Which benchmark test to use to decide on purchase?

[slicksilver]

We use a 32 bit program at work which has a foxpro database backend. What benchmark test should I be looking out for when purchasing a new processor? We need the program to work the fastest it can.

Thanks

 

[MisterMac]

Shite that's ancient - can't be threaded at all.

Get a haswell with the highest clock possible - and call it a day.


Are you using the ancient revs or the newer visual fox stuff?

 

[frozentundra123456]

Shite that's ancient - can't be threaded at all.

Get a haswell with the highest clock possible - and call it a day.


Are you using the ancient revs or the newer visual fox stuff?

Overall, I am not especially impressed with the haswell i3, but this might be an ideal case for one.

 

[monstercameron]

is there any encryption happening? does haswell i3 have any accelerated units for encryption workloads?

 

[Nothingness]

We use a 32 bit program at work which has a foxpro database backend. What benchmark test should I be looking out for when purchasing a new processor? We need the program to work the fastest it can.

I guess if you ask that you already know your DB isn't I/O limited, right?

 

[slicksilver]

I guess if you ask that you already know your DB isn't I/O limited, right?

Nope. No idea. What does that mean? BTW I can get more information about the program if that helps.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Haswell+SSD is about all you can do to extract maximum performance of the ancient flatfile DB system.

 

[Nothingness]

Nope. No idea. What does that mean? BTW I can get more information about the program if that helps.

It means that your program could be slowed down by hard drive accesses and that switching to a faster hard drive (or even SSD if you take care about wear leveling) could bring more speed than changing the CPU.

 

[Icecold]

Nope. No idea. What does that mean? BTW I can get more information about the program if that helps.

He's saying that the processor is quite likely not your bottleneck currently, so upgrading it will not make it run any faster. Basically, unless you're sure that you have a fast enough disk to supply the information to the processor, there's a good chance the processor is just waiting around for information. What processor do you have currently, and if you go in task manager what is its utilization percentage? You may benefit significantly more from upgrading to an SSD or more ram than a new processor.

edit: was still typing out my post when ShintaiDK and Nothingness responded, so, yeah pretty much what they said

 

[slicksilver]

Thank you all for the explanation.

CPU Utilization when the program is using/querying (full usage)the DB is about 26%. Memory is about 500MB usage. Currently on a SSD. Processor is Intel Quad Core Processor Q6600.

 

[hackerballs]

I have one of those running my TV programing. I overclocked mine to 2.8ghz with 8gigs RAM and a GTX275. Great CPU the Q6600.

However, I have a Sandy Bridge and I have an Ivy Bridge that make the Q6600 look old and slow.

Buy yourself a "Haswell" i7 with 8 to 16 gigs RAM and then you will have increased your speed tremendously. Keep the Q6600 for a Media player!

Anything less is just plain silly and wasting money.

Here is a chart to see where your CPU fits in with the modern world, check it out http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

 

[slicksilver]

I have one of those running my TV programing. I overclocked mine to 2.8ghz with 8gigs RAM and a GTX275. Great CPU the Q6600.

However, I have a Sandy Bridge and I have an Ivy Bridge that make the Q6600 look old and slow.

Buy yourself a "Haswell" i7 with 8 to 16 gigs RAM and then you will have increased your speed tremendously. Keep the Q6600 for a Media player!

Anything less is just plain silly and wasting money.

Here is a chart to see where your CPU fits in with the modern world, check it out http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

I'm confused...Is your recommendation a generic one or is it specific to the purpose I want to upgrade?

 

[ShintaiDK]

Thank you all for the explanation.

CPU Utilization when the program is using/querying (full usage)the DB is about 26%. Memory is about 500MB usage. Currently on a SSD. Processor is Intel Quad Core Processor Q6600.

Sounds like singlethreaded. A faster Haswell CPU should improve performance. An i3-4340 would be enough. Else i5 4670.

 

[Nothingness]

Buy yourself a "Haswell" i7 with 8 to 16 gigs RAM and then you will have increased your speed tremendously.l

He certainly doesn't need that much memory if the system only has to run a 32-bit program

 

[hackerballs]

You said "We need the program to work the fastest it can." and it is a work PC so the company is paying for it, I will assume

I agree within reason for "bang for the buck"

"An i7 Haswell, (why buy anything older)(sure, you could go for the i5/i3 but why?) would future shock that pc for awhile along with the MINIMUM 8 gigs RAM. Yes I know that it would work with 2 gigs RAM, but are you kidding me today? RAM is cheap, Increasing RAM DOES speed up your PC, going from 4gigs to 8 gigs is very noticeable. A 16 kit is cheap today

and does this PC only have ONE 32 bit program on it? Is it just used for ONE thing? foxpro database backend

Well, the op did want it faster

go here and check the benchmarks and prices http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

 

[slicksilver]

You said "We need the program to work the fastest it can." and it is a work PC so the company is paying for it, I will assume

I agree within reason for "bang for the buck"

"An i7 Haswell, (why buy anything older)(sure, you could go for the i5/i3 but why?) would future shock that pc for awhile along with the MINIMUM 8 gigs RAM. Yes I know that it would work with 2 gigs RAM, but are you kidding me today? RAM is cheap, Increasing RAM DOES speed up your PC, going from 4gigs to 8 gigs is very noticeable. A 16 kit is cheap today

and does this PC only have ONE 32 bit program on it? Is it just used for ONE thing? foxpro database backend

Well, the op did want it faster

go here and check the benchmarks and prices http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Thanks. "and does this PC only have ONE 32 bit program on it? Is it just used for ONE thing? foxpro database backend" yes and a few printer drivers thats it. Everything else is vanilla.

 

[Kenmitch]

Ancient program maybe lookup the cpumark99 thread. Should give an idea of raw cpu power.

 

[SiliconWars]

Whoah this is a blast from the past. I remember learning some of this at college back in the early 90's.

 

[ViRGE]

Sounds like singlethreaded. A faster Haswell CPU should improve performance. An i3-4340 would be enough. Else i5 4670.

Agreed. A Haswell + SSD is the best you're going to be able to do for that workload. As much single-threaded performance and I/O performance as you can reasonably throw at it.

Ancient program maybe lookup the cpumark99 thread. Should give an idea of raw cpu power.

That's not a bad suggestion. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2057154

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

Get a 2500K Sandybridge with a good cooler, slap it on the ass call it a day!

Use IBT http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/intelburntest.html

 

[slicksilver]

Thank you all. BTW, the developer just got back to me. Visual Foxpro was used as the back end of the program. Does this change everything?

 

[MisterMac]

Not much - because it' would require you to optimize your VFP code this way.

Id 'say haswell + SSD, a cheap highclocked i5 (non k) should be the best option for a production enviroment.

http://kevinragsdale.net/multithreaded-visual-foxpro/
Alternatively slide your developer this.

It's a really simple way to improve the flatfile code nature of VFP.
While it'll not give 90% MT code - it should help on quadcores.

By the time a HW quadcore is obsolete or you gain massive parallel features i'd expect VFP to be long gone.

So... HW + SSD asap and that's about the best you can do.