Benchmarking basics white paper
If you're searching for a whitepaper on benchmarking hardware and/or software then you could try here. The outline of the paper says:

Benchmarks measure the:

• Capacity of a system (often referred to as capacity planning)
• Performance of a particular application, such as a database

All good benchmarks use a well-defined testing methodology and measure system performance in an accurate and repeatable manner, allowing IT professionals to properly judge the performance and capacity of a system-under-test.

Benchmark Factory for Databases allows database professionals to implement benchmark specifications and control logic. Benchmark Factory is an easy-to-use load testing and capacity-planning tool for critical database environments. It places enormous stress (that, typically, is hard to achieve) on a database in a standard testing environment. A database usually breaks under extreme load - when it is needed the most. By identifying system capacity and performance bottlenecks before they occur, Benchmark Factory facilitates proactive testing that reduces downtime, development costs and potential loss of revenue. Benchmark Factory provides the ability to:

• Simulate thousands of concurrent users with a minimal amount of hardware, providing scalability to simulate large numbers of users.
• Control agents installed on client machine to spawn multiple virtual-user sessions, allowing the workload to be representative of the database being tested.
• Determine database throughput and capacity with reliable data points.
• View real-time testing results providing immediate feedback on database performance allowing an accurate assessment of a critical database system.
• Examine data points with a built-in report viewer or printed reports.