News archive


November-December 2005

Happy New Year! [31.12.2005]Dear visitors! I would like to wish you a Happy New Year! Thank you all for you continuous support throughout 2005. May 2006 bring to you all the blessings of peace, good health, and joy. May all your wishes come true! Be sure to visit BenchmarkHQ in the New Year, a wealth of great things are soon to come!

HardwareOC has released a new utility - Quake 4 Benchmark! It lets you benchmark Quake 4 v1.4 or v1.5. Key features:
  • Resolutions from 640x480 up to 2048x1536.
  • HD WideScreen resolutions (1280x768, 1920x1080, 1920x1200) support.
  • 1 built-in demo.
  • 4 graphics quality settings (Low, Medium, High, Ultra).
  • Symmetric MultiProcessing-based acceleration (SMP) support.
  • Antialiasing and Anisotrophic filtering support.
  • Batch mode.
The program supports both Windows XP 32-bit and 64-bit.
[30.12.2005]Fresh Diagnose 7.25 has been released! Changes include: improved Sensor module, updated interface.

[29.12.2005]OverSoft CPU Informer 0.98 New Year Edition has been released! Here's what's new: support for the newest Athlon 64 CPUs, support for the Athlon 64 FX Dual Core processor, support for Pentium D (Conroe and Smithfield cores), Vanderpool technology detection, memory information for large amount of memory controllers, support for Abit uGuru, Fintek F71872, Winbond W83647HF, bugfixes.

[28.12.2005]StatWin Professional 7.1 is available for download!

[27.12.2005]Pocket PC: Spb Benchmark 1.6 is available for download!

[26.12.2005]Fujitsu has updated its diagnostic utilities:
[25.12.2005]Palm: Quartus Benchmark 3.1 is available for download!

[24.12.2005]Western Digital has updated its diagnostic utilities to add support for the latest drive models:
Victoria 3.51 is available for download! This is a bugfix release. At the moment, Victoria 3.51 supports only the Russian language.

[23.12.2005]PassMark Software has released BurnInTest for Linux! Just as its counterpart for Windows, BurnInTest for Linux allows all the major sub-systems of a computer to be simultaneously tested for reliability and stability.
Advanced Administrative Tools 5.92 is available for download! This release includes a couple of minor improvements.

[22.12.2005]At a recent IDF Intel unveiled an open, extensible, and experiential set of tools designed to assess user-centric platform capabilities. This approach is a groundbreaking new way to test Intel platforms by focusing on actual capabilities rather than raw speed. The intent is to test a PC the way you are really going to use it. This initial suite of capabilities assessment tools covers two major areas: digital home and gaming.
  • The Gaming Capabilities Assessment Tool evaluates your platform's capability to deliver an enjoyable gaming experience by correlating the results of actual game play to a model of the experience of skilled gamers.
  • The Digital Home Capabilities Assessment Tool examines your platform's capability to perform multiple activities such as watching a video, recording live TV, transferring media to a portable device, and streaming content across your home.
Intel is going to make these tools available in the near future. Now you can read the preview of the V1.0 Evaluation release of the Digital Home Capabilities Assessment Tool published by HEXUS. Here's a little quote: "So, our congratulations must go to Intel for having had the foresight to create a suite to do this job. However, doubts will remain about Intel's impartiality and whether this will put systems based on competitors' CPUs at a disadvantage".

[21.12.2005]OPN64 v0.4.0 has been released! OPN64 is much like the existing program, OPN-462. It carries on tradition of being able to decipher the OPN codes into a form that is easier to understand! However, OPN64 now sports a mostly rewritten code base and support for Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX and Opteron processors and all existing Socket 462 processors!
This version supports the following new processors: Athlon 64 (Venice, E6) 3000+, 3200+, 3500+, 3800+ and 4000+.
[20.12.2005]CoolInfo FX has been released! It has a wealth of new features and improvements, including: new categories (improved System Summary, Application Activity Log, Installed Drivers, Internet History, Open TCP/IP ports, etc.), improved export feature, support for the latest hardware, and so on.

