David D wrote:

> I need some help deciding whether to reformat my drive. Here is the
> situation :
>
> Ok, I will try to make this simple because I am trying to figure out
> if I have done something wrong and which of my systems is faster.
>
> I have two computers:
> 1) Dual Core Pentium 3.0Ghz - 1.75meg of DDR 333 RAM - SP1 XP (10
> months old) - 80 gig MAXTOR IDE (Asus P5P800 SE )
>
> 2) X2 AMD 3800+ - 2 meg of DDR2 667 - SP2 XP (brand new) - 80 gig
> MAXTOR IDE (Asus M2NPV-VM)
>
> Now, I am trying to determine which is a faster system for Sony Vegas
> 6 (an NLE) - and faster in general so I can make it my HD computer.
> The trouble is, I am finding that computer "1" is faster (it only has
> SP1) and computer "2" is slower since I put Service Pack 2 on it. It
> could be just me, but when I start the programs from a cold boot,
> computer "1" takes less time to load up and start - I used a stopwatch
> and by the time the Vegas window is up, Computer "1" is a winner by
> over 20 seconds. Now, that might not be the best method to testing out
> the speed of a computer, but it is a start for me. I am wondering if
> the SP2 has clogged my "2" system down and whether I should leave it
> off.
> Does anyone know a benchmark test or a way of figuring out which which
> is faster? Again, my eyes don't lie when I say computer "2" does
> seem to run slower even though it has DDR2 RAM and more of it. More
> interestingly is that computer "2" ran very fast when I first
> formatted it and put Vegas on, but alas in the past 3 days, it has
> very much slowed down with other programs etc. Both computers has
> Anti-Vir on them and have the same amount of background programs
> running.
>
> As an update, I just rendering out a small clip on both systems and
> computer "1" render times was 1.5 X(times) as fast. This is crazy.
> Computer "2" should be faster according to the specs, right?
>
> I am at a point, where although I am going to hate myself, I think I
> might have to reformat the drive and spend another 8 hours putting
> software back on, but without SP2.
>
>
> Any ideas?
>

There are any number of tests that can be used to benchmark different
computers for comparison purpose. One example is SiSoftware Sandra; or
Dhrystone and Whetstone, etc. One can develop a specific one for one's
personal computers, merely by side-by-side comparisons of some meaningful
activity, such as querying and sorting 100,000 relation database records,
and so on.

But explaining benchmark results, as already performed here, is another
matter. For example, SP2 might not even be a contributing factor for
several reasons. For instance, the chipset of the AMD system might be
the limiting factor. Or the setup of the memory timings for the DDR333
vs. DDR667 RAM. NO mention was made of the graphics card for either
system.

If absolute speed is not an issue but comparable speed is, then one
might as well update the Pentium to SP2. But if absolute speed is
the wanted endpoint...well, that option wasn't even chosen, based
on either system.