home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The World of Computer Software
/
World_Of_Computer_Software-02-385-Vol-1of3.iso
/
z
/
zdbench.zip
/
README
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-07-15
|
19KB
|
526 lines
ZD Labs
Benchmark Series Release 1.1 - Help File
DESCRIPTION OF MENU SELECTIONS
▒▒▒ File ▒▒▒
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
Load Comparisons
The Load Comparisons selection allows you to set which
machine's results in the database you wish to compare to the
unit under test. To choose a comparison machine, select Load
Comparisons from the File menu, select a machine/variant
combination, select the date/time for the results for that
machine and review the Machine Description before accepting
the comparison machine.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
Batch Run
The Batch Run selection allows you to run the following
tests automatically:
. All Processor Tests
. DOS Disk Access Test
. All DOS File Access Tests
. All Video Text Mode Tests
. All Video Graphics Mode Tests
A scrolling status window presents the test names and
results as they are run. You can view the results after the
cycle completes by accessing the View Menu. If an error
occurs, an error window will appear for 2 seconds and the
next test will be run.
▄▄▄▄
Quit
When quitting the benchmark program, there is an option to
commit the results to the database. As soon as a test is
completed, the results are written to a database file. Upon
exiting the program, the commit option records these results
permanently to the database. If you do not wish to
permanently save the results from a session, you may turn
off the commit check box before exiting. Then, the next time
the program is executed, you will be given the option of
using the uncommitted results from the previous test run or
deleting those results from the database.
▒▒▒ View ▒▒▒
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
Results
The results screen allows you to scroll through all the
results for the tests that have been run, compare the
results to other machine results in the database, graph the
results for each test, save the results to a file or print
a hardcopy.
▒▒▒ Performance ▒▒▒
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
Processor ...
[NOTE: Since the execution speed of microcomputers
is incredibly fast, the functions described in the
Processor Performance Tests are each performed for
10 seconds to produce the published results. While
the number of iterations varies from test to test,
they are consistent within each test when testing
different machines.]
■■■ Instruction Mix ■■■
The Instruction Mix benchmark test times a series of
assembly language instructions specific to the 8088, 80286,
80386 or 80486 chip. This test shows how the CPU operates
as a result of the interaction of the bus, processor, system
memory, and motherboard architecture. A larger number
indicates better overall computer performance.
■■■ 128K NOP Loop ■■■
The 128K NOP Loop benchmark test loops through 128K of
memory filled with NOP (No Operation) instructions. This
test is useful for comparing systems equipped with a
processor RAM cache. A higher number indicates better cache
system performance.
■■■ Do Nothing Loop ■■■
The Do Nothing Loop benchmark test times the execution of a
loop containing one NOP instruction. The higher the number,
the more efficient the computer, i.e. less resources are
required for system housekeeping (refreshing memory,
servicing interrupts, etc.).
■■■ Integer Add ■■■
The Integer Add benchmark test times the execution of a loop
containing an ADD instruction.
■■■ Integer Multiply ■■■
The Integer Multiply benchmark test times the execution of a
loop containing an IMUL instruction.
■■■ String Sort and Move ■■■
The String Sort and Move benchmark test times the execution
of a bubble sort performed on 200 random strings containing
16 characters each. This test is useful in testing systems
with a processor RAM cache, as sorting requires reading and
writing of the same data repeatedly. Systems with write-back
caches will usually perform better on this test than will
systems with write-through caches.
■■■ Prime Number Sieve ■■■
The Prime Number Sieve benchmark test times the execution of
a routine to find the prime numbers between 0 and 8190.
■■■ Floating Point Mix ■■■
The Floating Point Mix (also known as the Floating Point
Calculation Without Coprocessor) benchmark test sets up a
floating point emulation program in RAM and then exercises
the processor and tests RAM access speeds during floating
point calculations. The floating point processes performed
are identical to those used in the Coprocessor Test.
■■■ Math Coprocessor ■■■
The Math Coprocessor benchmark test exercises the math
coprocessor using the same floating point calculations used
in the Floating Point Mix Test. The test can be used to
analyze the speed differences of coprocessors in different
machines. Additionally, the processing speed a machine
gains by using a coprocessor can be seen by comparing its
Floating Point Mix scores with its Math Coprocessor scores.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
Memory ...
