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Comparitively low PCMark Scores...

Discussion in 'Dell Latitude, Vostro, and Precision' started by skyandspace, Sep 6, 2009.

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  1. skyandspace

    skyandspace Notebook Consultant

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    Ran PCMark 05 Basic today and got a score of 4505 which is lower than the similarly spec'd T400 in the officia updatedl notebookreview (5305).

    My specs (which are a tad better than the T400's)
    P8700, 2.53ghz
    3mb ram
    160gb HDD 5400rpm
    Intel 4500MHD

    Is there something I should do prior to the test to ensure proper benchmarking?

    I've run WPrime and the scores are around 30-31 seconds for the first test.

    Thanks.
     
    skyandspace, Sep 6, 2009
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  2. allfiredup

    allfiredup Notebook Virtuoso

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    I can spot a few things that would impact your PCMark05 score vs. the T400 reviewed here- LINK

    The T400 uses faster DDR3-1066 RAM vs. DDR2-800 in your system. But the biggest factor, I'd guess, is the the T400's 7200rpm hard drive which is significantly faster than the 5400rpm drive in your system. Are you running Windows Vista Business?
     
    allfiredup, Sep 6, 2009
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  3. skyandspace

    skyandspace Notebook Consultant

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    However,

    I looked up scores of E6400's with P8600 and 1gb memory and their scores are only a couple hundred (200) less than mine.

    Maybe someone with similar specs to mine could comment on their results?
     
    skyandspace, Sep 6, 2009
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  4. skyandspace

    skyandspace Notebook Consultant

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    So is harddrive performance highly weighted in PC Mark?
     
    skyandspace, Sep 6, 2009
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  5. allfiredup

    allfiredup Notebook Virtuoso

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    Absolutely! PCMark looks at the overall performance of the entire system (processor, RAM, hard drive, graphics card, etc.) and assigns a value based on the sum of those parts.

    A very good example to show the role that the hard drive and processor play in the PCMark score is the Lenovo ThinkPad X200s and X301. The X200s has a 1.86GHz Intel C2D SL9400 and 160GB 7200rpm hard drive. The X301 has a 1.4GHz Intel C2D SU9400 and a 64GB Hi-Performance SSD (Solid State Drive). All other hardware is the same (Intel graphics, same RAM)- the PCMarkVantage score is 3,163 for the X200s and 3,157 for the X301 (almost identical)! The higher performance SSD in the X301 compensates for the slower processor.

    FYI- PCMarkVantage (Vista) is the successor to PCMark05 (XP).
     
    allfiredup, Sep 6, 2009
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  6. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Yes. I recently dropped an SSD into my E6400 (P8600 + Intel GPU) and it pushed the PCMark score to over 6000. See the attached.

    The RAM type is irrelevant. The current chipset can't use the full bandwidth of DDR2, never mind DDR3.

    John
     

    Attached Files:

    John Ratsey, Sep 7, 2009
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