Central Brain Identifier 7.7.0.4 Build 1220 R4 is available for download! New features include: improved compatibility with AMD Sempron 64, identification of the newest AMD64 processors with the following CPUID signatures: 20FC1h, 20FF1h, 20F11h, 20F31h, 20F81h, 20F91h, 20F72h, 20F51h, 20F82h, 20F92h, 20FB2h, 30F82h, 30F42h, 30F52h, 40F10h, 40F30h, 40F40h, 40F50h, 40F70h, 40FC0h, 40FF0h. Moreover, for those AMD64 processors that don't support the AMD PowerNow! Technology, CBId now properly reports a dynamically updateable VCore value.
[19.12.2005]ChipInfo 1.2.0 has been released! Here's what's new: chipset details for VIA K8T800 and K8M800, detection of Intel Pentium XE/D (Presler), VIA Eden-N (Nehemiah), AMD Turion 64, AMD Athlon 64 X2, Transmeta Efficion and Crusoe, updated device database, minor improvements and bugfixes.

[18.12.2005]The time has come to change our poll! Here are the results of the last poll:
What else would you like to see on BenchmarkHQ?
  1. More program categories - 45.85%
  2. Programs for other OS's - 27.8%
  3. Don't change anything - 26.35%
The results are taken into account and I hope you will see more program categories in the near future. Stay tuned! You can always find these results at their permanent address.
This time we ask you: Do you have Windows XP 64-bit installed?

Victoria 3.5 has been released! New features include: improved S.M.A.R.T. monitoring, temperature monitoring for IBM DJNA drives, support for nForce4 Serial ATA Controller, VIA Technologies Inc. VT8237 SATA150 Controller and Silicon Image SiI 3114 SoftRaid 5 Controller, minor improvements and bugfixes. At the moment, Victoria 3.5 supports only the Russian language.

[17.12.2005]HD_Speed 1.5.2.55 is available for download!

[16.12.2005]PC Surgeon 4.32 is available for download! This is a bugfix release.

MVSoft PC Information 2.0 has been released! Here's what's new: Microsoft Products ID keys list, OS ID key display, Browser Start Pages list, ability to save reports to password protected folders, bugfixes, etc.

[15.12.2005]Advanced HostMonitor 5.70 has been released! This version has a number of improvements and bugfixes. Visit the official page for details.

[14.12.2005]HWiNFO32 1.58 has been released! New features include: detection of nVidia nForce4 SLI X16, Intel Core processor brand name and new brand logos, detection of VIA C7 (Esther), nVidia MCP51 SMBus Host support, minor improvements and bugfixes.

SIV 3.09 has been released! It includes support for the Intel i975X chipset and a couple of bugfixes.

[13.12.2005]Dr.Hardware 2006 Build 7.0.0e (English version) has been released! This version has a lot of improvements, including: Windows XP x64 support, Internet security module (lists active virus scanners, firewalls, Windows updates, services and system drivers), a few new options, redesigned interface, improved support for multi-core CPUs, detection of AMD SVM (Secure Virtual Machine) and Intel Centrino, detection of some new models of Athlon 64, Opteron and Sempron processors, support for Intel E7221, E7230, E7320, E8500, 845MP/MZ, 855GME, 915GM/PM/GMS and 910 GML chipsets, bugfixes, etc.

[12.12.2005]Thaiphoon Burner 1.0.0.4 Beta 1212 has been released! Changes include: a new feature that allows to program any part of hardware that is visible as a SMBus-device (System Management Bus devices, e.g. clock synthesizers, hardware monitoring sensors, SPD, etc.), support for DDR-II, more flexible HEX-editor, demo mode, minor improvements.

[11.12.2005]PC Wizard 2006 1.661 is available for download! This is a bugfix release.

