Night Owl 9/Night Owl CD-ROM (NOPV9) (Night Owl Publisher) (1993).ISO/015a/bench701.zip/BEN701.EXE/HELPME

Text File | 1993-02-08 | 38KB | 914 lines

PC Bench
Version 7.01
Release date: February 1993

The programs and information contained on this media are
Copyright (c) 1993 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, a
division of Ziff Communications Company ("Ziff"). All
Rights Reserved.

BEFORE INSTALLING, USING OR REPRODUCING THE CONTENTS OF
THIS MEDIA, YOU MUST AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF
THE ZIFF LICENSE AGREEMENTS, WHICH CAN BE FOUND IN THE
TEXT FILE LICSCRN.TXT (SEE LICENSING PROCEDURE IN THE FILE
README). BY INSTALLING, USING OR REPRODUCING THE CONTENTS
OF THIS MEDIA, YOU ARE AGREEING TO THE TERMS AND
CONDITIONS OF THE LICENSE AGREEMENTS.

If you do not agree to the terms and conditions of the
Ziff License Agreements, please destroy or return the
media to the Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation, One Copley
Parkway, Suite 510, Morrisville, NC 27560.

PC Bench and DOSMark are trademarks of Ziff Communications
Company.

MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.

PRODUCT SUPPORT

If you have questions about PC Bench or would like
additional copies, please write or send a FAX to:

     Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation (ZDBOp)
     One Copley Parkway, Suite 510
     Morrisville, NC 27560
     Attn: Distribution Manager
     Fax: [phone]

OVERVIEW

PC Bench lets you evaluate the relative performance of x86
computers. The benchmark test suites provide component-
level measurements of CPU, memory, disk, and video
subsystems. PC Bench uses tests that take into account the
applications users commonly run on a DOS system as well as
tests that exercise specific subsystem components of your
computer system.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information about this benchmark see the story
titled "A Look Inside PC Magazine Labs' Benchmarks" in the
Lab Notes section of "PC Magazine," Vol.11, No. 21. Page
393.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

To run all tests, you need:
   *  MS-DOS(R) version 3 or higher
      ZDBOp recommends you use DOS version 5, which lets
      you place PC Bench on a partition that is larger
      than 32 Mb.
   *  500-Kb of free memory
   *  40-Mb of free disk space. If you have less than
      40-Mb of free disk space, PC Bench cannot calculate
      DOSMark (tm).
   *  Color VGA support (recommended, but not required)

For the most accurate results, run PC Bench with a newly
formatted hard disk that contains only DOS and PC Bench.

RUNNING PC BENCH ON YOUR SYSTEM

Before you execute PC Bench, consider the way you normally
use your system. This should determine the approach you
take to testing your disk. The results will be more useful
to you if they reflect how you use your system.

If you normally do not run your PC with a software disk
cache, use the following test procedure.

* Modify your CONFIG.SYS file so that it contains only the
  statement FILES=20. (Do not omit this statement.) You
  can also have a mouse driver present. However, do not
  load any TSRs or memory managers into high memory.

* Modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that it is empty. If
  you want to, you can include a PATH statement and a
  PROMPT command in it.

If you normally run your PC with a software disk cache,
then run PC Bench with that cache loaded. This way you
will get a more accurate assessment of the speed of your
hard disk subsystem as you typically use it.

If you want to compare two different systems, then make
sure you use the same testing procedure for both systems.
For example, you should not compare the disk performance
results of two machines if you test one with a software
disk cache and one without.

NAVIGATING THROUGH MENUS

You can navigate through the menus by using a mouse (point
and click on the selection). If you do not have a mouse or
it is not configured properly, you can use the keyboard.
To navigate through menus using keyboard combinations,
press the Alt key and the underlined letter in the menu,
list, or button. The system then highlights the choice you
made.

To deselect a menu, press the ESC key.

The Enter key initiates an action unless otherwise
specified.

