Poor Benchmark Results QUAD core xeon

[mcgyvr]

Just got a new computer for CAD work.
Decided to run it against Maxon Cinebench v10 benchmarking software and got some disturbingly poor results. I expected multi-cpu rendering to be much faster since this is a quad core machine I thought it would be close to 4 times as fast as rendering with 1 core.
I only have 2G of RAM for the moment. (will be getting 2G more soon)
Any ideas of what might be wrong??


Benchmark graphics test
---------------------
HP xw6600 workstation

Processor : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5410 @ 2.33GHz
MHz : 2.33 (quad core)
Number of CPUs : 4
Operating System : WINDOWS 32 BIT 5.1.2600

Graphics Card : Quadro FX 3700/PCI/SSE2 (6.14.11.6939 driver)
****************************************************
Rendering (Single CPU): 1847 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 3991 CB-CPU

Multiprocessor Speedup: 2.16 (should be close to 4 I would think seems like its only using 2 cores or something)

Shading (OpenGL Standard) : 3965 CB-GFX

 

[BadBigBen]

one thing pops into mind...

not enough RAM, the more memory the better the CAD soft works... especially for multy core applications...

one core uses most of the 2gb memory, the other three cores have to use the rest of the RAM aswell as SWAP to the HDD...

suggestion: MAX out the RAM, these days its dirt cheap, switch to a 64bit OS, so that you can use all the RAM...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[SimonDavies]

Also check you don't have speedstep enabled in the bios.

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[mcgyvr]

I have logged physical/page file memory usage during the benchmark test. 35% physical memory usage/11% page file usage. The operating system is using 130,408kb and the rest of the processes including the benchmark test is using approximately another 512M so memory right now doesn't seem to be the issue.
I do have another 2G coming.

64 bit is not an option as our ERP system is not 64 bit compatible.

Any other ideas for the poor performance?

 

[mcgyvr]

Found the issue.
I reflashed the bios from V1.18 to V1.24 and it completely changed the computer. Seems the older bios didn't support the processor usage properly.

Here are the new results after the bios flash
HP xw6600 workstation

Processor : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5410 @ 2.33GHz
MHz : 2.33 (quad core)
Number of CPUs : 4
Operating System : WINDOWS 32 BIT 5.1.2600

Graphics Card : Quadro FX 3700/PCI/SSE2 (6.14.11.6939 driver)
****************************************************
Rendering (Single CPU): 2562 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 9086 CB-CPU

Multiprocessor Speedup: 3.54

Shading (OpenGL Standard) : 5885 CB-GFX

Now off to the store for 2G more ram and then I will do the 3g switch

 

[BadBigBen]

glad you found out what the prob was... and that a simple BIOS update was the cure...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."