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benchmarking posts

Filed under: Beta, Browsers, Web

Futuremark gets into browser benchmarking with Peacekeeper

Futuremark's 3dMark has long been a favorite way of mine to perform near-crippling tests on freshly-built systems. One of their more recent projects is aimed at a slightly less intimidating foe than 3d gaming: web browser javascript benchmarking.

Called Peacekeeper, the new app makes a lot of sense for Futuremark. As one of the key brands in computer benchmarking, it's only logical that they would want in on comparative browser testing. In Internet Explorer, you'll be asked to install an ActiveX control - other browsers will run the test without any add-ins. Tests were patterned after real-world browsing using sites like YouTube, Facebook, GMail, and Meebo.

To see how your default browser scores, just point it to http://service.futuremark.com/peacekeeper/. Once the test completes, your score will be displayed. To test another browser, just click the button and you'll be given a link to copy and paste.

As with other Futuremark apps, you can also see how your results stack up to other system configurations - including the one currently owning the high score. The Intel Q9650-powered rig posted numbers about four times higher than those of my trusty notebook.

I sure wish Intel would make with the mobile quad cores already.

Filed under: Windows, Freeware

Portable PC Wizard Analyzes, Benchmarks, Slices, & Dices

PC Wizard
We love kick-ass programs that run from our flash drives and don't take up a ton of space - especially when they come at us with a truckload of useful features.

CPUID's PC Wizard is a portable system analysis and benchmarking with tricks to spare. Apart from offering an incredible amount of information about the hardware and software in your computer (file associations, driver versions, hardware revisions, system uptime, etc.), it'll benchmark it, monitor sensors and voltages, and even stress-test it.

Benchmarking functions are surprisingly rich, testing everything from cpu, ram, drives, and even DirectX and MP3 performance. You won't get a huge assortment of systems to compare with, but you will get a good idea of how your rigs stacks up to some common configs.

We've had trouble with some portable system information apps missing the mark - especially on laptops - but PC Wizard worked like a charm, providing a ton of information about our test rig's proprietary mainboard. For an encore, PC Wizard can even figure out and display many MS application passwords and list them on the configuration screen. It's one more unexpected bonus feature that makes this program worth keeping on your flash drive.

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Linux, Open Source, Unix, Troubleshooting

Test system stability using Pi calculations

system stability testerThere are many unique ways to test your system stability (like faking an earthquake by shaking your desk wildly), but this one takes the cake.

The System Stability Tester, a freeware download for Linux, Unix, and Windows, claims to test the stability of your system by calculating millions of digits of Pi in different threads, and comparing the threads for any disparities. You can also run the test on a single thread for benchmarking purposes.

Originally developed as a system stressing and benchmarking tool for overclockers, the System Stability Tester has since gone open source (licensed under the GNU public license) and more mainstream (e.g., by giving Windows users an easy executable install file).

So after your system calculates up to 128 million digits of Pi, what comes next? Memorization, of course. In "White and Nerdy," Weird Al claimed to know Pi to a thousand places. In the real world, if you can believe it, that number is paltry.

Fun fact for the day: the world record for number of memorized Pi numbers is held by Chao Lu of China. Want to know how many numbers he memorized? Click the jump...

Read more →

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

FreshDiagnose system information utility

FreshDiagnose is a very nicely done system information and benchmarking utility in the vein of Aida32. Simply run the application, and it will do a complete system analysis, listing all hardware devices, software, relevant registry settings and LAN information. It can also do system performance benchmarking to compare performance against other similar machines, for the purpose of detecting any problems.

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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