PerfomanceTest 6.0 on 2 Scoket Sservers

[brunetpi]

Is anyone, other then Myself, using PerfomanceTest 6.0 on 2 Scoket Servers?

[David (PassMark)]

Lots of people are using PT6 on dual CPU systems. There are more than 100 baseline files for dual CPU systems.

[brunetpi]

I understand that people are using it on 2 scoket systems. Was just curious if anyone else was using it specifically on servers. Additionally, I wanted to know which tests they are performing as Video and sound are not an issue on server systems.

[David (PassMark)]

Almost all of the dual CPU machines would be server (or work station) class machines.

There is no sound benchmark test in PerformanceTest. But yes, you can and should ignore the 2D and 3D result for server machines that don't normally have a screen attached.

[memerson1]

I have started a project to eval benchmark tools and PT6 is one of them.
One of the variants I am gathering info on is the effect of changing the number of "Processes" under Edit/Preferences. Modern Intel processors use hyperthreading and under Task Manager each physical processor shows up as 2 processors. When testing a 2 CPU server with single-core processors you will see 4 processors. When I vary the Process count from 1 to 8 the results are what I would expect. The CPU-Mark tests results increase noticably with Process count up to 4 and remain relativly flat from 5 to 8. Above 8 processes (the max is 10) there is a slight decrease in some of the CPU performance specs. I think this is due to how the Microsoft SMP schedules multiple threads.
I have not tested dual-core 2-CPU servers yet but this is what I expect to see: The CPU performance numbers will increase with the Process count until the Process count exceeds the number of 'hyperthreaded' or vitual processors. With 4 cores the hyperthread count will be 8. This brings up a question for PassMark:
Will you be increasing the maximum number of CPU Processes supported by PT6 from the current 10 to 20 or more? With the release of quad-core processors, and 2-CPU box will have 8-cores and will 'see' 16 hyperthreaded processes. With only 10 processes I will not be able to max out the processing power of these servers - like wise for the 4-socket servers I plan to test.
Can you provide any futures on this?

[Ian (PassMark)]

Internally we have changed the maximum number of CPU tests from 10 to 64. We plan to publicly release this in abount 1 month.

Best regards,
Ian (PassMark)

[Ian (PassMark)]

This has been released in PerformanceTest V6.1:
http://www.passmark.com/download/pt_download.htm
Regards,
Ian

[Windsurf48]

...With the release of quad-core processors, and 2-CPU box will have 8-cores and will 'see' 16 hyperthreaded processes. With only 10 processes I will not be able to max out the processing power of these servers - like wise for the 4-socket servers I plan to test.
Can you provide any futures on this?

The Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors don't use Hyperthreading. I believe that it disappeared when Intel replaced the NetBurst architecture for its latest processors.

I've used a Core 2 Duo E6400 and Core 2 Quad QX6700 on Intel 975x and nForce 680i motherboards. Neither BIOS had a hyperthreading option for either CPU, and Windows XP Pro and Windows XP Pro x64 Edition both showed the same number two or four cores depending upon the number of physical cores present on the processor.

According to the specifications on the Intel web site, the quad-core Xeons also don't include Hyperthreading.