Hello,

A question on benchmarks:
I am running Setiathome on a Dell Inspiron 1520.
cpu Intel T7250 2.00 GHz mem 3 GB Dual Boot
Under XP the Whetstone figure is 1906 and Dhrystone 4301
Under linux (Ubuntu 8.04) Whetstone 677 Dhrystone 2145
Question: Why this large difference?

Rein Mann

Hello,

A question on benchmarks:
I am running Setiathome on a Dell Inspiron 1520.
cpu Intel T7250 2.00 GHz mem 3 GB Dual Boot
Under XP the Whetstone figure is 1906 and Dhrystone 4301
Under linux (Ubuntu 8.04) Whetstone 677 Dhrystone 2145
Question: Why this large difference?

Rein Mann

Because at its core benchmarks are extremely unreliable and a poor indicator of a system capability. They vary greatly depending on the OS it is run under and what other processes are active. This is one of the main reasons that Boinc projects early on dropped the benchmark in the calculation of credit allocation. AFAIK they are still being used as one component of the calculation for work fetch.

Benchmarks are certainly unreliable, and should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

But in this case, the Windows benchmarks are near enough double the Linux benchmarks. Linux, particularly Ubuntu, has a tendency to run the CPU in low power, low speed mode when there are no high priority tasks running, and BOINC is low priority.

I can't remember the keywords we used last time it was discussed on this board, but it would be helpful if someone could post the linux commands to:

a) Check current CPU speed
b) switch the power profile to 'full speed at all times' (assuming that's how Rein would like it to run).