Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

SPECmark
     
         The average of a set of {floating-point} and
        integer {SPEC} {benchmark} results.
     
        While the old average {SPECmark89} has been popular with the
        industry and the press, {SPEC} has intentionally *not* defined
        an average "SPECmark92" over all {CPU} {benchmark}s of the
        1992 suites ({CINT92} and {CFP92}), for the following reasons:
        With 6 integer ({CINT92}) and 14 {floating-point} ({CFP92})
        benchmarks, the average would be biased too much toward
        floating-point.  Customers' workloads are different, some
        integer-only, some floating-point intensive, some mixed.
        Current processors have developed their strengths in a more
        diverse way (some more emphasizing integer performance, some
        more floating-point performance) than in 1989.
     
        Some SPECmark results are available {here
        (ftp://ftp.cdf.toronto.edu/pub/spectable)}.
     
        See also {SPECint92}, {SPECfp92}, {SPECrate_int92},
        {SPECrate_fp92}.
     
        (1994-11-15)