Benchmarks

[lynn1102 Profile Private message]

There was a discussion on here the other day about benchmarks. Some of the numbers made me feel really bad. I had never noticed the benchmark listing on the "about" screen before. Just to clarify, are we talking about graphics as opposed to cpu or memory benchmarks or the computer as a whole?

Anyway, I have an XP machine with a demo of version 6. Benchmark was listed as 85. On this machine which is only a few months old, I'm running Win 7, with an AMD 8 core cpu and 8 meg memory. On this machine I get a reading of 14. Reading numbers like 150 or 200 and over has me wondering what I'm not doing.

Both machines run fine. Both machines are using video off the mother board. Can someone clarify this for me so I know what to look for.

Lynn

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

The 85 reading should work fine although the one with the 14 is pretty low. As to how those numbers are calculated, we have talked to Photodex and they are influenced by graphics card speed, processor speed, amount of memory (and speed) as well as a number of other things (we suspect that phase of the moon may be in there somewhere). Typically, though, for graphics intensive applications like Proshow, Photoshop, video editors etc. you will do much better with a separate video card instead of one that is "integrated" with the motherboard since the integrated ones often share resources and can really bottleneck graphics intensive applications. The amount of RAM you have can also significantly affect performance. While Proshow is still a 32 bit app and as such is limited in how much RAM it can use, if you don't have enough on the motherboard, things start to slow down. Generally, plenty of RAM and a decent video card will make a significant difference in any graphics applications you are using.

In going over your post again, you are obviously one of the old folks like I am where "8 meg" of memory was huge back in the original PC days. Now days, 8 Gig is probably what you meant
(I still have old 8" floppy disk drives down stairs for my old CP/M system where 32Kb was considered lots of RAM (and was very expensive too). I still remember when 4 meg chunks for the old PC were in the $300 range. I think I paid something in the $250 range for the 12GB ( 3,000 of the 4 meg chunks). Science lurches on You don't indicate, but with 8 GB of RAM, I would assume you are running Win7/64 (not the 32 bit version)?

mikey

[lynn1102 Profile Private message]

Thanks, Now I know what I need. This is the first computer that I didn't build myself, not counting my Atari 520. I just didn't have the time when this happened. The old one got zapped by lightning coming in thru the phone lines. Got my modem, cables and motherboard. It even reset my atomic wall clock to all ones, and that was 10 feet away. I'll try to find a good video card and maybe some more memory.

Lynn

PS: I still have a working 5 1/4 drive that get used about once a year when customers bring in old photos to be transferred.

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

If you will search the forum here, you will find a number of discussions on video cards. You don't need the super duper gamers card - there are some pretty decent cards out there for a reasonable price. I currently have the Radeon HD 6850 in mine (that is now several years old) and it works very well for my needs (I use Photoshop, Producer and Sony Vegas with no problems so far). Looking at Newegg, they don't even show that card any more

mikey

[lynn1102 Profile Private message]

Straight from the horses (Jared) mouth. The benchmarks effect only executables and preview. I never did check the video ram on this new board, but last night I used msinfo (which I had forgotten about) and found out I only have 256 megs of video ram on this board. Will definitely be shopping tomorrow looking for at least 1 or 2 gigs.

Thanks for the help.

Lynn

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

In re-reading your original post, you mention video off the motherboard - that can be read two ways - 1) you have a video card that is "off" (in a slot on the motherboard) or 2) one of those motherboards with integrated video built into the motherboard. If that is the case, while I have not looked recently, but in the past, there were issues with some of those boards because the video RAM and processor RAM were "shared" and as such, made for a real bottleneck in any kind of graphics application. It is all a little grey now since I have not been looking into motherboards (especially with integrated video) for quite a while. Video cards are something that take a bit of research and understanding posts you will find. For many, a good video card is a good video card. Then there are the "Ford vs Chevy" or "Canon vs Nikon" or whatever bunch that if it isn't their brand it is evil I have had mostly good luck with the ATI side, but plenty of people are very happy with their Nvidia cards. Make sure you install the latest stable drivers from the manufacturer whichever card you go with (which are usually NOT the ones on the CD that comes in the box with the card).

mikey

[lynn1102 Profile Private message]

The video ram is part of the motherboard and is listed as ATI Radeon 3000. I have used both Radeon and Nvidia in the past and had good results. I'll post what I find and the results of a new benchmark.

Lynn