pcmark iRAM, software ram, ssd not allowed explanation

[kiwi]

Can someone give me a reasonable explanation why iRAM, software ramdisk and solid state disks are not allowed in PCMARK?

Thanks

[Kunaak]

software ram disks give a false impression of how fast a system should be.

is your system 80% if you enable a software Ram Disk?
nope... thats cause, it gives false readings in the benchmark, but in real life, it's no faster, so to compare it to real hardware, dilutes the whole meaning of the benchmark.

if you want to use software ram disks, you might as well make a wireframe hack for 3dmark2005 and hit 50,000....
its the same thing, a program, that doesn't give accurate side by side results, that reflect real world results.

as far as hardware based ram disks.

I just think no one feels they are fair to use, since no one has them, and they are unable to get them.
it's a uneven playing field, if someone has a massive piece of hardware, that gives incredible advantages, that no one can match.

if alot more people were able to have/buy solid state drives, then the acceptance of them would be more common.

at the moment, if you have a huge score in PCmark... then someone sees you used a ram drive... then no one cares what your score is.
it took no effort for someone to topple the best regular scores out there, even with a much slower PC, as long as you had a ram drive and they didn't.

so you get no respect for that.

its just like, if I had some super secret videocards from Nvidia, that had 128 pipelines, and 29 vertex shaders, came clocked at 2.5 ghz/4 ghz....
on SLI.
then did 190,000 on 3dmark2005... then went around going "Look at me, I took #1 on 3dmark... check it out..."

that would be kinda stupid... cause I didn't do anything... I just had hardware no one else could possibly get, or even match.

right now, it's almost the same thing, if you have a I-ram.
no one can get them, so it's extremely hard to justify using them, cause it severly unbalances the playing field.

you can use them, but you'll get no respect, trying to act like you pulled some great huge score... when realistically, you didn't do much, besides find the right hardware that so few people have...

[kiwi]

Anyway, I think solid state disks are legal, they are available and I can build such system but very expensive. Dunno, maybe futuremark should somehow separate scores made with regular disks from SSD.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

hardware ramdrives should be legal; if they can't because no one has them, then why are 512 meg 7800s legal?

[Charles Wirth]

Hardware based should be legal.

I wonder how much the PPU will increase scores and it will get the same treatment.

[oanvoanc]

sorry to dig this old thread out, but whats the actual state of affairs?

ramdisks results seem to be valid if we take a look at the top 20 orb:
http://www.futuremark.com/community/halloffame/pcmark05/

nearly everybody uses i-ram.

my question:
i tried to use ramdisk today - i got a very high result - but the submission faild.
so there is no possibility to submit ramdisk scores, but it is with i-ram? :shrug:

maybe somebody has some answers.

[Gautam]

I-RAM is actual hardware, ramdisk is not.

[tiborrr]

@Kunaak:


as far as hardware based ram disks.

I just think no one feels they are fair to use, since no one has them, and they are unable to get them.
it's a uneven playing field, if someone has a massive piece of hardware, that gives incredible advantages, that no one can match.

Umm, let's see - so we should ban the 8800Ultra's from the 3DMark competition since not many people have them and many of them are unable to get them.
And let's exclude and ban all the superpi results made with liquid nitrogen cooling since a lot of overclockers can't get it at all, since they need a dewar jug, which is not cheap at all and in some countries around the world - you need a special drivers licence to transport hazardous liquids.

Edit: Oh, now i see, this thread is year old. Sry for bashing.

Check the eBay, Gigabyte iRAM in the latest 5.25" format revision is quite affordable, much cheaper than 8800 Ultra or dewar jug and 30€-per-40-litre refill every time.