The Tab key and the arrow keys let you move within dialog
boxes. The Page Up/Page Down keys allow fast scrolling
when you select a scrollable box.

The following table summarizes your options for navigating
though menus.

Mouse - point & click.....= select a menu
Mouse - point & click ....= activate a selection
ALT + letter .............= select a menu or choice by
                            letter
ESC ......................= de-select a sub menu
Tab ......................= forward to field
Shift + Tab ..............= backward to field
Return or Enter ..........= commit choice or select test
Arrow keys left, right ...= highlight a menu item
Arrow keys up, down.......= highlight a sub menu item

EXECUTING PC BENCH

Before you can run PC Bench, you must run the license
program. Do this by executing PC Bench with the /L switch:

   BENCH /L

Once you have set up the licensing information, you can
execute PC Bench by entering:

   BENCH

NOTE: If PC Bench displays an "insufficient memory" error
      message, try to free up memory by removing TSRs,
      device drivers, and memory managers from your
      AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files. Some PC Bench
      tests will run even when this message appears,
      however, their results may not be accurate.

      If PC BENCH displays a "bytes available" warning,
      you probably do not have enough conventional RAM
      available to run some of the memory and protected
      mode tests. As with the "insufficient memory" try to
      free up memory by removing TSRs, device drivers, and
      memory managers from your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS
      files.

SETTING UP DATA IN THE MACHINE INFORMATION DIALOG BOX

Once executed, PC Bench displays the user ID window and
then places you at the Machine Information dialog box.
This dialog box lets you define the type of system you are
testing, the iteration number of the test, and other
pertinent information. You do not need to enter any
information in these fields. Doing so, though, helps you
document your test setup. At a minimum, you should enter a
Machine ID and information in the Variant boxes.

The following list summarizes the different fields in the
Machine Information dialog box.

* Machine ID is an alpha-numeric string up to 12
  characters long that contains the serial number or other
  identifier of the system you are testing.

* Each of the five Variant boxes is an alpha-numeric
  string up to 3 characters long that you can use to
  record the version or iteration number of the current
  test. This information is especially useful when you are
  testing a single system under a variety of
  configurations.

* Machine Name is an alpha-numeric string up to 12
  characters long that you can use to record the brand
  name and model of the system you are testing.

* Project is an alpha-numeric string up to 7 characters
  long that contains the name of the test project, if any.

* Test Org is an alpha-numeric string up to 25 characters
  long that contains the name of the organization
  performing the test.

* Tester is an alpha-numeric string up to 25 characters
  long that contains the name of the person performing the
  test.

* Machine Description is an alpha-numeric string up to 224
  characters that contains any pertinent information about
  the system you are testing.

The Machine ID and Variant fields are the most critical
items in the Machine Information Box. PC Bench uses them
to refer to the data it captures in the testing process.
PC Bench uses the Variant fields to record configuration
differences for the system being tested. You do not need
to use the Variant fields to record new test iterations of
the same configuration as long as you store the results
for each retest in the database. When you do this,
PC Bench automatically assigns a date-and-time stamp to
the results.

However, if you want to test the same system under a
different configuration for comparison purposes, you
should change the number in the Variant field. This way
PC Bench records the results as though they were for an
entirely different system. While this information is
optional, you can use it to track test results for
multiple configurations. For example:

Machine ID     Var1 Var2 Var3 Var4 Var5
-------------  ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
PC1            1    0    0    0    0
PC1            2    0    0    0    0
PC1            3    0    0    0    0
PC2            1    0    0    0    0
PC2            2    0    0    0    0
PC2            3    0    0    0    0

In this example, the Machine ID and Var1 allow you to
distinguish the results of two different machines, each
with 3 different video boards.

If you choose the Use button, PC Bench runs MScope
(Microscope). MScope logs system information and then
automatically opens the DOSMark(tm) dialog box. (For more
information about DOSMark see the View menu options.)