■■■ Conventional Memory Read/Write ■■■
These tests measure random access memory speed of
conventional memory performing memory reads and writes. The
program allocates 64K of memory and treats it as a series of
64 byte records. 16,384 random records are then either
written from or read into local memory.
■■■ Expanded Memory Read/Write ■■■
These tests measure random access memory speed of expanded
(Lotus, Intel, Microsoft) memory performing memory reads and
writes. The program allocates 128K of memory and treats it
as a series of 64 byte records. 16,384 random records are
then either written from or read into local memory.
■■■ BIOS Extended Memory Read/Write ■■■
These tests measure random access memory speed of extended
memory performing memory reads and writes. The program
allocates 128K of memory and treats it as a series of 64
byte records. 16,384 random records are then either written
from or read into local memory.
Due to advances in the 80386 and 80486 processor chips, the
results obtained using the Extended Memory tests with these
processors are not representative of what you'll find with
all programs using extended memory on 80386 and 80486
machines. The test uses the BIOS function for switching in
and out of Protected Mode, and the BIOS call is not commonly
used to perform this function on these machines. The test's
name indicates its specific use of the BIOS functions.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
DISK ACCESS ...
■■■ BIOS Disk Seek ■■■
The BIOS Disk Seek benchmark test measures mechanical track
to track disk drive access times. Both sequential and random
access is tested. The test uses the BIOS Interrupt 13h. It
cannot be used to test 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 which do not force the
disk mechanism to move for disk seeks will yield
unrealistically fast times. The result is the average access
time per track.
■■■ DOS Disk Access ■■■
The DOS Disk Access benchmark test measures the time
necessary to perform 1000 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. This is an occasion in the Bench 1.1 suite where
large numbers are preferable to small ones.
[NOTE: If a seek error occurs in either of the
above tests a message will appear for a few
seconds, then a replacement sector will be chosen
and the test will continue. This is NOT
necessarily an indication of a bad disk drive.
These tests access sectors which 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.]
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
DOS File Access ...
The DOS File Access (Small and Large Records) benchmark test
measures disk throughput as a result of mechanical disk
drive speed, hard disk controller function, and bus speed.
This benchmark tests file creation, writing, and reading
(sequentially and randomly) for a 256K file with two buffer
sizes. The test may be used to show the effects of disk
caching by running twice: once with and once without a
cache. Fast times for a particular record length indicate
that applications using similarly-sized records will perform
well on the system.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
Variable Size (Small and Large) Records ...
The DOS Variable File Access (Small and Large Records)
benchmark test is similar to the DOS File Access test and
has been designed primarily for testing hardware and
software disk caches. The small record size is 200 bytes and
the large record size is 2048 bytes. File sizes range from
300 to 19,200 records for small records and 30 to 1,920
records for large records.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
EGA/VGA Text ...
■■■ Unscrolled BIOS Write ■■■
The Unscrolled BIOS Write benchmark 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.
■■■ Scrolled BIOS Write ■■■
The Scrolled BIOS Write benchmark 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
application programs that frequently cause the screen to
scroll.
[NOTE: The pair of BIOS write tests give 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.]
■■■ Direct Screen Write (8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit) ■■■
The Direct Screen Write tests write data to the video
adapter screen memory using the MOVSB (8-bit), MOVSW (16-
bit) and MOVSD (32-bit, for machines with at least an 80386
processor) 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. The 32 bit test will have
only about 25% more throughput than the 16-bit test,
however, due to the reduced number of memory cycles required
to access the same data. This tests provide the best measure
of the text throughput of a display adapter.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
EGA/VGA Graphics ...
■■■ Write Mode 0 Fill (8 bit, 16 bit, 32 bit) ■■■
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 machines with at least an 80386
processor) instructions with EGA/VGA write mode 0 and all
bit planes enabled. Commonly used by graphics software
applications, it is one of the best measures of video
adapter throughput in graphics mode.
■■■ Memory to Screen Bitblt (16 bit, 32 bit) ■■■
The Memory to Screen Bitblt tests create screen segments,
then save these screen images into 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 machines with at
least an 80386 processor) instructions, one video plane at a
time. Very fast video cards will allow you to see the text
appear in a "marquee" effect on the screen. Memory to Screen
Bitblts are used when updating the images on a display.
