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MetaBench
Version: 0.91Release date: October 28, 2002
Developer: 7Byte
First off, let me start by stating that this is BETA software. BETA being unfinished and still in the testing stage. This particular program appears to be in its infancy, as several things indicate. More on that later.
Meta Bench is the latest test software from 7Byte, makers of Hot CPU Tester Pro developed by OpusWare. Since Opus Ware and 7byte joined together this past summer, we've seen several good ideas come from this pairing. The merger has apparently breathed new life into the developer as this latest offering shows. All benchmarking programs are pretty much the same, right? Not necessarily. This particular one has a lot going for it, even at this early stage. Benchmarking software, by and large is time consuming and gets a little tedious if you sit and watch the program run repeatedly. Most of the popular testing software out there has this same draw back. Meta Bench may just bring about a much needed trend in benchmark programs at the final release of this one. Speedy and thorough, let's take a look.
The interface itself is compact and easy to understand. It will automatically run a number of tests, 45 in all, some of which appear to be rather obscure at first glance. A trip to the website: www.7byte.com reveals that there are 45 tests, but little information on what they are or what significance they may have in evaluating your system.
All that aside, this appears to be a quick and efficient benchmark as opposed to others which take longer and do the same tests. While running the tests, you get to see what each one is and each score also. The interface is also built in such a way as to be expandable later on, and is reminiscent of the cacheman interface. Basic system information is available here as you can see.
Here is an example of some of the tests run. The whole process took about 1 minute on my system and produced a pretty good score compared to a Pentium 4 2 GHz.
Several things are still not quite right yet. The program authors are apparently attempting to create a database to compare scores to other systems. As soon as the program completes, it asks you to type in you system specs and send to submit your scores. Unfortunately, this could not log on to the server at the time that I tested it. Another feature, the help file, did not work either.
All and all I would say that this program has a lot of potential. It is a small download, 1.33 MBs in size and easily downloaded HERE, even at dialup speeds. It is well designed and easy for a beginner to understand how to use. You can save your results to a file, or print them easily. A must for people like me who despise writing all the results down repeatedly as you test and retest.
Remarks
When all is said and done, this being one of the better Betas that I have tried, this program shows remarkable promise. I would like to see some documentation of the test functions when the help file is completed, as well as some way to control which tests are being run at a given time. In addition, I would like the ability to loop the tests continuously and browse the database once it is online. A way to save the results to the actual program to compare tests over time would be nice and auto discovery of system hardware. Some people do not know what Mother board or ram they have. Finally, I will be looking forward to subsequent releases and the final version too.Download MetaBench!
Douglas Hall
07.11.2002
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