Benchmarking and Diagnostic Programs - SuperPi and SiSoft Sandra
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Taking a look at a few popular benchmarks
We’re going to take a look at a few of the most popular benchmarks. These tests are almost considered to be the standard benchmarks to be run on computer systems. Not all of the benchmarks are going to be listed. There are just far too many. The list I will be addressing today goes as follows:
- Super PI
- Sandra 2005 (CPU arithmetic & Memory bandwidth)
- Futuremark Series.
- Fraps
Super PI Mod (http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi)
Super Pi is a very simple benchmark. It simply calculates PI, the most popular never ending numbers. This is a great process for computers to run. The faster they operate, the quicker you can process 1 million or 32 million digits. My computer system at stock clock speeds (2.8ghz Pentium 4 520) can process PI in 50seconds, overclocking my system to 4ghz reduces the time to nearly 30 seconds. The current world record is 17.8 seconds.
Super Pi is a great program since it offers quick stability tests to initially detect stability by running 1 million calculations. It’s great for finding stable clock speeds and latencies. Once you find an instability you can decrease the clockspeed and run the benchmark to 32 million calculations to find full system stability.
SiSoft Sandra 2005 (www.sisoftware.co.uk)
Sandra 2005 is one of the most flexible programs I have run into in a long time. Sandra is a great diagnostic and benchmarking program; it can list detailed information about your computer system, right down to the voltages and fans speeds of all components on your motherboard. Sandra offers the “burn in wizard” to test stability of a computer system, and offers benchmarks to see how fast many components in the system operate. CPU arithmetic and multimedia benchmarks are available, as well as cache and memory benchmarks. This is the most universal program since it can benchmark USB devices, PDA’s and Smart phones.
Sandra is great since it offers the most features in a single program. The only thing lacking in Sandra is 3d and graphics benchmarks. Maybe in a new version these features will be available. Since they are constantly upgrading their program for the newest technologies such as dual core CPUs and new chipsets, compatibility is one of the best.
The CPU Arithmetic Benchmark shows processor speeds compared to other chips, all the way up to the X2 4800+ and Pentium 4 Xtreme Edition 840, which each update, newer processors are also listed in this benchmark.
Next: Futuremark and Fraps >>
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