Category: HDXPRT

Real performance for real people

on September 6, 2012

As you know by now, HDXPRT 2012 uses real commercial applications and realistic workloads to evaluate PC performance. We believe this approach, where we used the same software you do, and used it to do the same types of work you do, was the best way to relate a PC’s performance to the experience you’ll have.

The point of all this has been to help you answer some of the questions you’d confront when buying a PC. How much of a performance boost does adding memory really give you? Is the faster RAM worth it? How much faster is a new Intel Core i7 processor than a second-generation processor?

This Friday, we’re publishing the HDXPRT 2012 v 1.0 Scaling White Paper, which looks at exactly these issues. To prepare the paper, we took a single system and ran dozens of tests, changing one variable at a time. This let us isolate the effect each component had on performance. We show the effect of changing the following:
• The processor: We compared half a dozen second- and third-generation Intel Core i3, i5, and i7processors.
• The amount of memory: We compared the effect of having 2, 4, 8, and 16 GB of RAM.
• Memory speed and banking: We compared 1,333MHz and 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM. We also looked at the effect of using a single DIMM vs. using two smaller DIMMs for the same total memory amount.
• Drive type: We compared traditional hard disk drives and solid state drives.

Not all workloads reacted the same, so our paper presents the effect of each change on the component scores as well as on the Create HD score. This is the type of information everyone buying a PC needs.

We’re going to have a Webinar at 2 pm ET on Tuesday September 18. We’ll talk about HDXPRT 2012 and take your questions. Details to come.

In addition, we have a new video introducing HDXPRT to system vendors and testers. I hope you enjoy it.

Eric

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Meeting the old fashioned way

By Mark Van Name

on August 30, 2012

As Bill discussed last week, we work in many different ways to build the community. Facebook, Webinars, Twitter, this blog—all of these social media venues help connect those of us in the community.

Sometimes, though, it’s nice to sit down in person and chat.

Which is precisely what I’m inviting fellow community members to do at the upcoming Intel Developer Forum (IDF). IDF runs from September 11 to 13 at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco. While I’ll be busy attending the show for part of each day, I’d love to spend some of my free time talking with people about both HDXPRT and TouchXPRT. We could do it informally, by simply running across each other on the show floor, or we could schedule some meetings.

We could even make a group lunch of it. If a few folks can agree on a day and time, I’d be happy to set up and host a lunch at a nearby restaurant so we can share ideas while enjoying a meal.

If you’re interested, feel free to email me, and we’ll arrange to get together. I hope to have many good conversations with community members at the show!

Mark Van Name

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Posted in Benchmarking, Collaborative benchmark development, Let us know your thoughts |

Growing the community

By Bill Catchings

on August 23, 2012

Growing the community

It’s probably stating the obvious to say that what makes the XPRT Development Community work is the people. The more people there are in the community, the better the resulting benchmarks will be. Naturally, that means we want more people in the community.

Part of PT’s role in building the community is to get more people involved. Over the last couple of years, that has meant doing a number of different things—from conducting Webinars (we’ll have the next one in September) to meeting at trade shows (we expect to be at CES again next year) to contacting individuals in person and via email to using social media like Twitter (follow us at @HDXPRT) and Facebook (like HDXPRT Development Community). As I mentioned last week, we are now working on some videos to help get out the message. Basically, we’ve been telling everyone we can about the benchmarks and the community that creates them.

One thing we haven’t done, however, is to actively enlist the community itself in building the community. Here are some ways you can help. Please like, follow, or whatever us on the different social media platforms. Invite others to join the community. Probably most importantly, use the benchmarks and publish the results. Now that HDXPRT 2012 is out, we want to see its results popping up in as many places as possible.

You can also help by telling us your ideas for how to grow the community. What else do you think we should be doing?

Bill

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Posted in Collaborative benchmark development, HDXPRT 2012 |

Lights! Camera! Action!

By Bill Catchings

on August 10, 2012

While we continue working on the testing, white papers, and Webinars that are part of the HDXPRT 2012 roll-out, we also are working on some other things as well. The importance of HDXPRT shows how the world is moving toward a much more visual/graphical future. To keep up with that trend and with our benchmark, we are adding video content to the site.

At Principled Technologies, we have been embracing video in a big way. We built a dedicated video-production studio (picture lots of green walls) and bought the necessary video, audio, and lighting gear, so our talented video-production staffers have all the tools they need. Our goal is to be able to quickly create for our clients all sorts of videos of things like our performance reports. We are now able to utilize those same video assets for the XPRTs (HDXPRT and TouchXPRT).

To get things rolling here, we created a video blog based on an entry from a few weeks ago. We will be experimenting with doing more with video, including videos explaining and promoting HDXPRT and regular video blogs. Let us know what you would like to see!

Bill

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Posted in Collaborative benchmark development, HDXPRT, TouchXPRT |

Should something unexpected happen

By Eric Hale

on August 3, 2012

HDXPRT 2012 is out, and I hope you’ve had the opportunity to start testing with it.

While we have worked hard to make HDXPRT as solid as possible, it’s possible that you may encounter a problem at some point. If that happens, we want to hear about it. Here a few things you can do that will help us solve your problem as quickly as possible.

When HDXPRT fails, it typically creates a folder on the desktop. This folder contains error information and information about the test system. The folder is named “HDXPRT Error Report” suffixed with date and time. For example, HDXPRT Error Report_04-13-12_11-24-00. Zip that directory and send it, along with a brief description of the problem, to HDXPRTsupport@principledtechnologies.com.

Please also include any information you think would be helpful. For example, if you are testing with an OEM version of the operating system, we may be unable to duplicate your problem using a default install of the same operating system. Someone will get back to you within one business day.

To make information about any bugs and their solutions available to the community, we will post it on the forum. If you would prefer not to be acknowledged on the forum, just let us know and we will preserve your anonymity.

Thanks again for your interest.

Eric

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Posted in HDXPRT 2012 |

HDXPRT 2012 has left the building! Now what?

By Bill Catchings

on July 27, 2012

HDXPRT 2012 is finished! We are shipping out the HDXPRT 2012 DVDs to the Development Community membership. If you don’t get yours next week, please let us know. If you would like a copy of HDXPRT 2012, please join the community and we will gladly send you one.

We are also putting out a press release, preparing white papers, and doing the myriad things involved in shipping a product. The benchmark itself, however, is done.

Now that we have had a couple minutes to celebrate that moment, it is time to ask, “What next?” The first and most obvious thing will be to get the RTM of Windows 8 and see what we need to fix to make HDXPRT 2012 work with it. We hope we won’t need to change much–maybe we’ll get lucky and everything will work fine. Regardless, we’ll let you know what is necessary to make HDXPRT 2012 work on Windows 8 or will create an updated version that works on Windows 8.

We will also begin the next cycle for HDXPRT 2013. Now, however, is the best time for you to let us know what you would like to see. Are there particular tests you would like to see? We can add inspection tests to HDXPRT even before the next full version. By an inspection test, I mean a test that may not be relevant for all users or environments and is not part of the overall score. The test might also be an experimental one that we want to try out for possible inclusion in the overall score in the future.

But, for the moment, we plan to enjoy our weekend. We hope you have a great weekend as well!

Bill

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Posted in HDXPRT 2012, HDXPRT 2013, Let us know your thoughts, Windows 8 |

Category: HDXPRT

Real performance for real people

Meeting the old fashioned way

Growing the community

Lights! Camera! Action!

Should something unexpected happen

HDXPRT 2012 has left the building! Now what?

Check out the other XPRTs: