dve@mace.cc.purdue.edu (zhou) (01/19/91)
Several mesgs on the net lately use Norton SI index to compare speed loss in enchanced mode. This brings some doubt in my mind. I have Norton 5.0 and a 16-SX with 4Meg (70nsec) Ram on board and a 15msec Hard Drive. Yet the SI index of my machine is about 10.5 in DOS and 8.5 in Windows (Enchanced mode) while other people have 15 plus in dos on SX laptop and 22 on IBM 386-20. Surely my machine can't be that slow. It's Gateway 2000 machine which should be an average perfomer. So I suspect the Norton 4.5 and 5.0 give different numbers. Can somepople confirm this? Joe
daly@ecs.umass.edu (Bryon Daly, ECE dept, UMass, Amherst) (01/20/91)
In article <1991Jan20.064216.10926@nmt.edu>, wasnsr@nmt.edu (T.O.R.S.O.) writes: > In article <6627@mace.cc.purdue.edu> dve@mace.cc.purdue.edu (zhou) writes: >> >> Several mesgs on the net lately use Norton SI index to compare >> speed loss in enchanced mode. This brings some doubt in my mind. >> >> I have Norton 5.0 and a 16-SX with 4Meg (70nsec) Ram on board >> and a 15msec Hard Drive. Yet the SI index of my machine is about >> 10.5 in DOS and 8.5 in Windows (Enchanced mode) while other people >> have 15 plus in dos on SX laptop and 22 on IBM 386-20. Surely my >> machine can't be that slow. It's Gateway 2000 machine which should >> be an average perfomer. So I suspect the Norton 4.5 and 5.0 give >> different numbers. >> >> Can somepople confirm this? > > I am working on a 386-20 DX and the SI from 4.5 gives me an index > of 21 without windows and a 16.5 with windows, while norton 5.0 SI gives > me 12.3 without windows and 9.0 inside windows. > > Have the Norton people changed their rating system?? > > wayne, > wasnsr@titan.nmt.edu According to the Norton 5.0 manual, they have made changes in their benchmark, with the newer benchmark generally giving smaller values than the old one. (I think they were trying to legitimize their infamous benchmark by making it more accurate.) The CPU index I get on my 386-33 are as follows: Ver 4.5 Ver 5.0 _______ _______ Plain DOS: 40.5 34.7 386 Enhanced: 34.3 23.6 * Std mode: 40.3 34.7 *Interestingly enough, the Ver 5.0 CPU index is a continuous sampling one (i.e, if you move the mouse, you can see the number drop, then rise when you stop movement) and the index varies as you watch, in 386 Enhanced mode (with no user action) (Fun to watch! :-). But I have seen the number vary from as low as 4.1 to an incredible 260.1 (I'm not lying! It went off the scale a few times! Of course, something about windows is screwing up the benchmark) The number above of about what is shown most of the time. Note: the programs were not run from PIF's, but as straight executables from the file manager. In the background were no really "active programs"; eyes, 4dos shell, winpost were iconized, winclock was running, and so was fileman. -Bryon Daly daly@ecs.umass.edu