When it comes to general performance, many things have to be tested.
To start, we utilize AIDA64 Engineer to check on memory latency and read-, write-, and copy speeds; CPU Queen is used for a comparison across various processors.
Cinebench R15 offers a look into single- and multi-core performance that is easy to understand and comparable across several generations of today's hardware.
PCMark 8 Home is used to test general computing performance through various tests that cover web browsing, writing, photo editing, video chat and playback, and casual gaming. I run both Conventional and Accelerated to get a good idea of how a system performs as a sum of its parts. Conventional is a standard benchmark while Accelerated uses OpenCL to leverage the graphics processor for improved performance.
With the release of PCMark 10, I have also included results here for the future changeover. Just like PCMark 8, PCMark 10 offers a look into general computing performance. However, it's a bit more modern, offers a few updates, and leverages the graphics processor by default.
AIDA 64 Results
Cinebench R15
PCMark 8 Home
PCMark 10