Analyze This: A Diagnostics Tool for Monitoring, Benchmarking PCs

I'd like to recommend a great diagnostics tool for system builders who need to analyze, monitor, or benchmark systems: SiSoftware's Sandra. At the heart of Sandra is a huge database that contains the compiled results of a myriad of CPUs, chipsets, graphics cards, storage devices, and just about anything you'd find inside a PC.

For a system builder, SiSoftware’s Sandra is a valuable addition to the standard maintenance tool kit. This Swiss army knife of software provides an easy way to compare the performance of your systems against others with identical configurations, which is a great way of making sure yours are up to snuff. Also, Sandra can help you ensure that the configurations and BIOS settings of your systems match their hardware component capabilities. Finally, Sandra is invaluable in helping to tweak and tune systems for maximum performance.

With over 4,000 benchmarks, Sandra gives system builders a terrific comparison tool for checking systems, whether under construction or in the field. System builders can use this tool as a sanity check, too, helping them determine how their systems are doing in the field. They can also use Sandra to check system configurations before delivering systems to customers. With this tool, things are far less likely to go wrong.

Sandra--short for the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant--has been available for nearly a decade. Today the tool boasts a loyal community of customers and a large cadre of benchmarking experts who work with Sandra regularly.

Sandra comes in four flavors, but the Professional version is the one most likely to interest system builders. With a license fee of just under $40, the Professional version supports client-server processing, and it can run against multiple PCs on the same network, either locally or remotely. But for this TechBuilder Recipe, I’ll show you how to install and use the free trial version of the Professional, called Sandra Lite. System builders can use the free version to get a sense of the product and its possible uses. Just keep in mind that Sandra Lite reverts to limited functionality after its 30-day trial period.

The primary difference between the Lite and Professional versions is the level of detail provided about system configuration data. For instance, the Professional version offers data on IRQs, DMA, I/O, network data and certain Windows configuration items, while the Lite version doesn't. Also, remote client, burn-in and tune-up support are all features supported by the Professional version, but not by Lite.

Ingredients

Here's all you'll need to get started working with Sandra:

• A fast Internet connection (Sandra Lite is an 8-MB download).

• A copy of SiSoftware's Sandra Lite, available on the SiSoftware site.

• One or more PCs (either desktop or laptop) running Windows 2000 or higher.

Now you’re ready to download and install Sandra Lite on a target PC. If we were working with the Professional edition, I’d recommend that you install it on either a laptop you carry around with you or a network console machine, because that edition works with remote machines on a network. But because Sandra Lite doesn’t offer remote client functionality, I recommend you install it on a test machine you’re familiar with. That way, you can put the software through its paces based on your knowledge of that PC.

Also, because SiSoftware is a British company, U.S. users will note the occasional use of U.K. spelling or terminology. But this shouldn't cause any serious difficulties while working with the program.