Evaluation of Two Fully Rugged Laptop Computers for the Forest Service, Page14

Evaluation of Two Fully Rugged Laptop Computers for the Forest Service

Appendix G—Performance Benchmaking

Purpose

Benchmarking tests allow computers' performance to be compared by subjecting them to the same set of tests. These tests provide benchmarks for the performance of the CPU (central processing unit or processor), 2-D and 3-D graphics processors, memory, hard disk, and CD/DVD drives. Forest Service laptop users—especially fire personnel—may require high-performance CPUs and 3-D graphics for some applications.

Equipment

Three different benchmarking software applications were used to conduct the performance tests.

3DMark: 3DMark is the worldwide standard in advanced 3-D performance benchmarking. 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3-D game workloads to measure PC performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3-D graphics tests, CPU tests, and 3-D feature tests. 3DMark06 tests include HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, SM2.0 graphics tests, AI-and physics-driven-singleand multiple-core processor CPU tests.
PCMark: PCMark05 includes 11 system tests—each one is designed to represent a certain type of PC usage. PCMark05 stresses the components in a manner similar to normal usage. The system test suite includes tests measuring different components of a PC. The results of the tests, as well as the total score, depend on all components. PCMark05 tests CPU, system bus, memory, and graphics performance.
PassMark Performance Test 6.1: PassMark Performance Test 6. consists of 25 standard benchmark tests including:
- CPU tests (Mathematical operations, compression, encryption, streaming SIMD extensions, 3DNow! instructions)
- 2-D graphics tests (Drawing lines, bitmaps, fonts, text, and GUI elements)
- 3-D graphics tests (Simple to complex DirectX 3-D graphics and animations)
- Disk tests (Reading, writing, and seeking within disk files)
- Memory tests (Speed and efficiency of memory allocation and accesses)
- CD/DVD tests (Speed of the CD or DVD drive)

Procedure

Each of the benchmarking applications was loaded on the laptops. Each application was administered a minimum of three times following the application's specifications. 3DMark06 and PCMark05 were run six times, while PassMark Performance 6.1 was run three times. The benchmarking scores were averaged for each application.

Results

Figure G–1 shows the average results from the three benchmarking applications.

Graph showing the PC Benchmarking Test Results of the CF-30 and XR-1. The tests were done with the 3DMark06, PCMark05, and the PassMark Performance 6.1.
Figure G–1—Three different performance benchmarking software
suites were used to test the laptops' processors and components.
The XR- laptop performed better in all benchmarking tests.

Conclusions

The XR-1 laptop tested higher in all the benchmarking tests. The XR-1 laptop scored 44 percent higher than the CF-30 laptop on the 3DMark06 tests, 5 percent higher than the CF-30 on the PCMark05 tests, and 37 percent higher on the PassMark Performance 6.1 tests. The results are probably due to the XR-1 laptop's faster processor.