Testing Part Deux
What we know thus far… the D2305 is capable of working with your documents, internet browsing, file work and video playback. The following tests are more in line with the actual function and functionality of the system, its power draw and maximum heat output.
The two following tests show the capabilities of this system to preform workstation level graphical renderings.
SPECviewpref: The SPECgpcSM project group’s SPECviewperf 11 — released in late June 2010 — is totally new graphics performance evaluation software. Among the major changes are a new GUI, fully updated viewsets traced from newer versions of applications, larger models, and advanced OpenGL functionality such as shading and vertex buffer objects (VBOs).
Redway3d Turbine benchmark: This test is OpenGL based and is similar to SPECviewpref testing. This test allows us to compare the D2305 to other systems tested @ techreaction.net. Looking into some of these previous results we find that the D2305 systeml, while not being high end, is capable. The two screen shots below are from very different systems. The first shot shows the results from the D2305 and the video solutions in the lower chart are Turks based GPU solutions which power professional level graphics cards such as the Firepro V4900. All in all, not too bad considering it competes with a system that is not small form factor and costs $200-$400 more.
Moving away from the benchmarks and into some real testing; we began by encoding some test media and performed several tests on one piece of media. We looked in the media library and found something that we did not have in HD. Enemy Mine was chosen; yeah some think it was not good at all, but who cares it is media.
To get the DVD content onto the system we used FreeMake Video Converter which works with older DVD content and is relatively fast. It took the D2305 37 minutes and 48 seconds to convert the 108 minute movie to MKV format. The issue was getting it to convert the DVD to True HD. No real luck there but we have a solution that will take care of that.
Cyberlink MediaEspresso 6.5 was used to convert the MKV file to a 4.7GB 1080 HD MPG and was done in just over 44 minutes using GPU acceleration.
After transcoding to 1080 we had one more thing to do. We wanted portability and again Cyberlink was called on to convert our movie to PSP format. The conversion took only 27 minutes and 8 seconds and completed our encoding tests.
We next wanted to put our movie on our phone (yes the movie is PSP format but that is just a technicality) so we simply paired the devices using the Blutooth utility.
After pairing we find a folder on our phone to drop the movie in for later viewing, drop said movie into file folder and that is it.
Put the phone down, let the transfer complete and then go on our merry way. It is nice to have more than health TV to watch in the doctors office. Sure they say no phones but hey we are the ones sitting there for an hour with nothing to do not them.
Power Draw, CPU Core and Max Exhaust Temperatures
We were very happy with the numbers that we see here and dollar for dollar where total performance and task based power consumption is concerned the D2305 offers more at the high end while sacrificing little near the bottom end.
On the temperature side of things it is not bad either. Core temperatures are a full 23º C below Tjunction (CPU throttel point), the exhaust temperatures are warm but the volume of air leaving the case very small so it is rather moot and the case stays cool to the touch.