If you choose Browse, PC Bench opens the Machine Browser
dialog box. This box contains a list of all tests
committed to the database as well as the current unit
being tested. If you highlight a test from the list and
then choose Select, PC Bench returns you to the Machine
Information dialog box and loads the machine information
for that test into the Machine Information fields.

If you choose Cancel, PC Bench halts and returns you to
the DOS prompt.

TESTING DIFFERENT SUBSYSTEMS

Once the MScope finishes, PC Bench opens the DOSMark
dialog box. At this point you can:

* Run DOSMark(tm). PC Bench determines the DOSMark for
  your system by running a select subset of tests from all
  the subsystem test groups. PC Bench weighs these test
  results according to the execution profile information
  you supplied and computes a single, overall system
  score. This is the DOSMark for your system.

* Run tests for one of the subsystems. You can choose the
  "Processor Harmonic," "Memory Harmonic," "Video
  Harmonic," and "Disk Harmonic." Each of these runs
  selected tests for the subsystem test group that
  reflects the application execution profiles. PC Bench
  weights the results accordingly and calculates a
  harmonic mean value for that test.

* Run a batch process that executes the entire suite of
  processor, memory, video, and disk tests. To do this,
  choose Close and then open the Batch Editor from under
  the File menu. (See the section File Menu for more
  information.) To run the complete suite of tests, select
  All.

* Create a customized batch process that runs the tests
  you specify. To do this, choose Close and then open the
  Batch Editor from under the File Menu. (See the section
  File Menu for more information.) Choose the individual
  tests you want. When you select a test, the system
  places a check next to the test name. Choose Execute to
  run the test(s).

The complete DOSMark suite normally takes a little over an
hour to run with the bulk of that time devoted to running
the disk tests. After the tests finish, PC Bench displays
the results to the right of each test. You can also see
the test results by choosing the Results option under the
View menu. (See View Menu for more information.)

You can also choose menu options that let you compare
successive test runs on-line as well as options that let
you print and export the results. (To print or export your
results, see the section "Print" under the section File
Menu.)

PC BENCH MAIN MENU

The Main Menu displays seven selectable pull-down menus:
File, View, Performance, Compatibility, Quality, Set, and
Help. The next sections explain what you can do with each
menu.

FILE MENU

Batch Editor
Use the Batch Editor to select the entire suite of
benchmark tests or to create a customized suite of tests
to run. The Select All or Clear All buttons perform these
functions. You can select or deselect individual tests
using a mouse or the up/down arrow keys followed by the
pressing the Enter key to designate the test choice.
PC Bench places a check next to the tests you select. When
you select the Execute button, PC Bench runs each test
that is checked. Not all subtests can be individually
selected. If the subtest you want is not available, choose
the next highest test group that corresponds to the
category you want.

Once you customize a suite of tests, you can save that
suite. This way you can re-run the same set of tests
later. To save a test setup, first select the tests you
want and then choose the Write dialog box. Type in a DOS
filename in the field provided. To retrieve this batch run
file later, type in the filename at the Read box. To
execute the tests, you must then select the Execute box.

Print
Use Print to print the test results and to export the
results. Choosing Print displays the Machine Browser
dialog box, which lets you select one test and date stamp.
The Select option opens the Print Results dialog box.

To send results to a printer, type in the printer device
(for example: LPT1) in the Enter Filename field. Select
the .TXT file option and then choose OK. You can print a
.CSV file if you want to examine the file contents under
that format, but the principle purpose of .CSV format is
to create a file format that most spreadsheet programs can
import. If an error occurs, PC Bench displays the message
in the Message field.

To export the file, type a filename up to 8 characters
long. PC Bench automatically appends the format extension
.CSV (Comma Separated Values) or .TXT (text file) when you
choose the format type. Now select OK. The system writes
the file to the directory containing the PC Bench files.
You can import the CSV file to any spreadsheet program
that accepts comma-delimited format.

