on cooling quality, RAM speed, BIOS power settings, and ambient temperature. Two systems with the same CPU can legitimately differ by 10 to 15 per cent. Multi-Core Scores (Cinebench 2026): - Budget: Ryzen 5 7600, Core i5-14400 — Multi 2,000 to 3,500 — Single 100 to 130 - Mid-Range: Ryzen 7 9700X, Core i7-14700K — Multi 4,000 to 6,500 — Single 130 to 160 - High-End: Ryzen 9 9950X, Core i9-14900K — Multi 7,000 to 10,000+ — Single 160 to 195 - Workstation: Threadripper 7970X — Multi 15,000+ — Single 170 to 185 The workstation CPU single-core score is actually lower than many high-end desktop chips, because workstation chips trade per-core speed for more cores. Multi-threaded workloads are where they dominate. - Scores at the top of a range usually require high-end cooling, fast DDR5, and XMP enabled - Scores at the bottom of a range often reflect laptops, power-limited systems, or poor thermal conditions - Apple Silicon scores a bit differently. M4 and M5 are competitive with high-end desktop chips in single-core, but the scoring context differs because they use unified memory, not discrete VRAM - Overclocked systems can push past the high-end range, but those results are not representative of stock performance and should be labelled as such GPU score reference for Cinebench 2026: - Entry: RTX 4060, RX 7600 — 5,000 to 9,000 - Mid-Range: RTX 4070, RX 7800 XT — 10,000 to 18,000 - High-End: RTX 4090, RX 7900 XTX — 22,000 to 40,000 - Latest Gen: RTX 5090, RX 9070 XT — 40,000 to 110,000+ GPU scores in Cinebench 2026 are on a much wider scale than CPU scores because the rendering engine can leverage the much higher parallelism of modern GPUs. A 5070 Ti should score around 110,000 points under ideal conditions, according to early community testing. == Cinebench as a Stress Test == Cinebench is not a dedicated stress test, but it gets used as one constantly. It is a render benchmark, not a torture test. Prime95 and similar tools push your CPU harder, for longer, with more heat. Cinebench's default minimum runtime is shorter and focused on render accuracy, not maximum load. Running Cinebench 2026 in Advanced Mode for 3 to 5 consecutive loops does generate enough sustained load to reveal real problems. - It exposes thermal throttling - It shows whether your CPU holds boost clocks under extended load or drops back - It tells you if your cooler is keeping up or failing - It tests power delivery stability in a way that single runs cannot - It is also a useful check after any hardware change: new cooler, repasted CPU, new case How to loop Cinebench for stress testing: 1. Open Cinebench 2026 and switch to Advanced Benchmark Mode 2. Set the run count to 5 or more 3. Open a temperature monitoring tool alongside it 4. Let all runs complete without touching anything 5. Compare the multi-core score from run 1 against run 3 and run 5 6. Note the highest temperature reached during the test The goal is not a single high score. The goal is consistency. A CPU that scores 8,500 on every run is more useful for heavy workloads than one that hits 10,200 on the first run and 7,100 by the fifth. == What Score Drops Mean == - Under 10%: Normal warm-up behaviour, no concern - 10 to 20%: Mild thermal pressure, the cooler is working hard - 20 to 30%: Thermal throttling is active, check temperatures - Over 30%: Serious cooling problem or power limit issue == Cinebench Version Comparison == Every version tests different things with different scenes and different scoring scales. None of them is compatible with the others. - R15 (2013): Cinema 4D (older) — Single, Multi — No GPU — Comparable to R15 only - R20 (2018): Cinema 4D (updated) — Single, Multi — No GPU — R20 only - R23 (2021): Cinema 4D — Single, Multi — No GPU — R23 only - 2024 (Late 2023): Redshift — Single, Multi — GPU Yes — 2024 only - 2026 (Dec 2025): Redshift (latest) — Single, Multi, SMT — GPU Yes — 2026 only R15 and R20 can still be found in old hardware reviews. R23 still has the biggest existing database of results; for a CPU tested in 2022 or 2023, it remains the best point of reference. Do not mix up R23 with 2026 scores. == Why Scores Vary Between Similar Systems == - Ambient temperature: a room at 20°C versus 28°C makes a measurable difference in cooling headroom and sustained clock speeds - Cooler quality and mounting: a poorly mounted 360mm AIO performs worse than a well-mounted 240mm one - Thermal paste age and application: old or unevenly applied paste throttles performance before temperatures even look alarming - RAM speed and timings: on AMD Ryzen, Infinity Fabric speed ties directly to memory frequency - BIOS power limits: many vendors ship conservative power limits, so the CPU cannot use its full boost - Driver versions: especially relevant for GPU scores, but CPU microcode updates also shift results - XMP or EXPO status: a CPU running at the wrong memory speed shows a noticeably lower multi-core score - Background processes: a single process writing to disk during the run can shift the score by a few percent - Windows power plan: Balanced or Power Saver instead of High Performance caps boost behaviour - Motherboard tier: budget B-series boards frequently ship with power limits below the CPU's rated TDP == Cinebench vs Other Benchmarks == Cinebench is excellent at one thing: measuring rendering performance. It is not a system-wide benchmark. Use it alongside other tools, not instead of them. - Cinebench 2026: CPU render, GPU Redshift, SMT efficiency — for 3D professionals, hardware buyers, overclockers - Geekbench 6: CPU integer, floating point, machine learning — general cross-device comparison, including mobile - Blender Benchmark: GPU and CPU rendering — content creators using GPU-accelerated workflows - PassMark: CPU, RAM, disk, and GPU combined — full system overview and purchase decisions - 3DMark: gaming GPU performance — gamers testing rasterisation and ray tracing - Prime95: CPU stability under maximum load — overclockers validating stability, not performance These benchmarks are not competing. They measure different things. A CPU that wins in Cinebench might not top a gaming benchmark. == Which Version Should You Run? == - Benchmarking hardware in 2026: Run Cinebench 2026. It is the current standard and the only one that tests SMT directly. - Comparing to an older CPU database: Run Cinebench R23 alongside 2026. Never mix the scores. - GPU benchmarking: Cinebench 2026 if your GPU supports it (RTX 40/50 series, Radeon 7000/9000, Apple M4/M5). - Laptop testing: Cinebench 2026 Advanced Mode. Pay attention to score consistency across runs, not just the peak. - Stress testing: Cinebench 2026 Advanced Mode, 3 to 5 loops, with a temperature monitor open alongside it. - Historical research on older CPUs: R23 for 2021 to 2024, R20 for 2018 to 2021, R15 for older than that. == Common Problems and Their Solutions == The score is much lower than expected: check that XMP or EXPO is enabled in BIOS; confirm your power plan is High Performance or Balanced, not Power Saver; check background processes; run the benchmark twice and compare. Score drops significantly between runs: this is thermal throttling; check cooler mounting pressure and reapply thermal paste if more than two years old; verify case airflow; check BIOS power limits, especially on B-series motherboards. GPU test fails to run: confirm at least 8 GB VRAM (Windows) or 16 GB unified memory (Apple Silicon); update GPU drivers; check that your GPU is supported in Cinebench 2026 (older cards from before 2020 may not be). Scores vary wildly between identical-looking systems: check ambient temperature difference; compare BIOS versions; check memory speed in CPU-Z (DDR4 vs DDR5, advertised speed); verify both systems run the same version of Cinebench with identical settings. == Frequently Asked Questions == Can I compare Cinebench 2026 scores with R23? No. If you mix them in a comparison, the numbers are meaningless. Always run the same version across every system you are comparing. Is Cinebench free? Yes. Always has been, for every version from R15 to 2026. No cost, no registration, no time limit. There is no Pro version. What is the MP ratio in Cinebench? In Cinebench 2026, it directly reflects your CPU's SMT efficiency — how much performance you gain by running two threads per core versus one. A ratio of 1.3 means SMT adds about 30% on this workload. What are good Cinebench 2026 scores? Budget chips score 2,000 to 3,500 multi-core. Mid-range lands between 4,000 and 6,500. High-end chips like the Ryzen 9 9950X push past 10,000. Why did my score drop between runs? Thermal throttling. Your CPU hit its temperature ceiling during the sustained multi-core load and had to reduce clock speed. A drop of over 25% means your cooling solution needs attention. Does Cinebench run on macOS? Yes. Cinebench 2026 runs natively on macOS, including Apple Silicon. M4 and M5 are officially supported. M1, M2, and M3 also work, but check the current compatibility list. Can I run Cinebench on Linux? There is no native Linux version. Some users run it through Wine or Proton, but the results are unreliable for comparison. What changed between Cinebench 2024 and 2026? The multi-threaded workload is 6x heavier. The SMT core test is completely new. GPU support expanded to NVIDIA Blackwell and AMD RDNA 4. == Final Thoughts == Cinebench 2026 reset the baseline. The new SMT test is the most meaningful addition in years. Run Cinebench 2026, note your MP ratio, use Advanced Mode to learn what your cooler can do, and stop comparing R23 numbers to 2026 numbers — they are different benchmarks wearing the same name.