Occus benchmark performance between 32 and 64 bit OS...

[PAULKORENKIEWIC]

I was running some benchmark numbers on a new HP Z600 workstation
specification we are looking at to replace some units coming off lease.
The system has an i7 Xeon X5550, 6 gig of ram, and Nvidia Quadro FX3500
graphics card. The system has no software other than the OS and
Wildfire 4 and all the specific direction for the Occus benchmark were
followed.

Initially, we installed a 32 bit Windows XP operating system and ran the
32 bit benchmark on a 32 bit installation of Wildfire 4 build M110, with
the following results:
cpu = 497
graphics = 665
disk = 76
total = 1163

THEN, we rebuilt it with a 64 bit Windows XP operating system,
downloading the appropriate latest 64 bit graphics driver and ran the 32
bit benchmark again on a 64 bit installation of Wildfire 4 build M130,
with the following results:
cpu = 518 (4% worse)
graphics = 1116 (68% worse)
disk = 78 (2% worse)
total = 1635 (41% worse)

This definitely surprised us. We would have expected roughly equal
performance. The graphics is the real culprit here, but I have no idea
why???? COULD it be the difference in build dates; M110 vs M130?
Seems very odd... Any thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

For lack of anything better, I will download the 64 bit WF4 M110 build
just to see if that makes a difference...

Thanks...

Paul Korenkiewicz
FEV, Inc.
4554 Glenmeade
Auburn Hills, MI., 48326

[willy.chung.pd]

Paul,

Could it be that you're running a 32-bit benchmark on a 64-bit system? Is there a 64-bit version of the benchmark that you can run?

I've noticed that 64-bit OS and drivers are not as mature or well maintained as the 32-bit counterparts. My Dell Precision M4400 running Windows XP Pro 64-bit has been quite unstable compared to my prior Dell Precision M65 running Windows XP Pro 32-bit. I believe that the only reason to go with 64-bit is to break through the 4GB RAM barrier if you have large/heavy assemblies open. Otherwise, you're probably better of going with a 32-bit system if possible for better support and compatibility.

Willy Chung