keirje@triton.unm.edu (Keirje Aldranske) (10/09/90)
I want to create a program to monitor effective CPU speed (mhz). Are there
any established CPU speed test algorithms or code? I have seen a number of
programs which test the processor speed...anyone have any inside knowledge?
- Thanks for any help, Kaykeirje@triton.unm.edu (Keirje Aldranske) (10/15/90)
I posted something similar to this some time ago. I did not receive
any responses aside from othe people wanting to know what answer I
received. So, I am re-posting...
How does one determine the *effective* or even the actuall cpu speed
in realtime?
I can run a timed loop and find load average (X Windows Style) but I want
the effective mhz. I know there are several programs which do this:
MicroScope(PC Mag) and CPUSPEED and a few other... any help will be
appreciated.
- Kayjdudeck@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (John R. Dudeck) (10/15/90)
In an article keirje@triton.unm.edu (Keirje Aldranske) wrote: > How does one determine the *effective* or even the actuall cpu speed > in realtime? > > I can run a timed loop and find load average (X Windows Style) but I want > the effective mhz. I know there are several programs which do this: > MicroScope(PC Mag) and CPUSPEED and a few other... any help will be > appreciated. When you say "effective cpu speed", I question what that is supposed to mean. After all, even when the system is sitting in COMMAND.COM running in a wait loop, it is running at the full CPU speed. Are you thinking of some sort of tachometer which would indicate what amount of useful work is being done, referenced to the CPU clock speed? For example, if my clock speed is 25 Mhz, and I am sitting in a wait loop, it should indicate 0 Mhz, and if it is doing full number crunching to recalculate a spreadsheet it should read 25 Mhz. During disk access it should indicate something in between, etc? The only way that would be possible is if DOS had some sort of system state variable that indicates what it is doing, and which could be monitored by a TSR program, which would then calculate the effective speed and display it. This is what I believe you are suggesting by displaying the "load average", but as far as I know this is not possible because this information does not exist in DOS. But perhaps you want a program that measures the CPU clock frequency, working backwards from the known number of CPU cycles necessary to perform some operation, and timing the rate at which the operation is executed. This would be what you mean by "actual CPU speed". There are programs that do this, though I can't remember what any of them are called, or where to find them. But there is another type of information that is useful to know. This is the percentage of time the CPU is not doing useful work, such as during RAM refresh, RAM wait states, I/O bus wait states, etc. Also it would be interesting to know how much time is spent waiting for disk I/O. This is the type of information that is compared in benchmarks, though I've never seen one which displays it in this way. Usually they give a figure of merit that shows the overall effect of these elements combined with the CPU speed, and resulting in a relative, not absolute performance figure. Norton's SI would be in this category. -- John Dudeck "Nothing is foolproof, because jdudeck@Polyslo.CalPoly.Edu fools are so ingenious." ESL: 62013975 Tel: 805-545-9549 -- quote from PC Mag.
keirje@triton.unm.edu (Keirje Aldranske) (10/15/90)
In article <27191cec.5488@petunia.CalPoly.EDU> jdudeck@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (John R. Dudeck) writes: > > >In an article keirje@triton.unm.edu (Keirje Aldranske) wrote: >> How does one determine the *effective* or even the actuall cpu speed >> in realtime? >> >> I can run a timed loop and find load average (X Windows Style) but I want >> the effective mhz. I know there are several programs which do this: >> MicroScope(PC Mag) and CPUSPEED and a few other... any help will be >> appreciated. > >When you say "effective cpu speed", I question what that is supposed to >mean. After all, even when the system is sitting in COMMAND.COM >running in a wait loop, it is running at the full CPU speed. > >Are you thinking of some sort of tachometer which would indicate what >amount of useful work is being done, referenced to the CPU clock speed? >For example, if my clock speed is 25 Mhz, and I am sitting in a wait >loop, it should indicate 0 Mhz, and if it is doing full number crunching >to recalculate a spreadsheet it should read 25 Mhz. During disk access >it should indicate something in between, etc? > >The only way that would be possible is if DOS had some sort of system >state variable that indicates what it is doing, and which could be >monitored by a TSR program, which would then calculate the effective >speed and display it. This is what I believe you are suggesting by >displaying the "load average", but as far as I know this is not possible >because this information does not exist in DOS. > >But perhaps you want a program that measures the CPU clock frequency, >working backwards from the known number of CPU cycles necessary to >perform some operation, and timing the rate at which the operation is >executed. This would be what you mean by "actual CPU speed". There >are programs that do this, though I can't remember what any of them are >called, or where to find them. > >But there is another type of information that is useful to know. This >is the percentage of time the CPU is not doing useful work, such as >during RAM refresh, RAM wait states, I/O bus wait states, etc. Also it >would be interesting to know how much time is spent waiting for disk >I/O. This is the type of information that is compared in benchmarks, >though I've never seen one which displays it in this way. Usually they >give a figure of merit that shows the overall effect of these elements >combined with the CPU speed, and resulting in a relative, not absolute >performance figure. Norton's SI would be in this category. > >-- >John Dudeck "Nothing is foolproof, because >jdudeck@Polyslo.CalPoly.Edu fools are so ingenious." >ESL: 62013975 Tel: 805-545-9549 -- quote from PC Mag. I am talking about running this program on a multi-tasking machine. ie. DesqView or Windows 3.0 I already have a working version of an XLoad type program. I want to be able to determine effective CPU mhz as you mentioned in your posting for a tachometer. - Kay