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- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!vms.csd.mu.edu!5916RAHMANK
- From: 5916rahmank@vms.csd.mu.edu
- Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.setup
- Subject: Re: ..SMARTDRV vs Built-in Cache, built-in is faster!....
- Message-ID: <0095FF7E.7BED5000@vms.csd.mu.edu>
- Date: 1 Sep 92 19:57:04 GMT
- Article-I.D.: vms.0095FF7E.7BED5000
- References: <0095F799.22B17580@vms.csd.mu.edu>,<1992Aug22.171940.1@vax1.umkc.edu>
- Sender: news@spool.mu.edu
- Reply-To: 5916rahmank@vms.csd.mu.edu
- Organization: Marquette University - Computer Services
- Lines: 45
- Nntp-Posting-Host: vmsd.csd.mu.edu
-
- In article <1992Aug22.171940.1@vax1.umkc.edu>, eputnam@vax1.umkc.edu writes:
- >In article <0095F799.22B17580@vms.csd.mu.edu>, 5916rahmank@vms.csd.mu.edu writes:
- >>
- >> Hi Folks:
- >> Finally I got 4M ram on my DTC SCSI card and I ran the
- >> smartdrv vs. buitl-in cache experiment again. And yes,
- >> built-in cache is faster than the smartdrv cache!
- >
- |>My only questions are: 1)How much RAM do you have and 2)Is your machine
- |>ISA/EISA/MC? The reason I ask about memory is that if you are converting
-
- For the above mentioned test I used an EISA machine with
- 32bit DTC controller. Diamond speedstar (w/1MB) 16bit
- video card driving a 17" 1024x768 monitor. The machine
- has 16MB RAM w/256K external cache (486DX2 @64MHz).
-
- |>a large portion of your RAM to cache then you could see a lower performance
- |>due to swapping to the drive during the startup. If your machine is an ISA,
- |>then a memory cache should be faster than a hardware cache just because it
- |>doesn't have to transmit through the bus (major slowdown on ISA).
- |>
- |>Personally, I have a Promise Tech controller card with 8 Meg of RAM controlling
- |>a Maxtor 7120A IDE drive and a 1 Meg PC-Cache drive cache. I timed how long
- |>it takes to start Windows 3.1 and found no difference between no software
- |>cache and software cache. I do however notice the difference when I am
- |>working with moderate sized files and find the software cache very nice to
- |>have. Of course, this doesn't apply to OS/2 where more free memory is better
- |>than more cache, but that is another story.
- |>
- |>Almost forgot... My machine is an ISA 386DX-25 with 8 Meg of RAM.
-
- Just for clarification, does your machine has 8Meg on
- the controller + 8 Meg RAM?
- In that case 3 tests have to be run.
-
- 1. Disable RAM on the controller (i.e., you have to pull
- them off!). Now load smartdrv and note the time.
- 2. Enable the controller RAM, then note the loading time.
- 3. Disable smartdrv and now note the loading time once more.
-
- The third option (i.e., Controller RAM enabled and smartdrv not
- loaded) should be the fastest, regardless of whether the
- machine is ISA or EISA.
-
- -Anis, Marquette University.
-