[10.12.2005]Central Brain Identifier 7.7.0.4 Build 1211 R4 is available for download! New features include: identification of the latest models of AMD Athlon 64 (OPN numbers ADA3000AIK4BX, ADA3200AIO4BX, ADA3200DKA4CG and ADA3500DKA4CG) and Opteron (OPN numbers OSK275FAA6CB, OSK875FAA6CC, OSA285FAA6CB, OSA885FAA6CC), completely rewritten P-Rating calculation algorithm for AMD Athlon 64 (512 Kb L2 cache).
AuthScanner 2.0.2.0 Build 1210 has been released! It is a unique experimental tool that provides handling, editing and storing code matrices of the AMD64 processors (including Opteron, Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX).
Here's what's new: identification of AMD Athlon 64 processors (BX, CF and CG revisions), support for the following processor codes: OSK275FAA6CB, OSK875FAA6CC, OSA285FAA6CB, OSA885FAA6CC.
[09.12.2005]HD_Speed 1.5.1.55 is available for download!

Dr.Hardware 2006 Build 7.0.0d (German version) has been released! This version has a lot of improvements, including: Windows XP x64 support, Internet security module (lists active virus scanners, firewalls, Windows updates, services and system drivers), a few new options, redesigned interface, improved support for multi-core CPUs, detection of AMD SVM (Secure Virtual Machine) and Intel Centrino, detection of some new models of Athlon 64, Opteron and Sempron processors, support for Intel E7221, E7230, E7320, E8500, 845MP/MZ, 855GME, 915GM/PM/GMS and 910 GML chipsets, bugfixes, etc.
[08.12.2005]ASTRA32 1.30 has been released! New features include: Drivers Troubleshooter feature, detailed driver information (driver name, provider, version, date, status, etc.) for each physical device, Diagnostics module (includes HDD Diagnostics and Drivers Troubleshooter), detection of Intel Core Duo processor, updated devices database, minor improvements and bugfixes.

[07.12.2005]Advanced Administrative Tools 5.91 has been released! It includes some minor changes.

CDCheck 3.1.9.0 Final is available for download!

[06.12.2005]HMonitor 4.2.3.1 has been released! New features include: NS ADT7476 sensor chip support, Intel ICH6M southbridge support, Tyan Thunder i7525 s2676 mainboard support, Samsung X20 notebook support, minor improvements.

Hard Drive Inspector 1.5 has been released! New in this version: SMTP mail reports and Spanish interface support.

[05.12.2005]EVEREST 2.50 has been released! Here's what's new: CPUID Panel for a compact overview on main components, Disk Benchmark module, improved File Scanner, support for IA SSE4 instruction set, Fully Buffered DIMM (FB-DIMM) memory modules and HD DVD-ROM drives, chipset information for Intel i975X, nVIDIA GeForce 6100 and 6150, Hardware Monitor Logging feature to log temperatures, voltages and fan readings to CSV and HTML log file, support for XML Style File, Anti-virus software support for McAfee VirusScan v10, Panda TruPrevent, minor improvements and bugfixes.

Another piece of news from Lavalys is its decision to leave the freeware market. EVEREST Home Edition (the successor of AIDA32) was discontinued on December 1, 2005. You can download EVEREST Ultimate Edition 2006 and EVEREST Corporate Edition and evaluate them free of charge for 30 days.

[04.12.2005]System Analyser 5.3k has been released! New features include: HD DVD-ROM, HD DVD-R, HD DVD-RW detection, extended processor information, updated device database, minor improvements, bugfixes, etc.

PC Wizard 2006 1.66 has been released! It has a lot of new features and improvements, including: support for Intel i945PL, E7230, E8500, SiS 651 and 746 chipsets, support for Pentium D stepping B0, Pentium 4 stepping G0, G1, R0, Pentium 662 and 672, Athlon 64 X2 "Toledo" and "Manchester", Opteron Dual Core "Denmark", "Italy" and "Egypt", Sempron Socket 939, support for Asus Mozart-2, Analog Devices ADT7463, ADM 1032, Genesys Logic GL518SM/GL520SM, Winbond W83687THF and W83627EHF sensors, support for nVidia GeForce 7800 series, 6600 Turbo Cache series, nVidia GeForce initial frequency (Core, Memory), ATI CrossFire detection, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL features recognition, NDIS Protocol support, new benchmarks (CPU Dhrystone (MIPS), DirectX Compressed Texture (windowed and fullscreen), Multi-Threads Performance), Slovak language support, minor improvements, etc.

