PCMark05 and disk speeds and ramdisks and such

If there is a 220mb/s limit on the XP load test, why are software ramdrives still illegal?

This makes no sense to me.

The rule started before anything could even get close to that number so it made sense.

Now though with SSDs having to be limited to get under the cap, why are software ramdisks still illegal?

First : Because who is having ssd, z-drives, iram, a-card, payed a lot for them. And with ramdisk there is nothing to pay. kind of respect.

Second : There is no limitation with HDD genaral usage and virus scan, so even i you reach to have 219mb/s at windows startup you are going to have 1400Mb/s for the general usage test and virus scan(with ramdisk software).

That makes sense. Thanks.

np

Is that really the original reason for the rule?

Is that really the original reason for the rule?

The original reason is :

In most benchmarks, a ramdisk makes no difference at all or at least hardly any. In one type of benchmark, however, it means the world: the harddisk benchmarks, found in for instance the PCMark benchmark series. Since Futuremark designed the harddisk drive tests to be run from an actual harddisk drive, we only allow hardware harddisk drives to be used in this benchmark. What do we consider as a hardware-based harddisk drive:

 

-The harddisk drive can be touched physically; if you drive is 32GB, you must be able to physically remove the 32GB from your system

-It is possible to install an operating system on the harddisk without the need of another harddisk drive or software. In other words, one must be able to plug the unformatted harddisk in a new setup and, without external help, install a fully working operating system.

-The harddrive is not dependent from any form of software to be used; in other words: when removing the supporting software, the drive must still be working correctly. This excludes the official driver software for RAID configuration.

-The harddisk drive does not actively address the RAM (mounted onto your motherboard); the harddrive must be able to run regardless of any amount of RAM available.

 

Are accepted for physical storage medium tested in storage medium benchmarks and/or subtests of a benchmark:

-Normal platter harddisk drivers

-Iram / Acard ram drives (DIMM as storage medium, not system memory)

-Solid-state disk (SSD), using flash memory as storage medium

 

Are not accepted as alternative for physical storage medium for storage medium benchmarks and/or subtests of a benchmark:

-Software ramdisks

-MFT software

Ok thanks. The bench is designed to test hardware. Software is considered an exploit. And the rule wasn't really just because people spent money on acards and what not.