- 1. Testing For The Rest Of Us
- 2. Different Kinds Of Mobile Computer Users
- 3. Battery And Performance Benchmarks
- 4. Preparing For And Running MobileMark 2005
- 5. Preparing For And Running MobileMark 2005, Continued
- 6. SYSmark 2004 SE (Second Edition)
- 7. SYSmark 2004 SE (Second Edition), Continued
- 8. Preparing For And Running SYSmark 2004 SE
8. Preparing For And Running SYSmark 2004 SE
Except for the system, Windows and other settings discussed in the table under MobileMark 2005, we make the same preparations for SYSmark 2004 that we make for MobileMark 2005. We configure BIOS and Windows parameters to optimize performance for a laptop or notebook running on AC. Here are the settings we use.
| BIOS | |
|---|---|
| USB and all device ports | All enabled |
| Wireless and wired network adapters | Disabled (if cannot be disabled in BIOS, do it in networking software: Control Panel > Network Connections, select and right-click network connection and select Disable) |
| Windows XP | |
| Control Panel > Power Options > Power Schemes > Power Schemes dropdown | Home/Office Desk |
| Control Panel > Power Options > Power Schemes > Turn Off Monitor | Never for AC |
| Control Panel > Power Options > Power Schemes > Turn Off Hard Disks | After 20 minutes for AC |
| Control Panel > Power Options > Power Schemes > System Standby | Never for AC |
| Control Panel > Power Options > Power Schemes > System Hibernates | Never (this option is not shown if Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate > Enable Hibernation is unchecked, see below) |
| Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate > Enable Hibernation | Disabled (Unchecked) |
| Audio | Enabled |
| Pointing device settings | Default |
| Control Panel > Display > Settings > Screen Resolution | 1024 x 768 minimum |
| Control Panel > Display > Settings > Color Quality | 65536 colors minimum |
| Control Panel > Display > Screen Saver > Screen Saver dropdown | None |
| Control Panel > Display > Appearance > Color Scheme | Windows and Buttons: Windows Classic Style; Color Scheme: Windows Standard; Font Size: Normal |
| Active Desktop (Control Panel > Display > Desktop > Customize Desktop > Web | Uncheck all items |
| Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Visual Effects | Adjust for best performance |
| Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced > Processor Scheduling | Set for Best Performance of Programs |
| Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced > Memory Usage | Set for Best Performance of Programs |
| Control Panel > System > Performance > Performance Options > Advanced > Virtual Memory > Change | Set to double the amount of RAM in the system |
| Control Panel > System > System Restore > Turn off System Restore On All Drives | Check to Disable System Restore |
| Control Panel > System > Remote > Allow Remote Assistance Invitations To Be Sent From This computer | Uncheck |
| Control Panel > System > Remote > Allow Users To Connect Remotely To This Computer | Uncheck |
| Control Panel > System > Automatic Updates > Turn Off Automatic Updates | Select |
Once we have completed all of our preliminary settings, we are ready to execute a SYSmark 2004 SE trial run. This ensures that all of the scripts complete without a problem, and optimizes Windows XP settings; for example, the disk drive that SYSmark 2004 SE runs on is defragmented. Even if the trial run fails for some reason, the disk is defragmented.
With the trial run under our belts, we run our benchmark tests. As with MobileMark 2005, the SYSmark 2004 SE interface makes it easy to run tests and access the results. SYSmark 2004 SE scripts include a good deal of multitasking, with the focus on applications changing periodically from one window to another. The scripts are more likely to fail on laptops and notebooks due to a loss of window focus than MobileMark 2005 scripts. Thus, we find ourselves rerunning SYSmark tests more often than MobileMark tests; we often cannot run both benchmark scenarios together, requiring that we compute an unofficial overall score for the two scenarios. Update (10/05/05): We now understand both MobileMark and SYSmark better and most of our test runs are successful.
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