FRAPS 2.7.2 is available for download! This is a bugfix release.

[03.12.2005]SciMark Standard Edition Complex has been updated to version 2005.11.28!

[02.12.2005]RightMark 3DSound 2.2 has been released! Here's what's new: detection and size of X-RAM onboard memory, detection of EAX 5.0 for DirectSound API, mode to disable X-RAM support, X-RAM usage logging, updated User's Guide.

DVDInfoPro 4.50 has been released! New features include: ability to load IBG files (ImgBurn format) into DVDInfoPro to view the data graph and other information stored during the write process, PIPO scanning for Plextor drives, a lot of minor improvements and bugfixes.

[01.12.2005]Our friends over at nvWorld.ru have released RivaTuner 2.0 RC 15.8 (1.23Mb)! RivaTuner is the most powerful tweaking utility for NVIDIA and ATI display adapters running under Windows 98 / Windows 98 SE / Windows ME / Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The purpose of this utility is to give you access to all the undocumented features of Detonator and Catalyst drivers.
This new version has a wealth of new features and improvements, including:
  • Added ForceWare 81.xx and 82.xx driver families support.
  • Updated databases for Detonator and ForceWare driver families. Added databases for ForceWare 81.26, 81.33, 81.82, 81.84, 81.87, 81.94, 81.95 and 82.10 drivers.
  • Added Catalyst 5.10 and 5.11 drivers detection.
  • Added support for mainboards with more than 8 physically addressable PCI-compatible slots (e.g. ASUS P5WD2 with some old BIOS revisions).
  • Added X1800 / X1600 / X1300 series support.
  • Updated NVStrap driver v1.10.
  • Updated RivaTunerStatisticsServer v1.4.0 bundled utility.
  • Improved low-level hardware monitoring module.
  • Minor UI changes and improvements.
And much more!

Crystal Dew World has updated its products to add support for Athlon 64 FX-60 and Intel Core Solo/Duo (Yonah SC/DC):
[30.11.2005]CDCheck 3.1.8.1b is available for download!

HardwareOC has updated its benchmark line:
  • Half-Life 2 Benchmark 1.6. Here's what's new: Half-Life 2 Lost Coast support, HD WideScreen resolutions support (1280x768, 1920x1080, 1920x1200), Proxy support for Online Update, High Dynamic Range (HDR) support, updated demos, minor improvements and bugfixes. Download Half-Life 2 Benchmark 1.6 (6.3Mb).
  • Splinter Cell Chaos Theory Benchmark v.1.1. New in this release: support for 1.5 patch (required), Pixel Shader 2.0 support for ATI video cards, Proxy Support for Online Update. Download HardwareOC Splinter Cell Chaos Theory Benchmark 1.1 (1.1Mb).
  • Far Cry Benchmark 1.4.2. New features include: resolution 2048 x 1536 support, instant save feature, support for the latest v1.33 patch, minor improvements. Download Far Cry Benchmark 1.4.2 (1.5Mb).

[29.11.2005]Alchemy Eye 7.5 has been released! It has some minor improvements and bugfixes. Watchdog application can now detect that the program hangs, and restart it in this case.

[28.11.2005]TaskInfo 6.2.1.180 is available for download! This is a bugfix release.

An updated version of PCIDEVS.TXT is available for download!
[27.11.2005]Crystal Dew World has updated its products:
[26.11.2005]PC Surgeon 4.31 has been released! This version fixes a few bugs.

Central Brain Identifier 7.7.0.3 Build 1126 R3 is available for download! New features include: support for the newest AMD Athlon 64 FX Dual Core processor family (including the first ADAFX60DAA6CD model), identification of AMD Geode LX, additional voltage decoding table for the low power mobile AMD processors, such as AMD Turion 64 ML, mobile AMD Athlon 64, mobile AMD Sempron and mobile AMD Athlon XP-M, updated P-Rating calculation for the mobile AMD Athlon 64 family based on Clawhammer and Newark cores.
[25.11.2005]Palm: SysInfo 4.3 has been released! The main improvement of this version is the ability to monitor some options of your system in the background.