[oanvoanc]

Check the eBay, Gigabyte iRAM in the latest 5.25" format revision is quite affordable

searched at ebay a little bit, but cant find it - just the pci-solution :confused:

[tiborrr]

That's what i am talking about - Gigabyte GO-RAMDISK-BOX. I saw like three of them last week on eBay, shipped from Hong Kong:

http://www.arenait.net/articole/gigabyte_goramdisk.jpg

[oanvoanc]

yeah - thats exactly what i mean, but i couldnt find it on ebay...

[Gautam]

I just think no one feels they are fair to use, since no one has them, and they are unable to get them.
it's a uneven playing field, if someone has a massive piece of hardware, that gives incredible advantages, that no one can match.

if alot more people were able to have/buy solid state drives, then the acceptance of them would be more common.


http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-RAMDISK

People can't go complaining about not having hardware...$119 isn't that much in the grand scheme of things. We might as well go and ban QX6850's etc since they cost much more.

[oanvoanc]

thanks for the link.
is www.ewiz.com a reliable company, so i can pay by western union from abroad?

i tried to pay by credit card but it seems to be impossible.

[tiborrr]

Glad to see you agree with me Gautam. P.S.: Tnx for the link, the ramboxes have misteriously dissapeared from Ebay (i remember i saw plenty of them on ebay.de).

Greets.

[1Day]

Now I am seriously confused it is okay to use this hardware now that it is readily available but not cool to use the software - have I got that part right?


BUT then based on that argument - since not all bencher's have access to the special crossfire overclocking bios (only available to the few) does that mean all those results should be discarded? It seems that was the basic premise in the original response if I read it correctly - exclusive or restricted access (and all that) negates the validity of the benchmark.

[kiwi]

Last time when I checked iRAM result submission was fine whereas softram based scores always failed. So, I assume FM worked on this

[nFo]

Glad to see you agree with me Gautam. P.S.: Tnx for the link, the ramboxes have misteriously dissapeared from Ebay (i remember i saw plenty of them on ebay.de).

Greets.

It's back on stock @ mid oktober. ;)
Temporary out of stock.
I have buyed two from asian netstore.
Works fine http://service.futuremark.com/compare?pcm05=1083129 :D

http://infomb.googlepages.com/i-ram.jpg

http://infomb.googlepages.com/i-rampc.jpg

http://infomb.googlepages.com/I-RamHDTune.jpg

http://infomb.googlepages.com/I-Ramtest2.jpg

[oanvoanc]

thanks for info - nFo :D

[nn_step]

thanks for the link.
is www.ewiz.com a reliable company, so i can pay by western union from abroad?

i tried to pay by credit card but it seems to be impossible.

I have only had good experiences with them but you will need to find someone in the states to buy the I-ram for you and then ship it to you

[oanvoanc]

@ nFo: can you please show us the solution for the power supply?
did you test the decrease of pcmarks if you run just one i-ram?
and how about 4 i-rams @ raid0?
possible?
sensless? :D
another increase in write/read performance?

thanks for the pictures :up:

@ nn_step: hm - interesting - i already ordered one to ship ship it to austria....
if you put something into the shipping cart you can check shipping rates.
austria is in the list - so i think i dont need to find somebody in the states first..... hopefully. :shrug:

[nFo]

It use this adapter:

http://infomb.googlepages.com/I-Ramconnexxion2.jpg
http://infomb.googlepages.com/I-Ramopen.jpg

I have tested only two drives in Raid 0 so far.
Check back tomorrow, I will test a single drive for you. ;)

and how about 4 i-rams @ raid0?
possible?
another increase in write/read performance?

Yeah why not ? :D
I think it wil double the PCMark 05 HDD score, but not sure about it.

Sorry for going off topic btw..... ;)

[oanvoanc]

It's back on stock @ mid oktober. ;)
Temporary out of stock.
I have buyed two from asian netstore.


why do you know? :eek:

hey, thanks for the fast answer.
interesting adapter - did it come with the original hardware?

hopefully i can get 4 of them.
but i dont like the pci - solution.

