Noise floor
Also searched as: noise floor · margin of error · measurement noise
What it means
The amount a benchmark naturally wiggles from run to run even when nothing changed. A result has to clear that wiggle before it counts as a real difference.
More detail
If your scores bounce around by 3% on their own, then a tweak that "gained 2%" gained nothing you can trust — it's inside the noise. This is the honest filter that makes most "huge boost" claims evaporate. …
In the Blackbook
The deeper explanation continues inside the app. The Blackbook publishes its verdicts here — the full write-ups stay in the book, on your rig, next to your own measurements.
The Compy Blackbook holds 191 graded entries like this one, judged against your hardware — and every change it does make is reversible, with the receipt to prove it.
See Compy →