Benchmark tests and what they mean (?)

Hey everyone,

I have a few questions:

When sites do various benchmark tests, they typically use something like 3DMark, and I think Cinebench CPU, etc.

First, I probably got those benchmark apps wrong...which ones do tech sites typically use?

Also, what exactly do these benchmarks exam.

Say I have a rendering application that is processor heavy...what benchmark should I be looking at?

Say I have another application for modeling, and I know it is graphics intensive. What benchmark should I be looking at?

And, to round things out, if I have an application that I know is memory heavy, what stats should I look at.

The reason I'm asking, is when upgrading my computer (at this point RAM), or considering a new MacPro, I want to know I'm buying for the right reasons.

I don't want to buy a powerful computer to find out that its max potential is not fully realized as it relies on something else. Granted I understand a new comp all around will perform better. However, applications such as Maxwell render does not hold back, it will use every processor available (8-cores would be amazing!), but others don't rely on processor, but memory more so.

Even then, I'm not sure all the time how the application performs. With as many apps as I use for different things (Rhino NURBS modeling [XP], Maxwell Render, VIZ/3DS Max, SketchUp, Adobe CS3, CAD) I can't always tell what part of the comp they use.

Thanks [for those who read everything and understand what I'm asking]

 

I found Xbench, going to test it out soon.

What are some others?

Thanks