Peacekeeper is a new Internet browser benchmark by Futuremark which are probably best known for their video graphics benchmarks 3DMark and PCMark. The benchmark is compatible will all web browsers that support Java and JavaScript. It will extract general information from the computer system including its cpu, computer memory and operating system before starting the benchmark.

The benchmark itself is a series of tests that are conducted in the same browser window. The result is displayed in the end which would not make that much sense unless there would be some sort of comparison available. Probably the most interesting aspect of the Internet browser benchmark is the chart in the end that is displaying the performance of several web browsers when run on four different computer systems.

The chart displays the performance of ten web browsers, including both final versions like Internet Explorer 8 or Safari 4 and beta versions like Opera 10 or Firefox 3.1b3, on four different computer systems. Two Intel computer systems running the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8400 and Intel Core i7 Processor 920 plus two AMD systems running the AMD Athlon 64 3800+ and AMD Phenom II X4 940. It is therefor possible to analyse the performance of a web browser running on a local computer system with those run by other users who took the benchmark.

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One interesting aspect of winsat.exe is that it can also be launched under Windows XP. It provides the same functionality on that operating system with the exception of the Windows Experience Engine. What you basically get is a benchmarking tool for your computer system developed by Microsoft.

The tool has to be acquired before it becomes available in Windows XP. The easiest way to do that is to download the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor 1.0 and extract the installation package with the Universal Extractor or a similar tool that is capable of that. The other possibility would be to install the Upgrade Advisor and look into the program directory afterwards.

Winsat.exe can then be launched from the command line. The basic parameter that is providing details about arguments is winsat -?. The main assessments are cpu, disk, mem, dwm, d3d, media and mfmedia which somethings require additional switches.

The switches are not outlined in the help documentation. They are however available at the Technet Library page.

The winsat mem command supports 14 switches. Here are a few examples of what you can do with the Windows System Assessment Tool:

The following example assesses CPU performance using 256-bit AES cryptographic algorithms:

winsat cpu -encryption

Measuring read speed of a local drive:

winsat disk -read -ran -drive c

How can this benchmark aid the user? It could for instance help to determine the best location for a cache by comparing the write and read speed of all hard drives and external drives. It can also be used to measure the speed of old or new computer memory.

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Application Startup Timer (via How To Geek) can deliver that proof by measuring the startup time of applications. The application opens and closes a a selected application and logs the startup time of the application in a log file. This provides information about the performance gains when run before and after optimizing an application.

The application’s interface requires some explanation. The first field named Application has to point to an application on the system. The second called Cmd Line is optional and can be used to execute command line parameters. Log File points to a log file on the computer’s hard drive while Window Name has to contain part of the window’s name so that the application startup timer can automatically close the window.

The first three check boxes determine how the application is detecting the window of the application that is currently tested while the last three check boxes determine how the benchmarking software should close the application window. The values shown in the screenshot should work fine for most applications.

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3D Mark06

3D Mark06 comes in a limited free version and $20 upgradable version. The program does a number of tests to your PC then brings up the results in your browser compared to other slower or faster systems.

Fraps

This tool will give you a quick indication of what your graphical frame rate is by sitting in the corner of the screen and providing automatic updates. Additionally it also does screenshots and screencasts via the shortcut key.

Sandra

This program provides complete system diagnosis and documentation. It’s completely free and provides a series of tools which will benchmark your PC, show hardware and software details and configuration and a whole number of other tests. This program will take a while when running tests but it provides the most comprehensive results of the three.

CPU-Z

This program runs off a USB drive and is designed for those who are interested in overclocking their systems. By running it you can get all the hardware details of the system, useful maybe for checking the specs of someone else’s computer or for making sure you buy the correct item to upgrade.

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If you already have an USB flash drive and want to know how it compares you can test the speed of it with the free version of HD Tune which can benchmark USB drives as well. The free version will only test the read speed and access time but it should give a good impression of the capabilities of the device at hand.

To make the test accurate you should set the test speed to Accurate in the benchmark options. The last two steps are to select the USB flash drive from the pulldown menu at the top and to click on start to start the benchmark.

Those speed differences are really interesting. It’s probably a good idea to research USB flash drives extensively before buying one. What’s your experience with those drives ?

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