CGDirector’s Cinema 4D Viewport Performance Benchmark measures how snappy and smooth Active Work inside your 3D Software will be.
While this Benchmark uses Maxon’s Cinema 4D for measuring performance, these Scores can be applied to other 3D Software as well, as they all utilize the Hardware in very similar ways.
In Cinema 4D and most 3D-Software, the Processor is responsible for a smooth Viewport experience and is rarely bottlenecked by the Graphics Card.
More on this below, but first let’s take a look at the Scores:
Cinema 4D Viewport Performance Benchmark Scores
▮ = AMD | ▮ = Intel
CPU Name | # Cores | Base (Ghz) | Turbo (Ghz) | C4D Version | Viewport Benchmark Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intel i9 11900k | 8 | 3.5 | 5.3 | R21 | 1587 |
Intel i5 11600k | 6 | 3.9 | 4.9 | R21 | 1494 |
Intel i9 11900k | 8 | 3.5 | 5.3 | S24 | 1479 |
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 16 | 3.4 | 4.9 | R21 | 1382 |
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | 12 | 3.7 | 4.8 | R21 | 1378 |
Intel i5 11600k | 6 | 3.9 | 4.9 | S24 | 1377 |
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | 6 | 3.7 | 4.6 | R21 | 1373 |
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | 8 | 3.8 | 4.7 | R21 | 1354 |
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 16 | 3.4 | 4.9 | R20 | 1286 |
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | 12 | 3.7 | 4.8 | R23 | 1280 |
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | 12 | 3.7 | 4.8 | R20 | 1277 |
Intel i9 10900K | 10 | 3.7 | 5.3 | R20 | 1153 |
Intel i9 9900K | 8 | 3.6 | 5.0 | R21 | 1125 |
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X | 8 | 3.6 | 4.4 | R21 | 1113 |
Intel i9 9900K | 8 | 4.7 OC | 4.7 OC | R21 | 1088 |
Ryzen 7 3800X | 8 | 3.9 | 4.5 | R20 | 1064 |
Intel i7 7700K | 4 | 3.7 | 4.7 | R20 | 1049 |
Intel i9 9960X | 16 | 3.1 | 4.5 | R20 | 1045 |
Ryzen 5 3600 | 6 | 3.6 | 4.2 | R20 | 1033 |
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X | 16 | 3.5 | 4.7 | S22 | 1015 |
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X | 16 | 3.5 | 4.7 | R20 | 1007 |
Ryzen 9 3900X | 12 | 4.35 OC | 4.35 OC | R18 | 1006 |
AMD Threadripper 3960X | 24 | 3.8 | 4.5 | R20 | 1006 |
Intel Xeon W-2155 | 10 | 3.0 | 4.5 | R18 | 964 |
Intel i7 5930K | 6 | 4.5 OC | 4.5 OC | R20 | 962 |
Intel i7 5820K | 6 | 4.3 OC | 4.3 OC | R18 | 960 |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | 8 | 3.7 | 4.3 | R20 | 956 |
AMD Threadripper 2950X | 16 | 3.5 | 4.4 | R19 | 955 |
Intel i5 6600K | 4 | 4.0 OC | 4.0 OC | R20 | 922 |
AMD Threadripper 1900X | 8 | 3.8 | 4.0 | R19 | 879 |
Intel i7 6850K | 6 | 3.6 | 4.0 | R20 | 864 |
AMD Threadripper 1920X | 12 | 3.5 | 4.0 | R20 | 857 |
Intel i7 5930K | 6 | 3.5 | 3.7 | R19 | 771 |
Intel i5 7300HQ | 4 | 2.5 | 3.5 | R20 | 768 |
AMD Threadripper 1950X | 16 | 3.4 | 4.0 | R20 | 750 |
AMD Threadripper 3990X | 64 | 2.9 | 4.3 | R20 | 714 |
Intel i5 2500K | 4 | 4.1 OC | 4.1 OC | R19 | 694 |
AMD Threadripper 2990WX | 32 | 3.0 | 4.2 | R20 | 680 |
Intel i7 4510U | 2 | 2.0 | 3.0 | R20 | 665 |
Intel i7 8650U | 4 | 1.9 | 4.2 | R18 | 663 |
Intel i7 3930K | 6 | 3.2 | 3.8 | R18 | 656 |
Intel Xeon E5-2667 v2 | 8 | 3.3 | 4.0 | R20 | 622 |
Intel Xeon E5-2630 v4 (DP) | 20 | 2.2 | 3.1 | R20 | 591 |
Intel Xeon X5650 | 6 | 4.0 OC | 4.0 OC | R19 | 554 |
Intel Xeon E5-2683 v3 (DP) | 28 | 2.0 | 3.0 | R19 | 502 |
Intel Xeon E5-2620 v2 (DP) | 12 | 2.1 | 2.6 | R19 | 451 |
Intel Xeon X5450 | 8 | 3.0 | 3.0 | R19 | 418 |
Intel Xeon E3-1240 v3 | 4 | 3.4 | 3.8 | R19 | 409 |
Intel i7 4578U | 2 | 3.0 | 3.5 | R18 | 337 |
CPU Name | # Cores | Base (Ghz) | Turbo (Ghz) | C4D Version | Score |
OC = Overclocked | DP = Dual Processor (2x CPUs)
Download Cinema 4D Viewport Benchmark
Help us extend the Scores-List and Bench your own Hardware. Download the Benchmark here and comment with your Score:
Cinema4D_ViewportBenchmark_v1.3.c4d
v1.3 Updated on 21.11.2020 – Added Cinema 4D R23 Support.
