CPU2006

CPU2006 was a benchmark suite developed by Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) designed to measure the performance of modern computer processors. It was released in 2006 as the successor to the SPEC CPU2000 benchmark. The suite consisted of a collection of programs that represented a wide range of real-world computing tasks, including scientific computations, data compilation, and media processing.

CPU2006 was divided into two main categories: SPECint2006 and SPECfp2006. SPECint2006 focused on integer arithmetic performance, while SPECfp2006 evaluated floating-point performance. Each category contained a set of 12 different benchmarks, written in C, C++, and Fortran. These benchmarks were carefully selected to stress different aspects of processor architecture, such as pipeline depth, cache performance, and memory bandwidth.

To ensure fair and comparable results, SPEC defined strict rules for running the benchmarks, including specific compiler flags, operating system configurations, and hardware settings. Results were typically reported as a single "rate" number for each category, indicating how many copies of the benchmark could be run simultaneously on a system within a given time. This rate metric was intended to reflect the throughput performance of a system.

CPU2006 was widely adopted by processor manufacturers, system vendors, and researchers as a standard tool for evaluating and comparing CPU performance. It played a significant role in driving advancements in processor design and technology for many years. It has since been superseded by newer benchmark suites from SPEC, such as SPEC CPU2017.