Quit
Quit is the initial step toward exiting the program. Quit
brings up the Exit Program dialog box. It provides a
selectable option (checkbox) that permanently commits the
test results to the database. In other words, when you run
a test, PC Bench writes the results to a database file. If
you do not wish to save the results from a test session,
do not check the commit field when you exit the program.
If results are not committed to the database, the next
time the program is executed, you will get the option of
using the uncommitted results from the previous test run
or deleting those results from the database.

VIEW MENU

This menu shows test results, opens the DOSMark dialog
box, and shows the test system's component information.

The Results option displays the Results dialog box. It
lists the tests and associated test results from the
current run. It also provides options for comparing as
well as displaying a graph of previously committed results
against the current run. Before you can use the Compare
function, you must select comparison results from one or
two previously committed test runs from Comparison A
and/or Comparison B under the Set Menu. (See Set Menu.)
Once you have set a comparison (A and/or B), select the
tests to compare (a check to the left of the test
indicates it is selected) in the Results dialog box. Now
choose Compare to display a comparison of the current
results with the set comparison(s). Choosing the Graph
option displays a column chart of the current run against
any comparisons set.

The DOSMark option displays the DOSMark dialog box. The
DOSMark is an overall system performance value. A higher
score indicates better overall system performance. It is
generated from selected tests of the processor, memory,
video, and disk test groups. PC Bench does not use all of
the tests in the test suite to generate DOSMark; instead,
many of the tests exist to provide further detailed
information on each subsystem. DOSMark uses a weighted
harmonic mean based on the tests' overall workload, and
the importance is relative to average application use. To
run the DOSMark suite, choose the DOSMark button and then
choose Execute. The test will take a little over an hour
to run. If all the tests in the DOSMark test suite
complete successfully, the DOSMark value replaces the NOT
RUN message on the DOSMark button.

The processor, memory, video, and disk harmonic groups
test specific aspects of each subsystem and produce an
overall value. Again, a higher score indicates a better
overall performance of the associated subsystem. If all
the tests in the harmonic test suite complete
successfully, the harmonic value replaces the NOT RUN
message on the associated button.

The "Processor Harmonic" tests the processor alone, the
CPU/memory interface, and the handling of floating point
emulation or the math co-processor. The processor is
tested both in protected and real modes using 16-bit
instructions. The processor tests attempt to accurately
simulate popular applications. They test bus utilization,
CPU cache, CPU cache interface, and the CPU instruction
set based on the average use of applications. Each of the
tests is weighted to produce the harmonic mean. The mean
is weighted to show the relative impact of each of the
tests based on the average use of applications. To run the
"Processor Harmonic" suite, choose the "Processor
Harmonic" button and then choose Execute.

The "Memory Harmonic" uses a series of low-level memory
reads and writes to conventional and extended memory. The
harmonic mean weights are set to represent the average
memory use of each of these areas under popular
applications. To run the "Memory Harmonic" suite, choose
the "Memory Harmonic" button and then choose Execute.

The "Disk Harmonic" shows what effect using different file
and block size combinations has on disk performance. The
harmonic has been weighted to reflect average use of the
disk when running typical applications. To run the "Disk
Harmonic" suite, choose the "Disk Harmonic" button and
then choose Execute.

The "Video Harmonic" uses low-level tests and weights the
results to show how average applications use the video
subsystem. To run the "Video Harmonic" suite, choose the
"Video Harmonic" button and then select Execute.

System Info
The System Info option under the View menu displays the
machine information captured and logged when MScope ran
during the start-up phase (after the Machine Information
dialog box). This information includes microprocessor
type, CPU clock speed, primary video, and other important
system configuration information.

PERFORMANCE MENU

Processor Group
This test suite tests the processor through a typical
application- based scenario. This test group measures
performance in both protected and real mode of the CPU
instruction set. It includes the floating point emulation
and math co-processor tests.