■■■ Screen to Memory Bitblt (16 bit, 32 bit) ■■■
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 machines 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. Screen to Memory Bitblts are
used when modifying or saving screen images.
■■■ Screen to Screen Bitblt (16 bit, 32 bit) ■■■
The Screen to Screen Bitblt tests divides screen memory into
4 quadrants and fills the first three 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
machines with at least an 80386 processor) instructions with
write mode 1. Screen to Screen Bitblts are used when moving
objects from one area of the screen to another.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
Battery Rundown
The Battery Rundown test is designed to exercise a laptop
computer's battery system in a worst-case scenario. After
charging the computer's battery according to the
manufacturer's specifications and disabling all power
conservation features, the test is started. The test
teletypes 10 screens full of information to the display and
then writes a 15K file to disk with a time stamp of elapsed
time. This continues until the battery runs out of power.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
Time the Timer
The benchmark programs calculate elapsed time using DOS
calls. Some machines may not report a correct time running a
version of DOS not configured for the machine. If this is
the case, the results you obtain using these tests may be
skewed. Time the Timer allows you to measure the accuracy of
your system's timer by comparing it to some external source
(such as a stopwatch).
▒▒▒ Compatibility ▒▒▒
▄▄▄
VGA
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 ▒▒▒
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
EGA/VGA Monitor
The quality test permits images to be displayed in various
modes from black and white text to VGA color graphics.
These tests are used to determine what 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 ▒▒▒
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
Machine ID
Calling the Machine ID selection from the set menu permits
you to change information about the unit under test. You can
give the unit a new variant number and description to
reflect a configuration change. Or you can append notes to
the Machine Description field to record any interesting
findings while running tests.
▒▒▒ Known Problems and Irregularities ▒▒▒
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
10/4/91 We have found that certain high speed video board
bus speed combinations have caused the benchmarks to display
artifacts ("holes") in the screen display. This has also led
to certain graphics tests "locking up" the system, forcing a
cold boot. This has been seen in video adapters that run at
zero wait states on I/O busses running at 10 MHz. The
solution to this problem is to slow down the bus speed,
usually through some type of programmable option in the
system's CMOS.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
10/4/91 Version 7.00 of the Microsoft mouse driver behaves
erratically when running tests, with the cursor disappearing
and then reappearing with the mouse buttons inoperative. We
recommend using versions prior to or after version 7.00.
(Versions 6.14 and 7.04 have been used successfully in the
Labs.)
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
10/7/91 The IBM XT does not function properly with any
tested version of the Microsoft Mouse driver. Apparently, it
is not fast enough to service the mouse interrupt while
maintaining the display. We recommend not using the mouse if
you are running the benchmark on an XT class (8088 based)
machine.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
10/7/91 Certain key combinations will cause the system to
lock up if executed at the wrong time. Both Alt-F4 and Ctrl-
C, which are keyboard accelerators for exiting the program
will lock the system up if there are any windows open. You
will be forced to reboot the machine if these key
combinations are used while a window is open.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
10/8/91 At this time the memory required to run the full
suite of benchmark tests is approximately 580,000 bytes.
With less memory available you should be able to run all
tests except the 128K NOP Loop and the Graphics BitBlts.
Future revisions will address this limitation.
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
10/8/91...The results for the Screen to Screen BitBlt 16-bit
test for the IBM XT included with the benchmark disk is
inaccurate and does not reflect the video performance of the
IBM EGA adapter installed in the XT. Due to the graphics
intensive nature of this test, the XT cannot update the
screen memory properly to allow the benchmark to measure its
performance.
If you have any specific comments or experience
irregularities or problems running the benchmarks, you may
send a description of them along with either hard copy or
electronic copy of test results along with a system
description and any other pertinent information to:
Attn: Benchmark Department
ZD Labs
320 B Lakeside Drive
Foster City, CA 94404
▒▒▒ Additional Information ▒▒▒
Additional information may be found accompanying reviews in
Ziff publications. If you have any specific questions or
suggestions, please send them along with your registration
form or in a separate letter.
Thank you for using the ZD Labs Benchmark Series, Release 1.1.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Springer
Director, ZD Labs
NOTE: Please be sure to read the additional files
on this disk WHATS.NEW and DATABASE.TXT. These
files describe what is new in BENCH 1.1 as well as
the functioning of the product's database.