Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I haven't used any benchmarking software in years -- since the '95 era.
Does anyone know of a FREE, quality diagnostic / benchmarking program to
test system performance and RAM status? (For use with Pentium I level
processors to the present.)

Silk.

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"personalpages.tds.net/~rcsilk" <dick_silk@antispam.gov> wrote in message
news:41b80544$1_3@newspeer2.tds.net...
>I haven't used any benchmarking software in years -- since the '95 era.
> Does anyone know of a FREE, quality diagnostic / benchmarking program to
> test system performance and RAM status? (For use with Pentium I level
> processors to the present.)
>
> Silk.
>
>
>

Try Sandra http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/?dir=& [...] angx=en&a=

Plus Memtest86 http://www.memtest86.com/

Craig

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"personalpages.tds.net/~rcsilk" <dick_silk@antispam.gov> wrote:
>I haven't used any benchmarking software in years -- since the '95 era.
>Does anyone know of a FREE, quality diagnostic / benchmarking program to
>test system performance and RAM status? (For use with Pentium I level
>processors to the present.)

WinBench isn't awful, though it hasn't been updated in a while, and is
quite exhaustive, so it takes a long time to run. Aida32 is pretty
good for determining exactly what a system is. Intel has some chipset
and CPU identifiers and speed determiners. memtest86 will do an
exhaustive memory diagnostic. HDTune will check out your drive
thruput, and nothing beats the manufacturer's diagnostics. Of course,
the Dell diagnostics are pretty good as well.

Google will help you find all these things...

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

William P.N. Smith wrote:
> "personalpages.tds.net/~rcsilk" <dick_silk@antispam.gov> wrote:
>> I haven't used any benchmarking software in years -- since the '95
>> era. Does anyone know of a FREE, quality diagnostic / benchmarking
>> program to test system performance and RAM status? (For use with
>> Pentium I level processors to the present.)
>
> WinBench isn't awful, though it hasn't been updated in a while, and is
> quite exhaustive, so it takes a long time to run. Aida32 is pretty
> good for determining exactly what a system is. Intel has some chipset
> and CPU identifiers and speed determiners. memtest86 will do an
> exhaustive memory diagnostic. HDTune will check out your drive
> thruput, and nothing beats the manufacturer's diagnostics. Of course,
> the Dell diagnostics are pretty good as well.
>
> Google will help you find all these things...

Aida32 is now Everest Home or Pro Editions, www.lavalys.com.

Q

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Craig" <nospam_wanted@on_the_net.com> wrote in message
newskYtd.5984$3q.1995@lakeread01...
>
> "personalpages.tds.net/~rcsilk" <dick_silk@antispam.gov> wrote in message
> news:41b80544$1_3@newspeer2.tds.net...
>>I haven't used any benchmarking software in years -- since the '95 era.
>> Does anyone know of a FREE, quality diagnostic / benchmarking program to
>> test system performance and RAM status? (For use with Pentium I level
>> processors to the present.)
>>
>> Silk.
>>
>>
>>
>
> Try Sandra http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/?dir=& [...] angx=en&a=
>
> Plus Memtest86 http://www.memtest86.com/

Thanks Craig, and the other two responders as well. Taking notes and filing
for future research. THANKS! :-)

Dick Silk -- The Computer Tutor
http://personalpages.tds.net/~rcsilk
for rates and online chat

- The more I know, the more I know there is more I need to know, and even
more I know that I will never know. -- RC Silk

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Do you want to do diagnostic testing or benchmarking? They are very different.

.... Ben Myers

On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 02:03:37 -0600, "personalpages.tds.net/~rcsilk"
<dick_silk@antispam.gov> wrote:

>I haven't used any benchmarking software in years -- since the '95 era.
>Does anyone know of a FREE, quality diagnostic / benchmarking program to
>test system performance and RAM status? (For use with Pentium I level
>processors to the present.)
>
>Silk.
>
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

both. but diagnostics -- yes, the dell diags cd or boot diags work best for
dells, and I have most of those anyways. Only the dell diags aren't that
friendly to other systems. Benchmarking is more interesting in the long
run, when you're finally able to compare esoteric things like ram
performance and drive throughput -- at a glance.

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:41b92fa1.15010619@nntp.charter.net...
> Do you want to do diagnostic testing or benchmarking? They are very
> different.
>
> ... Ben Myers
>
> On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 02:03:37 -0600, "personalpages.tds.net/~rcsilk"
> <dick_silk@antispam.gov> wrote:
>
>>I haven't used any benchmarking software in years -- since the '95 era.
>>Does anyone know of a FREE, quality diagnostic / benchmarking program to
>>test system performance and RAM status? (For use with Pentium I level
>>processors to the present.)
>>
>>Silk.
>>
>>
>>
>

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Diagnostcs:

1. MEMTEST-86, best memory tester available. Great price. Free. Also
determines processor speed and speeds of cache and RAM with decent accuracy.
May have some glitches with Intel 845 and 865 integrated graphics. I need to
follow up. NEVER had a client complain about memory after running MEMTEST-86 on
either a new computer or a memory upgrade. MEMTEST-86 has smoked out lots of
incompatibilities between motherboards and memory, and some just plain bad
memory sticks.

2. Hard drive manufacturers' diagnostics, not Micro$oft SCUMDISK. The
manufatcurers' diagnostics are the more or less the same as used at the factory
for burn-in and to recertify. They run close to the bare iron, without layers
and layers and layers of Windows software in the way. Hitachi (also IBM),
Maxtor, Western Digital, Seagate, Fujitsu all have free downloads of their hard
drive diagnostics.