The 16-Bit Protected Mode Small Mix and Real Mode Small
Mix tests run within the processor's cache. This allows
the CPU to be tested independently from the rest of the
system and thus gives a measure of relative CPU
performance. The tests use a mix of the instruction set
derived from popular applications' average use of the
processor instruction set. The real and protected mixes
are based on the average counts and execution times of
applications under DOS and Windows. Real mode tests should
run faster due to the protection checking overhead of
protected mode. These two tests should yield two numbers
per processor type independent of the machines.

The 16-Bit Protected Mode Standard Mix and 16-Bit Real
Mode Standard Mix tests fit within most second-level
caches. The instruction set mixes are based on the 16-bit
mix. These tests indicate how effectively the processor
interacts with the rest of the system and how efficiently
a system manufacturer has interfaced the CPU to the memory
subsystem.

The Prime Number Sieve test times the execution of a
routine to find the prime numbers between 0 and 8190.

The Floating Point Emulation test (also known as the
Floating Point Calculation Without Co-processor) sets up a
floating point emulation program in RAM and then exercises
the processor and tests RAM access speeds during floating
point calculations. The processes performed in the
floating point test are identical to those used in the
Co-processor Test.

The Math Co-processor test exercises the math co-processor
using the same floating point calculations that are used
in the Floating Point Test. The test analyzes the speed
differences of co-processors in different systems.
Additionally, you can see the processing speed gained by
using a co-processor comparing its Floating Point Mix
scores with its Math Co-processor scores.

The String Sort and Move test times the execution of a
bubble sort that is performed on 200 random strings
containing 16 characters each.

Memory Timing Group
These tests give performance values for accessing the
various types of memory in the system. In general, the
speed and architecture of the system's memory, memory
caches (if present), and the type of CPU will determine
the results from these tests.

The extended memory tests enter protected mode to access
memory above 1 megabyte. The tests uses the full range of
extended memory available to it. However, during the tests
it avoids any area already locked by an XMS (HIMEM)
driver, RAM disk, or other INT 15h-compatible software.
Range addresses are not displayed because the actual
addresses accessed may not be continuous. These results
reflect the performance of extended memory as it would be
accessed by other protected-mode applications such as
Windows. There are six tests--a read test and a write test
for each data width:

      8-Bit Extended Memory Read/Write
     16-Bit Extended Memory Read/Write
     32-Bit Extended Memory Read/Write

Under the Graphics Memory test, the type of graphics
adapter present is detected and the appropriate buffer
address is used to read and write blocks of data directly
to the graphics adapter's memory. During memory writes,
the PC Bench screen will be overwritten, but it should be
restored at the end of the test. There are six tests, a
read and a write for each data width:

     Graphics Memory 8 Bit Read/Write
     Graphics Memory 16 Bit Read/Write
     Graphics Memory 32 Bit Read/Write

The BIOS Memory tests only attempt to read from the BIOS,
since it is stored in ROM. This test will show significant
performance differences according to whether the BIOS ROM
is shadowed and/or cached, which is a configuration choice
on many systems. There are three tests:

     BIOS Memory 8 Bit Read
     BIOS Memory 16 Bit Read
     BIOS Memory 32 Bit Read

The Text Memory tests detect the type of display adapter
and use the appropriate screen buffer address to write
directly to the display adapter's memory. There are four
tests, a read and a write test for each data width:

     Text Memory 8-Bit Read/Write
     Text Memory 16-Bit Read/Write

The Conventional Memory tests access memory in the 640-Kb
area managed by DOS. These tests reflect the memory
performance of programs running in Real mode. There are
four tests, a read and a write test for each data width:

     Conventional Memory 8 Bit Read/Write
     Conventional Memory 16 Bit Read/Write

EGA/VGA Text Group The Unscrolled BIOS Write test times
the writing of data to the screen using interrupt 10h BIOS
calls. Fast times are advantageous for programs that
display large amounts of data in a non-scrolling fashion.

