Page 8 - Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0
About PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0
This Advanced Disk Test, which is part of PerformanceTest, measures the data transfer speed when reading or writing data to one or more disks. The speed that data can be transferred between memory and a hard disk drive is one of a system's most important performance aspects. There are quite a few factors which have a bearing on this speed and the Advanced Disk Drive Test allows the user to vary most of these factors and compare the results.
The test supports any drive that can be mounted under Windows. Including IDE drives, SCSI, RAID, USB key drives, SATA, networked shared drives and external drives.
Users have the ability to test multiple drives at the same time using multiple threads, and specify:
- The size of the test file used. Larger files mean that the system cache has less of an effect on the test types, which use caching (see below).
- The size of the data block used for each read or write request. Larger blocks mean less requests and can lead to an improvement in performance.
- The choice of four access methods - C/C++ API, Win32 API cached / uncached and raw disk access.
- Sequential or random access (seeking plus reading and writing)
- Synchronous and Asynchronous access
- The split between reading and writing
The results of all completed tests may be graphed using our custom graphing components.
From: Developer's Page
PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0's Advanced Disk Test, unlike HD Tune Pro 4.60, generates some awesome graphs right out of the box. It also provides valuable insight in simulating real world performance applications. To make things clear to you, the first graph simulates a database server, followed by a file server, web server, and workstation. Drives with high sequential read and write performance will do well in PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0. However, it also requires high IOPS capabilities for the best score, and as such, results for these NAS oriented hard disk drives will prove to be very relevant. In the first test simulating a database server, the HGST Deskstar NAS 4TB took mid-pack at 0.71MB/s average, compared to 0.80MB/s for the Western Digital and 0.39MB/s for the Seagate. The same deal goes for the file server performance simulation. The WD Red took the lead at 5.78MB/s, Hitachi second at 4.55MB/s, and Seagate third at 3.95MB/s. In fact, the WD40EFRX continues to take the crown as we move on to the web server simulation -- coming in at 7.47MB/s; compared to 6.98MB/s for the Deskstar NAS and 4.39MB/s for the ST4000VN000. Is there a test in PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0 that the HGST Deskstar NAS took home a win? Well, it will have to be the workstation test -- where it outperformed Western Digital's 2.61MB/s and Seagate's 2.65MB/s at 3.06MB/s. Being a NAS oriented drive and all, I am rather surprised the Deskstar did not win in all the relevant areas, considering it has the fastest spindle speed of all three drives.
Page Index
1. Introduction and Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Installation, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 4.60
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0
9. Benchmark: PCMark 7
10. NAS Performance, Power Consumption
11. Conclusion