v1.2 Updated on 20.07.2020 – Added Cinema 4D S22 Support.
v1.1 Updated on 16.09.2019 – Added Cinema 4D R21 Support.
How to use the Benchmark
Open the downloaded Scene in any Version of Cinema 4D that you have installed (Tested on R17 – R23).
Select the Null-Object in the Object Manager (you might also have to click “User-Data”) and click “Run Benchmark”.
After a few moments (depending on the performance of your machine) you will see a popup-window displaying your score.
That’s it! Let us know your Score, CPU-Name, Clock-Speed and C4D Version in the comments, so we can add it to the Score-List. Thanks!
How does this Benchmark work?
In many of our Articles we discuss two general types of CPUs:
- 1: A CPU with a lot of Cores but usually lower Clock-Speed (e.g. 64-Core 3990X @ 2.9 GHz Base, 4,3Ghz Turbo Clock)
- 2: A CPU with usually fewer Cores but high Clock-Speed (e.g. Intel 10-Core i9 10900K @ 3,7Ghz Base, 5,3 GHz Turbo Clock)
For Rendering and other tasks that can be easily parallelized, we need a CPU with many Cores but for active work, we need a CPU that Clocks very high (or has high IPC = Instructions per Cycle).
Usually, we use the Cinebench Single-Core Score to estimate how smoothly a CPU would perform when actively working in 3D Applications, but this Score is obtained by benching the Rendering Performance and doesn’t represent active work- and Viewport-Performance well.
So we need a new Benchmark.
A Viewport Performance Benchmark. With this, we can measure how fast our 3D Viewport will be, as we want to work with as little delays as possible.
No delays at all, optimally.
As discussed in many of our Articles, the Viewport performance in most cases depends on the IPC and Clock of the CPU, and not the performance of the Graphics Card.
In some cases, of course, the GPU can bottleneck the performance, but those are very rare.
This usually occurs only when using GPU OpenGL Effects like extreme Anti-Aliasing, SSAO, Real-time Shadows or other Viewport Effects (Which, in my experience as a 3D Artist, are usually turned off). Or when you have an underpowered GPU compared to the rest of your components.
In this Cinema 4D Viewport Benchmark, we measure the Frames per Second (FPS) of a typical Scene that uses common 3D Objects from Cinema 4D Objects in a hierarchy.

CGDirector’s Cinema 4D Viewport Performance Benchmark – Scene contents
The CPU has to step through this hierarchy one at a time, without being able to offload Calculations to other Cores – as is the case in almost any typical 3D Scene.
These metrics can very well be transferred to other 3D Applications too, as they all use the Computer’s resources in very similar ways.
Why does the same CPU score differently in different Cinema 4D Versions?
Because the benchmark Scene stays the same no matter which Cinema 4D Version you test it with, the Score differences between Versions come down to Performance improvements.
Every now and then, Maxon implements Viewport improvements or refactors some code in new releases, that should speed up your viewport. This doesn’t always work, though, as the newest version isn’t always the fastest. The Intel i9 11900k for example, scores much higher when benched in R21 compared to S24.
How do Cinema 4D Versions stack up against each other?