The Scrolled BIOS Write test times the writing of data to
the screen using interrupt 10h BIOS calls. Once the screen
is filled, the test scrolls through an entire screen by
adding one new line at a time. This test writes the same
amount of data as the non-scrolling test. The difference
between the two times indicates the overhead attributable
to scrolling the screen. Fast times are advantageous for
applications that frequently cause the screen to scroll.
The pair of BIOS write tests gives a good indication of
video BIOS speed. If the video BIOS is shadowed (loaded in
fast system memory), throughput will be higher for these
tests.

The Direct Screen Write tests write data to the video
adapter screen memory using the MOVSB (8-bit) and MOVSW
(16-bit) instructions. For a properly installed 16-bit VGA
card, the 16-bit test will yield about twice as much
throughput as the 8-bit test. These tests provide the best
measure of the text throughput of a display adapter.

EGA/VGA Graphics Group
The Write Mode 0 Fill tests fill the video adapter's
memory with varying colors using the STOSB (8 bit), STOSW
(16 bit), and STOSD (32 bit, for systems with at least an
80386 processor) instructions with EGA/VGA write mode 0
and all bit planes enabled.

The Memory to Screen BITBLT tests create screen segments
and then save these screen images to system memory one
video plane at a time. The timed portion of the test
copies the screen segments in system memory back to screen
memory using the MOVSW (16-bit) and MOVSD (32-bit, for
systems with at least an 80386 processor) instructions,
one video plane at a time. Very fast video cards will show
the text in a "marquee" effect on the screen. PC Bench
uses Memory to Screen BITBLT functions when updating the
images on a display.

The Screen to Memory BITBLT tests are similar to the
Memory to Screen BITBLT tests except that the timed
portion of the test measures the throughput of copying
information in screen memory to system memory using the
MOVSW (16 bit) and MOVSD (32 bit, for systems with at
least an 80386 processor) instructions one video plane at
a time. Since system memory is being updated, there is no
visible activity for the duration of this test. PC Bench
uses Screen to Memory BITBLT functions when modifying or
saving screen images.

The Screen to Screen BITBLT tests divide screen memory
into four quadrants and fill the first three quadrants
with uniform fill patterns of different colors. The test
repeatedly moves screen data from the first three screen
quadrants to the fourth one using the MOVSW (16 bit) and
MOVSD (32 bit, for systems with at least an 80386
processor) instructions with write mode 1. PC Bench uses
Screen to Screen BITBLT functions when moving objects from
one area of the screen to another.

Disk Access Group
The BIOS Disk Seek tests (Sequential and Random) measure
mechanical track to track disk drive access times. Both
sequential and random access are tested. The test uses the
BIOS Interrupt 13h. You cannot use this test to check
floppy diskettes or mass storage media that do not have an
Interrupt 13h interface. The test involves 1,000
sequential seeks (alternating between cylinders 0 and 1)
and 1,000 random seeks. Caching disk controllers and
certain SCSI adapters that do not force the disk mechanism
to move for disk seeks will yield unrealistically fast
times.

The DOS Disk Access test measures the time necessary to
perform 1,000 read requests at random locations on the
disk using the DOS Interrupt 25h. This test should work
with any device that DOS recognizes as a disk. The test
reports the total time required to complete the requests
in seconds.

NOTE: If a seek error occurs in either of the above tests,
      a message will appear for a few seconds and then the
      program will choose a replacement sector and the
      test will continue. This is not necessarily an
      indication of a bad disk drive. These tests access
      sectors that may have been legitimately locked out
      during the formatting of the drive. If you suspect a
      problem with your drive, use a diagnostic program to
      test the drive.

