Newsletter Issue #7 - Jan. 2006
Welcome to our first newsletter for 2006!
We at PassMark™ Software hope that you enjoyed the season’s festivities and because it’s been a while since our last newsletter, we have a lot of news to share with you.
New Products
In response to customer requests, we have developed products for operating systems that we have not previously supported.
BurnInTest™ for Linux v1.0
Linux users have been strident in their demand for software with which they can test the limits of their PCs, so in response PassMark has developed BurnInTest™ for Linux v1.0. This version has virtually the same capabilities (USB test excepted) as the Windows version and will run on Linux kernel 2.6.9, KDE 3.2, Open GL 1.2 (or higher).
The features and benefits include:
- Simultaneous testing of all sub-systems including: CPU, RAM, drives (CD/DVD, HDD & FD), network, graphics cards (2D & 3D) and ports (serial and parallel) to ensure reliability and stability.
- The option to customize the level of load placed on each component to maximize the stress testing on required subsystems.
- The ability to edit and save the results of the tests along with the system information for later analysis and comparison.
Whether you are a personal user looking to trouble-shoot or test a new hardware upgrade; or a business wanting to improve their image as a supplier of quality PC solutions, BurnInTest™ for Linux v1.0 is the tool you need to identify potential faults in your systems before they cause a costly crash.
For further information and to download a 30-day evaluation copy, click on this link:
http://www.passmark.com/products/bitlinux.htm
Screenshots of BurnInTest on SUSE are available here:
http://www.passmark.com/products/bitlinux_screenshot.htm
PerformanceTest™ for 64-bit v6.0
With the majority of new PCs providing 64-bit hardware compatibility, it is only a matter of time before 64-bit operating systems such as Windows XP x64 and Windows 2003 Server 64-bit become standard. For those of you that have already ventured into the future, PassMark has developed a native 64-bit version of their award-winning PerformanceTest™ benchmarking software.
With the full capabilities of the normal 32-bit version, PerformanceTest 64-bit provides the same spectra of tests, including the ‘Advanced’ ones, designed to give a definitive benchmark result and allow direct comparison between 32-bit and 64-bit systems.
So why use the 64-bit version?
The answer is that PerformanceTest 64-bit allows testing of the PC in its native format resulting in a benchmark of the true optimal performance of the PC. Benchmarking using the normal 32-bit version of PerformanceTest will result in a lower score. The following screenshot illustrates this example (click to see full-sized image).
[Test machine was a Hewlett Packard xw9300 with dual Opteron 244 1795 MHz CPUs and 1GB of RAM.]
For a deeper look at how 32-bit hardware compares to 64-bit hardware you might like to visit our discussion forums:
http://www.passmark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=298
For further information and to download a 30-day evaluation copy, visit the product homepage:
http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm
Major Upgrades
Since the last newsletter we have released two major software upgrades. Here is a summary of the features in the new releases.
PerformanceTest™ v6.0
- Testing of advanced features like pixel shaders in graphic cards through a new ‘game like’ 3D test.
- PerformanceTest can now directly interact with an online database of benchmark results to search/download & upload baseline files.
- New memory test simulating applications that use a large amount of RAM.
- Advanced memory test allows testing of 64-bit data.
- New Advanced CD test to benchmark CD burning.
- New and improved CPU tests and hard disk drive tests.
- Tests re-weighted to reflect current user priorities.
- Improvements to the user interface and results export.
- Improved advanced network test.
TestLog™ v2.1
- Improved user interface.
- More customizable.
- New spelling checker.
- Improved interface to external applications such as 3rd party bug tracking tools.
Upcoming New Releases
WirelessMon™ v2.0 (March 2006)
PassMark’s increasingly popular wireless monitoring software will be gaining a visual makeover and added functionality:
- Support for GPS input and import into Microsoft MapPoint allows the user to generate maps of access points across their city, state or country.
- An improved user interface including graphic display of access point signal strengths and Map tabs.
- Ability to directly connect to an access point from within WirelessMon.
BurnInTest™ Standard & Professional Editions v5.0 (March 2006)
The award winning BurnInTest software will incorporate exciting new improvements in the next version including:
- Improved integration with clients’ processes. For example BurnInTest 5.0 will accept pre-test actions forcing it to await the actions of other external applications before running itself and will automatically print post-test results.
- The ability to incorporate additional ‘plug-in’ tests such as ModemTest, KeyboardTest, FirewireTest.
- Other new tests include: advanced network test, MP3 playback and color printer testing.
- Improved testing, particularly with USB and hard disk drives.
- Improved reporting including AMD and Intel dual core identification, L2 CPU caches, and CPU support for SSE3, DEP and PAE.
Recent Product Reviews
PerformanceTest™ v5.0
“Some folks will undoubtedly prefer the several gigabytes king-size benchmarking monsters. For me, Passmark's Performance Test gives me everything I want to know, and makes the saving and exporting process of the benchmark data a piece of cake, to boot.”
(Fernando Cassia at www.theinquirer.net )
BurnInTest™ Professional Edition v4.0
“BurnInTest Pro would be especially useful for business customers who would like to thoroughly yet quickly test computers destined for storing critical data.”
(www.download.com, ***** CNET EDITOR RATING)