HOME
What's New

CPU Cooler
Programs
Introduction
AmnHLT
CpuIdle
Rain 
VCool 2.0 
Waterfall Pro 
Current Tests 
Test Archives

UDMA Driver 
Tests 
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows NT

Way 2 Cool 
Projects 
Compaq 1800T
1800T Temp Monitor
Celeron-A
Going for 504
More on 504
Cheap Sandwich
BX6r2 Diode Fix
Condensation
Lap that Slug
Celeron PPGA
Journey to 1080
Building an NT Box
Heat Pipe 1
Heat Pipe 2
Heat Pipe 2.2
gp_Temp
gp_Temp4
gp_Temp5

Heat Sinks 
Aavid
A&C Prototype Sink
Alpha P125
Alpha P521
CPU Cooler
FullWay
Tom's Sink
Water Cooler 1
Water Cooler 2
Water Cooler 3
Water Cooler 4
*
Water Cooler 6
Water Cooler 7

Way 2 Cool
Thermometer
Thermometer 2
K-6 heat sink
Case Cooling
Heat Sink Tester
More Case Cooling
Klamath heat sink
Q500A Cooling
My Server Temps
Temp Calculators
CKS400 Rack Case
Fan Controller
Cooling Links
Downloads Page

Tips and Trix
Dual Boot Win95 / 98
Dual Boot Linux/NT4
D-B Linux/Win2k
Hot Flash your BIOS

Family Stuff
Prom / St. John
Providenciales

Email Jim


Windows 95 OSR2
The question of which UDMA drivers to use seems to be a topic widely discussed in the newsgroups and bulletin boards. Which drivers and patches give the best performance? Which benchmark should you use?  Opinions abound. Test results are harder to come by.   I finally decided the best way to answer these questions was to test the drivers myself with a number of benchmarks. What I had first thought would be a couple of evenings work has turned into many weeks of tests and many reinstallations of OSR2 with different drivers.

In order to evaluate the various UDMA drivers available for Win95 OSR2,  I looked for benchmarks whose results could be duplicated and whose numbers seemed to correspond to one another. Benchmarks such as Wintune97, whose results of 52 Mb per second cached and 2.5 Mb per second uncached, did not correspond to other benchmarks' results and were not used.  I have enjoyed using various incarnations of Wintune for years and was a bit dismayed by the HD results of this version. I also decided against using a number of very good DOS based tests. This was done mainly for ease of testing and the fact that I found a Windows based benchmark that agreed with the DOS based tests' results.  I settled on three benchmarks.  WinBench98 and Threadmark 2.0 seemed to be widely quoted and the results are very easily duplicated.  Both of these also measure CPU utilization, which was a primary concern. The third, HD Tach 2.00, is a DOS-like benchmark that runs in Windows. It seems little affected by which drivers are used and served as a reference point.  Though I was interested in the actual numbers, I was more interested in whether they went up or down using each combination of patches and drivers.

One frequent question has been on how to remove the Intel drivers and get back to the default Microsoft units.  I have read about and tried many methods, but using Intel's uninstaller remains the best choice.  However, my best benchmarks have been achieved by a complete reinstall of OSR2. (article)

While some may disagree, I have found that the order the patches and drivers are installed does make a difference in performance.  I installed the files in the order that you find them listed on the charts below.

These tests are a "work in progress," with new drivers added as they arrive.  Check the bottom of the page for links to the newest tests and Win95 UDMA articles.

Links to the benchmarks and drivers are located on the last page.

The system tested is assembled as follows:

Abit AX5 revision 2.22 - 512KB L2 cache
AMD K6 233 o/c'd to 250 (83 X 3)
Quantum Fireball ST 3.2  - FAT 16
Quantum Fireball SE 3.2 - FAT 16
32 MB generic SDRAM
Matsushita CR-574 CD Each group of tests were started with a clean installation of OSR2.1 with only the following programs loaded:

TLIET600 Video driver
CPUIDLE 2.4
Direct X 5.0 (for WinBench98)
WinBench98 v 1.0
Threadmark 2.0
HD Tach 2.00

The system was rebooted after each file's installation and before each benchmark.  The HD was defragged before each benchmark.  Each group of tests was run three times and the results were averaged.

The top section of each chart shows the changes I observed and any changes I made in the Device Manager. The bottom section shows the results of the benchmarks.

My Choice
At the present I am not using any hardware requiring the installation of the USB patch.  This set up produces the best results for my needs.