Disk Throughput Group

This test suite is designed to show what effects different
file and block size combinations have on disk performance.
The disk tests use 256-KB, 1-MB, 2-MB, 4-MB, 8-MB, 16-MB,
and 32-MB file sizes to test the disk. For each file size
the test suite uses 200-byte, 512-byte, 2-KB, and 4-KB
block sizes. PC Bench performs sequential reads,
sequential writes, random reads, and random writes for
each block size. All together there are 105 tests.

Three main aspects of disk performance become clear
through this test suite. The results show the variation in
DOS overhead caused by various block sizes. The 200-byte
block size causes the 512-byte sector boundaries to be
crossed during reads and writes. The results reflect the
overhead due to the inefficiency of crossing the sector
boundaries. You can see in-cache versus out-of-cache
throughput differences by comparing the results for a file
size that fits in the cache against results for a file
size that exceeds the cache.

Battery Rundown Test
The Battery Rundown test exercises a laptop computer's
battery system in a worst-case scenario. The test starts
after charging the computer's battery according to the
manufacturer's specifications and disabling all
power-conservation features. The test teletypes 10 screens
full of information to the display and then writes a 15-K
file to disk with a time stamp of elapsed time. This
operation continues until the battery runs out of power.

Time the Timer Test
This test calculates elapsed time using DOS calls. Some
systems may not report a correct time when running a
version of DOS that is not configured for the system. In
this case, the results obtained from using these tests may
be skewed. The Time the Timer test lets you measure the
accuracy of the system's timer by comparing it to some
external source (such as a stopwatch).

COMPATIBILITY MENU

VGA Group
The compatibility test for VGA hardware performs several
VGA register-level functions which exercise the different
subsystems of a VGA or compatible display board (including
the VGA controller chip, video memory, and RAMDAC). Since
the test was designed with the original VGA in IBM PS/2
systems in mind, most boards don't pass every test.
However, a failure of one or two of the tests doesn't
usually indicate serious compatibility problems for most
software.

QUALITY MENU

EGA/VGA Monitor Group
The quality test displays images in various modes from
black and white text to VGA color graphics. These tests
are used to determine which display modes a
monitor/display adapter combination can support. Also,
they are used for evaluating laptop screens to see how
well they can map colors to gray scale.

SET MENU

The Set Menu contains Test Machine, Comparison A, and
Comparison B selections.

Test Machine
Choosing this option opens the Machine Information dialog
box. Modifying this information and choosing Use will
update the database with the modifications for the current
test.

Comparison A
Choosing this option opens the Machine Browser dialog box
and displays a list of the test runs committed to the
database. Selecting a test run and date stamp sets up a
comparison to the current run. You can view a comparisons
of results in the Results dialog box (see Results under
the View menu for more information) and under the DOSMark
option (see DOSMark under the View menu for more
information)

Comparison B
Choosing this option opens the Machine Browser dialog box
and displays a list of the test runs committed to the
database. Selecting a test run and date stamp sets up a
comparison to the current run. You can view a comparisons
of results in the Results dialog box (see Results under
the View menu for more information) and under the DOSMark
option (see DOSMark under the View menu for more
information)

HELP MENU

The Help Menu provides options for General and About.
Selecting General opens this help information text file.
Selecting About displays version information and a list of
the personnel involved with the development of the
benchmark program.

REGARDING RESULTS

After the benchmarks have run, the results appear at the
right of the associated test in the Results dialog box
under the View menu. If you have committed other results
to the database, you can compare them with the current
test results. Use Comparison A and/or Comparison B under
the Set menu to select data sets to use as Test A or Test
B. Choosing Compare in the Results dialog box will display
the results. The menu permits up to two comparisons with
the current test. You can use the Graph button to display
these as a column chart.

The DOSMark result is an overall composite score based on
specific test selections from the full test suite. The results
are aggregated with weighting factors assigned to account for
different units of measurement and standard
application-specific data on component or subsystem use.
DOSMark(tm) is a consistent scoring procedure that compares
DOS-compatible systems for business use.