[nFo]

why do you know? :eek:

hey, thanks for the fast answer.
interesting adapter - did it come with the original hardware?

hopefully i can get 4 of them.
but i dont like the pci - solution.
I have send a e-mail, when they get it back on stock.;)
I see no other stores so far, selling this [new] drives.

Yes, it's the original hardware.

[RubberDuck]

thanks for the link.
is www.ewiz.com a reliable company,

ResellerRatings.com.
Discount shopping, Store ratings, and Bargains.

Here is a great web site that rates the online stores --> ResellerRatings (http://www.resellerratings.com/) <--

[tristan20]

where did you buy it NFO?

[oanvoanc]

got i-ram? :D :rofl: :ROTF:

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/2102/dsc04956tb7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[CyberDruid]

That's very cool.

Is there a benefit to using the bay device rather than the PCI device? Are they basically the same devices?

Another question: will it fit beside a dual slot GFX card? How thick is it with the RAM installed?

[tristan20]

Do the version differences make much difference?
I bought one from amazon, I think its a version 1, how can i be certain?

[oanvoanc]

you can see it on the pcb on the top left corner:
http://img171.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc04971vs6.jpg

[tristan20]

I got a 1.3

Any differences?

[oanvoanc]

i tried to upload my pcmark scores, but it doesnt seem to be possible with more then 2 irams@raid 0.

-> project submission failed. system information in the submitted project was corrupted. please try again later, or if the problem persists, refer to our support section.

have anybody yet tested to use more than 2 irams @raid 0 ?

thanks

[nFo]

Weird , try the update ?

3DMark06/05/03 & PCMark05 Hotfix Available

We are happy to inform you all that we just released a hotfix which
applies to all our current PC benchmarks:

- 3DMark06 Build 1.1.0
- 3DMark05 Build 1.3.0
- 3DMark03 Build 3.6.0
- PCMark05 Build 1.2.0

The hotfix package is an universal one, improving the GPU core/memory
clock detection for enhanced compatibility and adding support for new
hardware. Please note that A) the build number of the supported
benchmarks does not change B) this hotfix doesn't update the executable
or any other assets, and C) your scores will not change after installing
the hotfix - this hotfix just updates three GPU speed detection DLLs
which are shared by all our benchmarks.

We will release an updated full install package for 3DMark06 Build
1.1.0 soon(ish), which includes this hotfix.

You can download the hotfix here:
http://www.futuremark.com/download/hotfix_oct07/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The new PCMark Vantage is coming on 18 oktober.

PCMark Vantage Launch Soon

A new version of the famous PCMark series is soon to be unleashed -
PCMark(R) Vantage. The all-new benchmark is set to be the industry
standard benchmark to measure PC performance in Microsoft's latest
operating system, Windows Vista. You can check out the minimum &
recommended system specifications, screenshots and a countdown to the
launch over at http://www.pcmark.com/.

[oanvoanc]

thanks for posting.

i already downloaded and installed the patch.

its not that i cant upload any score, but when i use more than 2 irams its not possible to do so.

i also tried 5 irams @ raid 0 (without controller but software raid and i usually had the same problem expect for 2 or 3 times - so dont really know whats wrong....)
i already posted my problem to the futuremark forum directly - i hope they are not too busy with the new pcmark vantage so they can help me....

http://futuremark.yougamers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=725752#post725752

[oanvoanc]

it fits well above every dual slot card - but not directly beneath.
so, if you use the pci slot at the bottom end of the mainbaord, it should fit for 99&#37;

[oanvoanc]

you even dont need a cpu or ram in that dummy board ;)

[Jigsaw]

How much RAM is in each one?

[oanvoanc]

you can put up to 4x1024mb in each i-ram


i tried 2x iram @ raid0 - 4gb memory in each - raid 0 -> enough space for windows vista - and enough hdd performance ;)

[Jigsaw]

I have 4GB each both mine but you have like 8, how many gigs do you run in each?

Edit: nvm.