Wprime: what is this program and what is it for?

We are going to start a little odyssey to reveal the secrets of the programs that we often use on this page. Today we will see what wPrime is, how it works and what it is for. If you are interested, this and other programs of the same nature continue reading.

Index of contents

What is wPrime ?

Multi-core wPrime example

Of course, there are people who criticize the program for its method of testing performance. Because the program bases its calculation on square roots using Newton's method, some people dismiss the results as reliable. Below we explain why.

However, as you have already seen, wPrime is but one of the many programs that processors are tested on. This is because not all applications test the same parameters and also under the same conditions. Otherwise, all the synthetic tests that we did should give the same results and the same advantages between processors, something that, as you already know, does not happen.

Therefore, with its pluses and minuses , wPrime is a program that offers us a fairly consistent result about the potential of processors. At least in reviews, it will never be the only test you will see and it is quite unlikely that it will share results with other tests. In some tests the advantage will be 10%, while in others 12% among other small differences.

How does wPrime work?

As we have previously mentioned, this program is based on the Newton method, also called the Newton-Raphson method. We will briefly explain how it works, although we will try not to get into too much complicated matters.

This method is used on any function or region of a function that crosses on the X axis. To facilitate understanding, we will represent the drawing on a graph in two dimensions .

The idea is to find the point of the function whose value in X is equal to 0, but we do not know that point, of course.

Using the Newton-Raphson method we use a specific formula that we will teach you, and then we give a value to X. This value is completely arbitrary, that is, we choose the one we want, although if possible one that we think is close of our goal.

With that value of X we solve the formula and we will obtain a result. With that result, we will solve the initial formula again, but we will interchange the value of X with the obtained result.

This process has to be repeated a large number of times and each iteration we will be a little closer to the result. When the results start to give the same value, it means that we have reached an adequate point of confidence.

For you to see the interaction more or less, in the first iteration n is 0 and n + 1 is 1, but in the second iteration n is 1 and n + 1 is 2. We leave you a short video with the same data to see this method in action .

Criticism of the method

The criticisms we mentioned earlier refer to the self-correcting nature of the Newton-Raphson algorithm. As some users say, as the formula corrects itself, the results we get are not accurate enough about the potential of a processor.

For simplicity, calculating 1 + 2 + 3 + 4… up to 1000 is a simple method that requires nothing. Each processor will do it in a specific time and the less time it takes we will know that it has more power.

However, with the Newton-Raphson method, each iteration depends on the result of its previous iteration and, due to the nature of the formula, the tangent obtained is gradually corrected.

There are not many users who defend this position, since wPrime is still a notorious program. However, it is something to keep in mind and that some information portals have been echoed.

• The first test is fast and we can overcome it in about 10 seconds. The second test is longer and with its results we can determine the stability of the processor. Since most CPUs can boost their performance for a short time, a long test shows us the actual performance.

When testing, the program does not make any changes to the system, so if you want to check its full potential, we recommend closing all applications.

The Hardware Info section only shows you the information collected from your computer. On the other hand, View Scores shows you the results in time that you have been obtaining. You can upload any of them to the network to compare and share data.

Finally, a rather curious and very relevant section when testing a processor is Set Thread Count, that is, choosing the thread counter. With this we decide the number of cores (threads actually) to test and thus we can check their performance in multi-core, single-core or some other intermediate number.

Last words about wPrime

Bottom line , here is everything you can learn from wPrime. However, the limits of this simple program are much higher.

If you have started in the world of overclocking, you want to know a little more about your equipment or any other reason, we invite you to try this application. With a little experience and in different contexts you can learn a lot about your processor and how to test it. Of course, wPrime is a program that we normally use in our reviews and we trust its results.

It should be noted that the program has not been updated since 2013. However, it is not that it requires anything since the data from the processors is obtained from CPU-Z and, on the other hand, the algorithm is something immutable that it simply has to apply repeatedly.

If you have any questions, you can ask us in the comments box or access the application's website.