The performance of system components can also be analyzed
as discussed below:

After running the tests but before exiting the menu,
choose the Print dialog box under the File menu to export
the data. There will be a dialog box to select the test
data followed by a dialog box to export the data (*.CSV or
*.TXT). Use comma-delimited files (*.CSV) for spreadsheet
analysis, and text format files (*.TXT) for databases and
word processors. When you enter the filename, do not enter
the period or a three-letter file extension. PC Bench
automatically supplies this based on the format choice you
make. PC Bench writes the file to the directory containing
all your PC Bench files.

Once the results have been exported, choose Quit under the
File menu. Use "Commit results to database" by selecting
the box (an X appears in the box). The system
automatically writes the file to the directory containing
the benchmark files.

The benchmark directory also contains the internal
database files named test_.dbf and result_.dbf that you
can use to prepare a working spreadsheet using database
software (such as dBASE). PC Bench tests four subsystems:
CPU, memory, VGA, and hard disk.

CPU tests are broken down into instructions performed in
real and protected modes and numerical operations
including floating point calculations and math
co-processor operations.

Memory results are all expressed in kilobytes per second
(kbps), so they all can be aggregated into a single
performance result.

VGA results for text mode are expressed as thousands of
characters per second. Graphics mode results are expressed
as thousands of pixels per second. These must be
aggregated separately and normalized before they are
weighted and combined into a single VGA performance score.

Disk results come in two forms: disk access in elapsed
time and disk throughput expressed in kbps.

Before comparing products, a standard set of results must
be obtained and analyzed so that they can be used to
normalize the test system results. If you have not adopted
a standard, then you can use the sample averages for
normalization.

TESTING METHODOLOGY

You can use PC Bench to test systems' performance in any
of the following approaches: single system comparisons,
single system/multiple configurations comparisons,
multiple system comparisons, and multiple systems/multiple
configurations comparisons.

Single-system comparisons are the simplest. In this
scenario, you run PC Bench a few times to establish an
average. When testing a single system under multiple
configurations, changing the Variant numbers in the
Machine Information display will identify the results by
their test iteration number. Test results committed to the
database will reflect the different data recorded in the
Variant fields of the Machine Information display.

If you want to run PC Bench on multiple systems, then you
must install the program on each test system. To compare
the results of the first system with those of the second
system within the Bench program, you must copy the results
files onto the second system. In this scenario, system 1
is tested under PC Bench, and the results are committed to
the database. You then load the PC Bench program onto the
second system, and the results files from the first system
are copied onto the second system. The files to be copied
are MACHINE_.MDX, MACHINE_.DBF, RESULT_.MDX, RESULT_.DBF,
SYSINFO_.MDX, and SYSINFO_.DBF.

PC Bench uses the information in the Machine Information
display to identify the specific test system and
configuration and thus prevent the results files from
being over-written. As before, PC Bench identifies
multiple configurations by using the Variant fields in the
Machine Information box.

ERRORS AND ERROR RECOVERY PROCEDURE

If a File Error -70 occurs, your database files may have
become corrupted. There are two kinds of database files,
those used by the benchmark program and those that store
user data.

Try this first:

LEVEL 1 Severity. This will probably delete any user data
saved from previous runs of PC Bench.

Go to the DOS prompt and type REINITDB. This executes the
program REINITDB.

Now try running PC Bench again.

If the error re-occurs proceed to the next level:

LEVEL 2 Severity. This will delete user data.

Go to the DOS prompt.
Delete *.DBF
Delete *.MDX

Execute the program REINITDB by typing REINITDB at the DOS
prompt.

Try running the BENCH program again.

If Insufficient Memory or Insufficient Disk Space error
messages appear, refer to the EXECUTING PC BENCH section
of this file.

If the Insufficient Disk Space on Drive <X> or
Insufficient Disk Space to Create File messages occur, it
means that PC Bench does not have enough room to run the
disk performance tests on your system for the particular
test required.