AIDA-16 and AIDA-32 to provide a fairly accurate diagnosis of the hardware
inside a computer, i.e. identification of chips, cards, and other incidental
hardware. Using this software is a lot easier than being a chiphead who reads
the fine print on all the chips inside a computer. But if you know how to
interpret the fine print, there is no better way to determine what makes a
computer go. Problem is that many chips are covered up by bonded-on heat sinks,
which make exact chip identification possible without damaging a board.

3COM and Intel both provide diagnostic and test software with their NICs, a good
reason to use them, and no other brand. D-Link, Netgear, Relisys (just chips)
and all the other late entrants in the NIC business provide no diagnostics for
testing a card to see if it is even working, so why use them? 3COM is
essentially out of the commodity NIC business, but their cards are still going
strong.

CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, and DVD-RW. No diagnostic tests per se, although an old
program called CDBENCH works pretty well as both a benchmark cum diagnosis. I
write a DOS-based CD-ROM benchmark program many years ago for Ziff-Davis and PC
Magazine, back in the day when 2x, 3x, 4x, and 6x CD-ROM drives were hot stuff.
First test: Does a Win 9x install floppy see the drive, and read from it?
Second test, burners only: Does your favorite CD or DVD burning package actually
burn a disk properly? The second test assumes that the drive is supported by
the burning software. There are OEM versions of CD/DVD burning packages that
work only with the mobo BIOS of a given brand or with a specific brand of drive.
Third test: Get closer to the metal either burning disks with Linux or with a
Windows port of a Linux package + CYGWIN (for example Easy Burning or CDRTools).

Sound cards? I dunno. The diagnostic test is usually binary. Install the
drivers for the sound chip and test using the Windows Control Panel and play an
audio CD. If you hear sound, the card passes the test. Sound card benchmarks?
Talk to Bose.

Tape drives? Most tape backup software packages include diagnostics of both the
drive and the media.

Any other hardware worth diagnosing?

Benchmarks? I could write a book about benchmarks and my experiences over the
last 40 years designing, conducting and interpreting benchmarks. But the book
would be so damned boring that it would sell maybe 3 copies, all to my nearest
relatives... Ben Myers

On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 02:49:01 -0600, "personalpages.tds.net/~rcsilk"
<dick_silk@antispam.gov> wrote:

>both. but diagnostics -- yes, the dell diags cd or boot diags work best for
>dells, and I have most of those anyways. Only the dell diags aren't that
>friendly to other systems. Benchmarking is more interesting in the long
>run, when you're finally able to compare esoteric things like ram
>performance and drive throughput -- at a glance.
>
><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>news:41b92fa1.15010619@nntp.charter.net...
>> Do you want to do diagnostic testing or benchmarking? They are very
>> different.
>>
>> ... Ben Myers
>>
>> On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 02:03:37 -0600, "personalpages.tds.net/~rcsilk"
>> <dick_silk@antispam.gov> wrote:
>>
>>>I haven't used any benchmarking software in years -- since the '95 era.
>>>Does anyone know of a FREE, quality diagnostic / benchmarking program to
>>>test system performance and RAM status? (For use with Pentium I level
>>>processors to the present.)
>>>
>>>Silk.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Thank you *very* much for the Memtest reference. Filed and will investigate
shortly.

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:41bb0c54.406634@nntp.charter.net...
> Diagnostcs:
>
> 1. MEMTEST-86, best memory tester available. Great price. Free. Also
> determines processor speed and speeds of cache and RAM with decent
> accuracy.
> May have some glitches with Intel 845 and 865 integrated graphics. I need
> to
> follow up. NEVER had a client complain about memory after running
> MEMTEST-86 on
> either a new computer or a memory upgrade. MEMTEST-86 has smoked out lots
> of
> incompatibilities between motherboards and memory, and some just plain bad
> memory sticks.
>
> 2. Hard drive manufacturers' diagnostics, not Micro$oft SCUMDISK.

I agree.

> AIDA-16 and AIDA-32 to provide a fairly accurate diagnosis of the hardware
> inside a computer, i.e. identification of chips, cards, and other
> incidental
> hardware. Using this software is a lot easier than being a chiphead who
> reads
> the fine print on all the chips inside a computer. But if you know how to
> interpret the fine print, there is no better way to determine what makes a
> computer go. Problem is that many chips are covered up by bonded-on heat
> sinks,
> which make exact chip identification possible without damaging a board.

True, and thanks again for this AIDA ref.

> 3COM and Intel both provide diagnostic and test software with their NICs,
a good
> reason to use them, and no other brand.

Yeah, I've used the 3COM dos-based diags as well as the windows. Lotsa fun,
actually :-)

> 3COM is essentially out of the commodity NIC business, but their cards are
> still going strong.

what's with 3COM? they've been strong since W3.1 --- ?

> CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, and DVD-RW. No diagnostic tests per se, although
> an old
> program called CDBENCH works pretty well as both a benchmark cum
> diagnosis.

I may have that one in my archives...

> I [wrote] a DOS-based CD-ROM benchmark program many years ago for
> Ziff-Davis and PC

My standard first test for today's drives is: can you directly boot to a
bootable CD? (Do not test floppy, do not test hard drive, do not collect
$200.)

<snip>
> Benchmarks? I could write a book about benchmarks and my experiences over
> the
> last 40 years designing, conducting and interpreting benchmarks. But the
> book
> would be so damned boring that it would sell maybe 3 copies, all to my
> nearest
> relatives... Ben Myers

all you need is an editor / ghost writer to help add levity.