So which Cinema 4D Version has the fastest Viewport? Maxon claims to improve viewport performance with every new version, but is this actually the case?
We ran the Cinema 4D viewport benchmark on the same System in 5 different Versions of Cinema 4D (AMD Ryzen 5900X@Stock, 128GB RAM CL16-3600, RTX 2080Ti, default Cinema 4D clean-installs).
The results are quite interesting:
Cinema 4D Viewport Performance comparison between Versions
Cinema 4D Version | Benchmark Score (average of 10 runs) |
---|---|
20 (R20) | 1191 |
21 (R21) | 1289 |
22 (S22) | 1184 |
23 (R23) | 1227 |
24 (S24) | 1331 |
Although S24 is the Version with the currently fastest Viewport, it is directly followed by R21, while S22 and R23 are slower than the older R21.
That’s about it! Let us know the following in the comments, so we can add it to the Scores-List. Thanks! 🙂
- Score
- Cinema 4D Version
- CPU-Name
- (and Clock-Speed, if it has been overclocked)
221 Comments
10 February, 2022
C4D R25.117
Score = 885.23
Threadripper Pro 3975wx
Bit disappointing considering the cost of this build. Single threaded performance really does make a big difference it would seem.
7 January, 2022
C4D R25 0.15
score 607.22 @4.5 GHz
score 632.27 @4.7 GHz
AMD FX 8320E, 2x8GB DDR3 1866 MHz, 256GB SSD, WIndows 10 x64
7 January, 2022
C4D R25 0.15
score 673.33 @5.0 GHz
same configuration as above
20 December, 2021
Hey, thanks for the article! Some weird thing has happened to me when I tried to benchmark my system. On the first try, the results were ~400 points, which is strange because I have a 5950x, but on the second try, I had 1215. What could be the reason for such behavior?
Before the first try, I had worked on a complex project with multiple X-particles systems and a lot of polygons which makes the viewport really laggy, maybe that was the reason for such a low score? Though I closed that previous project prior to benchmarking.
21 December, 2021
This is entirely possible. Cinema 4D fills up its caches and doesn’t empty them properly even if projects are closed. You’ll have to close the Application and restart it.
Although it shouldn’t make a big difference in viewport performance, VRAM also is constantly filled up by lingering parts of a project or a render you did some time ago on a project that is still open. I see this all the time, that when rendering in Redshift for example, oftentimes frames take 5x as long. After I restart the Application they are back to normal speed.
It also depends on how many other Applications (like After EffectS, etc) you have opened besides C4d as they all eat into your resources.
Cheers,
Alex
21 December, 2021
Thank you for the reply, Alex! So basically that’s normal behavior for Cinema and a good way to deal with it would be to periodically restart the application?
21 December, 2021
Yes exactly. If you think about it, it’s supposed to be a feature. You can quickly start renders back up without having to re-cache materials and textures, and have access to any renders in the picture viewer. You have access to copy-paste even if a project is closed etc. etc.
But it all eats into your resources. So whenever you have a hunch that something doesn’t seem to be working as smoothly as it could, try a c4d restart or close down any other applications. Or get a GPU with a huge amount of VRAM and more RAM 🙂
Cheers,
Alex
21 December, 2021
Thank you for the help! I already have a 3090 and 64 gigs of RAM, so the hardware is definitely not a problem here, it’s either me setting up/optimising the project incorrectly somehow or just cinema and it’s restrictions. I’m working with a big CAD file so maybe there’s just too many polygons so the viewport stars lagging overtime.
21 December, 2021
Yes I’ve seen this on CAD imports as well. I only have a 2080Ti right now with 11GB VRAM, but at around 20mio polys the viewports starts slowing down. On R20. Not sure how much faster newer versions are.
Cheers,
Alex
21 December, 2021
Just checked, I am at almost 60 mil on R23, guess this answers my question, haha! Thanks again! 🙂
16 November, 2021
CGDirector Cinema 4D Viewport Benchmark ver1.3
Macbook Air 2020, Apple M1, 16 Gb Ram, 512 Gb SSD
Cinema 4D R25.015, macOS Big Sur 11.6.1 —- Score: 1608.08
Cinema 4D R23.110, macOS Big Sur 11.6.1 —- Score: 1602.30
5 January, 2022
I’m getting 1150 score on new 2021 M1 Max full spec. Wonder why it’s so much lower? Could be issue with Monterey ?