Chart 1 - AMD K6 250 MHz. (83 X 3) No USBSUPP installed.  Blue = Best  Red = Worst

Device OSR2 Only + SETUPEX SETUPEX + REMIDEUP
Disk Drive Generic type 46 
Check DMA box
Generic type 46 
Check DMA box
Generic type 46 
Check DMA box
HD Controller PRI IDE single fifo PRI IDE dual fifo PRI IDE dual fifo
HD Controller SEC IDE single fifo SEC IDE dual fifo SEC IDE dual fifo
HD Controller Std IDE controller 82371AB PCI BM IDE 82371AB PCI BM IDE
?Other ? PCI bridge ? Removed ? Removed
?Other ? PCI USB ? PCI USB ? PCI USB
System Devices DMA controller 
Check 64 KB & 4 GB
DMA controller 
Check 64 KB & 4 GB
DMA controller 
Check 64 KB & 4 GB
System Devices PCI Std ISA Bridge 82371AB PCI - ISA 82371AB PCI - ISA
System Devices PCI Std Host Bridge 82439TX Pentium Processor to PCI Bridge 82439TX Pentium Processor to PCI Bridge
System Devices . 82371AB Power Management Controller 82371AB Power Management 
Controller
. . . .
Test  OSR2 Only + SETUPEX SETUPEX + REMIDEUP
WinBench 98 v 1.0 . . .
CPUmark 32 647 642 646
FPU  818 818 818
Business Disk 98 1260  1240 1270
High-End Disk 98 3520 3550  3570
CPU Utilization 7.92%  8.06%  8.08%
Avg Seek (ms) 14.3  14.3 14.3
Transfer - Beginning 11200 KB per sec 11200 KB per sec 11200 KB per sec
Transfer - End 9520 KB per sec 9520 KB per sec 9520 KB per sec
Win95 - Build 1111 1111 1111
. . . .
Threadmark 2.0 5.83 MB per sec @27.18% Utilization 6.31 MB per sec @29.62% Utilization 6.46 MB per sec @29.21% Utilization
. . . .
HD Tach 2.00 . . .
Transfer Rates 
Max - Min - Avg 
In KB per sec 
11078 - 6550 - 9563
TD>In KB per sec 
11071 - 6551 - 9562
In KB per sec 
11074 - 6551 - 9564
Access Time 15.3 ms 15.1 ms 15.0 ms
Peak Transfer Rate  21.3 MB per sec 20.7 MB per sec 21.3 MB per sec
Compare withNT                 Compare withWin98

 USBSUPP
If you require the USB patch or don't want to look at the ? in the Device Manager, this is how the installation and benchmarks look.  Note that the column for "OSR2 Only" is missing. As you might imagine, there was very little difference in benchmarks between clean installations of OSR2.  "OSR2 Only" is shown in Chart 1.

Again, the system was rebooted after each file's installation and before each benchmark.  The HD was defragged before each benchmark.

Chart 2 - 250 MHz. (83 X 3)  USBSUPP installed.

Device + USBSUPP USBSUPP + SETUPEX  USBSUPP + SETUPEX + REMIDEUP
Disk Drives Generic type 46 
Check DMA box
Generic type 46 
Check DMA box
Generic type 46 
Check DMA box
HD Controller PRI IDE single fifo  PRI IDE dual fifo  PRI IDE dual fifo
HD Controller SEC IDE single fifo SEC IDE dual fifo SEC IDE dual fifo
HD Controller Std IDE controller 82371AB PCI BM IDE 82371AB PCI BM IDE
?Other ? PCI bridge ? Removed ? Removed
?Other ? PCI USB ? Removed ? Removed
System Devices DMA controller
Check 64 KB & 4 GB
DMA controller 
Check 64 KB & 4 GB
DMA controller 
Check 64 KB & 4 GB
System Devices  PCI Std ISA Bridge 82371AB PCI - ISA 82371AB PCI - ISA
System Devices PCI Std Host Bridge 82439TX Pentium Processor to PCI Bridge 82439TX Pentium Processor to PCI Bridge
System Devices . 82371AB Power Management Controller 82371AB Power Management 
Controller
USB . PCI to USB Host Controller and 
USB Root Hub
PCI to USB Host Controller and 
USB Root Hub
. . . .
Test
WinBench98 v 1.0
+ USBSUPP USBSUPP + SETUPEX USBSUPP+ SETUPEX + REMIDEUP
CPUmark 32 638 645 642
FPU  818 816 816 
Business Disk 98 1250 1230 1240
High-End Disk 98 3470 3440 3460
CPU Utilization 8.26 8.68 8.63%
Avg Seek (ms) 14.3 ms  14.2 ms  14.2 ms
Transfer - Beginning 11200 KB per sec 11200 KB per sec 11200 KB per sec
Transfer - End  9520 KB per sec  9520 KB per sec  9520 KB per sec
Win95 Build 1212 1212 1212
. . . .
Threadmark 2.0  5.54 MB per sec @40.36% Utilization 6.13 MB per sec @39.90% Utilization 6.04 MB per sec @40.27% Utilization
. . . .
HD Tach 2.00 . . .
Transfer Rates
Max - Min - Avg 
In KB per sec
11071 - 6546 - 9559  11064 - 6547 - 9558 11069 - 6551 - 9562
Avg Seek - Peak Transfer Rate 15 ms   - 
20.7 MB per sec
15.9 ms   - 
21.0 MB per sec
14.9 ms   - 
21.2 MB per sec 

Next - Intel 3.01 BMIDE Drivers
 

Introduction
& Default MS Drivers
Intel 3.01
BMIDE Drivers
Tyan 3.10
BM Drivers
Triones v. 360
Triones v. 370
Intel 3.02
BMIDE Drivers
Uninstall
Intel Drivers
Conclusion
& BM Links
Email Jim