[24.11.2005]PassMark PerformanceTest 6.0 build 1008 has been released! This version includes several minor improvements, as well as numerous bugfixes.

PassMark BurnInTest 4.0 build 1032 is available for download! It has some minor improvements and bugfixes.

[23.11.2005]System Information for Windows (SIW) 1.55 build 597 has been released! Here's what's new: Mac Address Changer, File Associations info, Time Zone info (Regional Settings), Microsoft Office 12 detection, support for some new CPUs, minor improvements and bugfixes.

[22.11.2005]An updated version of PCIDEVS.TXT is available for download!
[21.11.2005]ASTRA32 1.21 has been released! New features include: detection of Intel Xeon (Paxville, Dempsey) processors, detection of Video BIOS version and date, detailed information about external USB hubs, Insyde BIOS for Intel support, updated devices database, minor improvements and bugfixes.

ASTRA 5.11 is available for download! Here's what's new: detection of Intel Xeon (Paxville, Dempsey) processors, detailed information about external USB hubs (Windows 98/ME only), Insyde BIOS for Intel support, updated device database, bugfixes, etc.

[20.11.2005]DriveSitter 1.4.0.3 is available for download! It has some minor improvements and bugfixes, including a new command line switch - "nodeviceopenerrors", which can be used to suppress error message boxes when opening devices.

MemTest 3.3 has been released!

[19.11.2005]Thaiphoon Burner 1.0 Beta 1119 is available for download! The utility is designed to read all the available SPD information. Besides, it enables you to reprogram SPD directly or in the special emulation mode. Thaiphoon Burner can load external SPD dumps and flash them into EEPROM. Thaiphoon creates a highly detailed report that can be saved in a separate file.
New features include: ability to flash SPD selectively (just set the desired SPD address range and flash it with an opened dump file in one click), support for some VIA Southbridges (including VT82C586, VT82C596 and VT82C596B), improved SPD decoding engine.
[18.11.2005]Crystal Dew World has updated its products to add support for AMD Opteron processors (Venus/Troy/Athens cores):
[17.11.2005]HWiNFO32 1.57 has been released! New features include: recognition of Intel 975X, VIA VT3351, K8M890CE and CX700 chipsets, detection of Dual-core AMD Athlon64 FX processors, support for ALi M5455 and SiS 7018 AC'97 controllers, support for NSC/AMD Geode GX1, GX and LX CPUs, memory timings report for ATI RC410/RD400/RS400, recognition of ATI Radeon Xpress 200 CrossFire Edition (RD400/RD480), support for multiple video adapters, minor improvements and bugfixes.

Futuremark Logo [16.11.2005]Futuremark Corporation has released SPMarkJava06, a richly featured handheld device benchmark designed to measure and evaluate the system's performance in running Java applications. Targeted for MIDP 2.0 and JSR 184 capable handheld devices (in contrast to its predecessor, which was targeted for smartphones), the benchmark's workloads consist of 3D gaming, 2D gaming, video playback, image processing, Java Virtual Machine (JVM) testing, and battery testing. Read on.

[15.11.2005]Palm: Speedy 6.1 has been released! This version has some source code optimizations and includes benchmark values for Palm TX and Z22, as well as for the GSL Xplore M68.

[14.11.2005]MCS CPU Benchmark 5.0.0.3 has been released!

[13.11.2005]Crystal Dew World has released:
SIV 3.08 has been released! New in this version: Pentium D (Presler), Pentium 4 (Cedarmill) and Pentium M (Yonah) support, Czech, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian and Turkish language support, minor improvements.

[12.11.2005]TaskInfo 6.2.0.174 is available for download!

[11.11.2005]IOzone Filesystem Benchmark 3.257 is available for download!

