SiSoft Sandra

Download from: www.sisoftware.net

SiSoft Sandra is possibly the most famous 2D benchmarking tool going, and like Lavalys Everest, it has tools to gauge the theoretical performance of every sub-system and component in your PC. Sandra is multi-threaded and we use it to gauge the unbuffered memory performance and the latency of the memory latency.

To run the unbuffered memory test, open the Benchmarks screen, go into the Options and deselect buffering. This will give a more accurate and consistent reading of memory throughput. Then enter the Graphs menu and deselect Animate Controls and Animate Tools - these options are designed for exhibitions like Computex or CES, and are just annoying for end users.

Hit F5 to run the benchmark and once it's finished enter the Graph menu and keep pressing Change Controls Mode until the graphs look like those below. You can now average the Internal Memory Bandwidth and Float Memory Bandwidth numbers to give the unbuffered memory performance.

The latency test is much easier to run - find the Memory Latency tool on the Benchmarks page and just run it by hitting F5. The latency is the top result in the text window.



Again Sisoft Sandra confirms that AMD's Athlon II X4 memory controller is again an upgrade in performance as it keeps up with the higher clocked Phenom IIs at stock speeds, while also yielding a slightly lower latency, and steps out with a clear lead when overclocked.