How to Build a Benchmark

Standardized benchmarks have become widely accepted tools for the comparison of products and evaluation of methodologies. These benchmarks are created by consortia like SPEC and TPC under confidentiality agreements which provide little opportunity for outside observers to get a look at the processes and concerns that are prevalent in benchmark development. This paper introduces the primary concerns of benchmark development from the perspectives of SPEC and TPC committees. We provide a benchmark definition, outline the types of benchmarks, and explain the characteristics of a good benchmark. We focus on the characteristics important for a standardized benchmark, as created by the SPEC and TPC consortia. To this end, we specify the primary criteria to be employed for benchmark design and workload selection. We use multiple standardized benchmarks as examples to demonstrate how these criteria are ensured.