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 Aroma Adapter Native Performance
Performance Measurements

  • We decided to measure performance.

  • We ran nbench on adapter and PCs to compare CPU/memory performance.

    • nbench is based on BYTE Magazine's BYTEmark benchmark program (previously known as BYTE's Native Mode Benchmarks).

  • We also ran the IOzone Filesystem Benchmark to compare the flash RAM disk to a hard disk.
Nbench Hardware Info
 Version 1 Version 2 Nexar Dell
Vendor IDAuthenticAMD CyrixInstead GenuineIntel GenuineIntel
CPU Family4 5 5 6
Model NameAm5x86-WB CyrixMedia GXtm MMXtm Pentium 75 - 200 Pentium III (Katmai)
CPU Speed, Mhz133 233 166.197 548.746
L2 Cache, kB- - - 512
BogoMIPS64.31 56.52 66.36 547.23
Total Memory, kB46872 59988 30680 257728
Total Swap, kB128988 0 34236 819272
 
Relative CPU/Memory Performance

 

Comparison Graphic of Relative CPU/Memory Performance for AMD 133, Cyrix 233, Pentinum I - 166, Pentium III - 550. The 233 MHz Cyrix is slower than the 166 MHz Pentium I !!!
Click on image for larger graphic.

  • The 233 MHz Cyrix is slower than the 166 MHz Pentium I !!!
IOzone Hardware Info
 

Laptop

  
Vendor ID GenuineIntel  
CPU Family 6  
Model Name Celeron (Mendocino)  
CPU Speed, Mhz 363.97  
L2 Cache, kB 128  
BogoMIPS 362.91  
Total Memory, kB 94,780  
Total Swap, kB 136072  
  Hard Disk Flash Ram
Vendor/Type Fujitsu MHH2048AT San Disk PC Card
Size, MB 4645 220
Cache, kB 512 -
  • To create a common test environment for the flash disk and the hard disk, we ran the benchmark on a laptop.
 
IOzone Results
Comparison graphic of Relative Write Performance for Flash RAM vs. Hard Disks. For some reason, Flash RAM behaves very differently from a hard disk when the record size is large.

Click on image for larger graphic.

  • For some reason, Flash RAM behaves very differently from a hard disk when the record size is large.
IOzone Results
Comparison graphic of Relative Read Performance for Flash RAM vs. Hard Disks.
Click on image for larger graphic.

Measure Things Early

  • Need to measure target hardware performance early in the development process.

  • CPU clock speed and class is really not a good indication of what to expect.
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Contact Aroma Project Leader Alden Dima
Last Updated 09 August 2001 by Tony Cincotta