benchmark

. (Surveying) 1. Any permanent mark to which other levels may be referred. such as: (a) A horizontal mark at the water's edge with reference to which the height of tides and floods may be measured. (b) a surveyer's mark on a permanent object of predetermined position and elevation used as a reference point. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + WordNet 1.5 ]

2. something serving as a standard by which related items may be judged; as, his painting sets the benchmark of quality. [ PJC + WordNet 1.5 ]

3. a test or series of tests designed to compare the qualities or performance of different devices of the same type. Certain sets of computer programs are much used as benchmarks for comparing the performance of different computers, especially by comparing the time it takes to complete a test. [ PJC ]