SiSoftware Releases SANDRA 2010

There are few pieces of software that have remained in our testing since the beginning of the site, and one of those few is SiSoftware’s SANDRA. The reason we like it is because it’s robust, and it’s been a trusted diagnostic / benchmarking tool for many years. Even before I became interested in computer hardware and most of what I write about today, I used SANDRA, so that’s saying something. Because we use it religiously in our testing, a new release is big news, and 2010 is no exception.

There are two major new features with 2010, and both are features which we’ve been waiting for and discussing with SANDRA for quite some time: Virtualization and improved GPGPU support. The most interesting of both for most people visiting this site would likely be the latter, which puts all recent GPUs to good use, and not in the gaming sense. SiSoftware added support for not only ATI’s STREAM and NVIDIA’s CUDA, but OpenCL and DirectCompute as well.

In the coming few weeks, I’m going to evaluate these news GPGPU tests and see if the information would be relevant enough for inclusion in our reviews. The performance of each GPGPU technology will vary, so it’s hard to settle on just one, but for the sake of being fair, OpenCL seems like the best bet, since it doesn’t favor a particular side, and is cross-platform. The results delivered are also in MPixel/s, so it’s kind of difficult at this point to gauge the overall use.

The other feature, Virtualization, is one I’m going to also look into, as we’re in the process of revising our CPU methodology, and adding a VM-related benchmark is something I’ve wanted for quite a while. It’s nearly impossible to properly benchmark virtualization technologies without multiple servers and a dedicated host, so I’m hoping this is the next best thing.

Other features of SANDRA 2010 include support for the AES-NI instruction set, which will prove useful for our upcoming Westmere review, and even AVX, an instruction set that’s not due to become available to end-consumers until Intel’s “Sandy Bridge” architecture late next year. Talk about being ahead of the curve! You can read the rest about the latest release at the link below, and to download, head right here.

Those running Windows 7 and Windows Vista will notice improved graphics and GPGPU support, including DirectX 11 Compute Shader/DirectCompute, OpenCL (GPU and CPU), as well as OpenGL graphics. In addition, Windows 7 users will also benefit from sensor information (GPS, temperature, brightness, voltage and fan), (multi)-touch, native support for SSD drives and SideShow devices. With each release, we continue to add support and compatibility for the latest hardware, architectures and operating systems, and this is no exception. SiSoftware continues to work with hardware vendors to ensure the best support for new emerging hardware.