TaskInfo 6.2.0.172 has been released! It has a number improvements and bugfixes. Visit www.iarsn.com for details.

[10.11.2005]Fresh Diagnose 7.20 has been released! This version supports a lot of new PCI devices.

An updated version of Belarc Advisor 7.0t is available for download!

[09.11.2005]FRAPS 2.7.1 is available for download! This is a bugfix release.

Thaiphoon Burner 1.0 Beta 1109 is available for download! The utility is designed to read all the available SPD information. Besides, it enables you to reprogram SPD directly or in the special emulation mode. Thaiphoon Burner can load external SPD dumps and flash them into EEPROM. Thaiphoon creates a highly detailed report that can be saved in a separate file.
New features include: updated interface, improved report feature, support for 17 models of the Intel ICHx south bridges (including ICH6 and ICH7), support for Intel 82371AB/EB (PIIX4), SMBus support for VIA VT82C686, VT8231, VT8233A/Ñ, VT8235 and VT8237/A, identification of 185 new memory manufactuters (including OCZ, Patriot, Ballistix, G-Skill, etc., now the program's database contains 635 identifiers).
[08.11.2005]CPU-Z 1.31 has been released! Here's what's new: improved support for ATI RS480/482 chipsets, nVidia GeForce 6100/6150 (nForce 410/430) chipsets support, Intel E7520 chipset support, support for AMD Opteron Socket 939, Intel Pentium 4 Cedar Mill and Presler, Intel Xeon Paxville, Intel Pentium M Yonah SC & DC processors, bugfixes.

[07.11.2005]SpeedFan 4.27 has been released! New in this version: full support for SiS965 SMBus, ANALOG DEVICES ADT7476, FINTEK F75387, PHILIPS SA56004X and FINTEK F71872F, support for nVidia GeForce 6800 NV48 and 6610 XL, bugfixes, etc.

FRAPS 2.7.0 has been released! New features include: support for Logitech G15 keyboard (the G15 features an inbuilt LCD display and with Fraps you can now see an FPS history graph during your gaming sessions), video capture support for 1920x540 and 2160x480 resolutions, improved video capture routines, minor improvements and bugfixes.

S&M 1.7.6 Beta is available for download!

[06.11.2005]CPUCooL 7.3.7 has been released! Here's what's new: support for some new chipsets and PLL's.

[05.11.2005]Central Brain Identifier 7.7.0.1 Build 1105 R2 is available for download! New features include: significantly improved AMD64 identification algorithm, two independent algorithms to change the VCore voltage and clock ratio for AMD64 and the mobile AMD K7 series, real RAM/Memory Controller frequency detection for AMD64.
IOzone Filesystem Benchmark 3.254 is available for download!

DVDInfoPro 4.36 has been released! It has a couple of minor improvements.

[04.11.2005]Thaiphoon Burner 1.0 Beta 1102 is available for download! The utility is designed to read all the available SPD information. Besides, it enables you to reprogram SPD directly or in the special emulation mode. Thaiphoon Burner can load external SPD dumps and flash them into EEPROM. Thaiphoon creates a highly detailed report that can be saved in a separate file.
Please, note that the program requires one of the following chipsets: nForce4, nForce3, nForce2 or SiS96x.
This release fixes a few bugs.
[03.11.2005]Nero CD-DVD Speed 4.10 has been released! Here's what's new: updated benchmark (image files can be overburned, support for multisession CDs and DVDs), small improvements and bugfixes.

Samsung Drive Diagnostic Utility (Hutil) 2.00 is available for download!

[02.11.2005]DVDInfoPro 4.35 has been released! New features include: "Quality Rating" score (the rating is based on the media/burn-drive/firmware/read-back error results), Eject button in the PIPO Window, updated manufacturer database, bugfixes, etc.

Alchemy Eye 7.4 has been released! It includes some minor improvements and bugfixes.

Advanced HostMonitor 5.66 has been released! This version has a number of improvements and bugfixes. Visit the official page for details.

[01.11.2005]OpenGL Extension Viewer 2.22 is available for download! It has a few bugfixes.