Ghost speed differerent in AMD & Intel

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zotin Khuma
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Zotin Khuma

I make extensive use of an OEM version of Norton Ghost 2003 that came
bundled with a mobo, and I've always noticed a huge difference in
speeds when I make backups on AMD and Intel machines of comparable
configurations : AMD always finishes in a quarter of the time taken by
Intel.

AMD : Athlon XP 2000+ to 2600+ on Asus A7N266, A7N8X and Biostar M7NCG
mobos.
Intel : P4 1.9 to 2.8 GHz on Intel motherboards (fewer machines
tested)
All with 256MB DDR RAM, Seagate 7.2krpm HDD.

Given below are times taken. The figures are only approximate as I
have not kept accurate records and exact hardware configs varied.
However they are not one-off operations - I get these figures
repeatedly.

Basic Win98SE : AMD 1 minute, Intel 4 mins
Win98 + drivers + other software (1GB) : AMD 5 mins, Intel 20 mins
Win98 + WinXP + other software (3.4GB) : AMD 9 mins, Intel 35 mins

I surface-scanned the HDDs and installed the softwares myself. I
always use Ghost in DOS mode by booting from CD so there's no Windows
involved. HD space ample and defrag makes no major difference.

I can't believe that this is mainly due to the difference in CPU
types. I work mostly but not exclusively with AMD computers, and since
I'm less familiar with Intel systems, I'll appreciate suggestions as
to what I'm doing wrong when using the Intel machines.
 
I make extensive use of an OEM version of Norton Ghost 2003 that came
bundled with a mobo, and I've always noticed a huge difference in
speeds when I make backups on AMD and Intel machines of comparable
configurations : AMD always finishes in a quarter of the time taken by
Intel.

AMD : Athlon XP 2000+ to 2600+ on Asus A7N266, A7N8X and Biostar M7NCG
mobos.
Intel : P4 1.9 to 2.8 GHz on Intel motherboards (fewer machines
tested)
All with 256MB DDR RAM, Seagate 7.2krpm HDD.

Given below are times taken. The figures are only approximate as I
have not kept accurate records and exact hardware configs varied.
However they are not one-off operations - I get these figures
repeatedly.

Basic Win98SE : AMD 1 minute, Intel 4 mins
Win98 + drivers + other software (1GB) : AMD 5 mins, Intel 20 mins
Win98 + WinXP + other software (3.4GB) : AMD 9 mins, Intel 35 mins

I surface-scanned the HDDs and installed the softwares myself. I
always use Ghost in DOS mode by booting from CD so there's no Windows
involved. HD space ample and defrag makes no major difference.

I can't believe that this is mainly due to the difference in CPU
types. I work mostly but not exclusively with AMD computers, and since
I'm less familiar with Intel systems, I'll appreciate suggestions as
to what I'm doing wrong when using the Intel machines.
Click to expand...

It's got to be something in the disk subsystem, CPU speed shouldn't have
any significant effect when ghosting a drive. It sounds like DMA is
disabled on the Intel systems and enabled on AMD systems.
 
It's got to be something in the disk subsystem, CPU speed shouldn't have
any significant effect when ghosting a drive. It sounds like DMA is
disabled on the Intel systems and enabled on AMD systems.
Click to expand...

yes, DMA is not working on the systems with the slower
times, though it's not really an Intel vs AMD issue, merely
what the specific motherboard bios is configured to
support... I have AMD boxes that don't support it either.
For example. an Asus A7S333 won't, but an A7V333, will.
 
kony said:
On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 13:51:40 -0500, General Schvantzkoph

snip


yes, DMA is not working on the systems with the slower
times, though it's not really an Intel vs AMD issue, merely
what the specific motherboard bios is configured to
support... I have AMD boxes that don't support it either.
For example. an Asus A7S333 won't, but an A7V333, will.
Click to expand...

What's the setting in the BIOS that should be enabled? I want to see what
mine is set at.
 
What's the setting in the BIOS that should be enabled? I want to see what
mine is set at.
Click to expand...

That would depend on the BIOS. If I were you I'd just open the BIOS up and
poke around. On Linux systems the BIOS settings don't matter because the
OS handles the devices directly. Windows does use the BIOS to handle disks
so BIOS settings do matter (that's why Linux supports large (>137G) drives
on old hardware and Windows doesn't).
 
What's the setting in the BIOS that should be enabled? I want to see what
mine is set at.
Click to expand...

May not be visable at all on some bios, might be similar to
"busmaster IDE" or *** DMA *** IDE""" something-or-other,
the specific label escapes me at the moment but there's only
one potential setting, it should be obvious enough if
present.
 
General Schvantzkoph said:
That would depend on the BIOS. If I were you I'd just open the BIOS up and
poke around. On Linux systems the BIOS settings don't matter because the
OS handles the devices directly. Windows does use the BIOS to handle disks
so BIOS settings do matter (that's why Linux supports large (>137G) drives
on old hardware and Windows doesn't).
Click to expand...

I suspected the DMA factor myself but didn't see anything I could set
in the BIOS (as I said before, Windoze is not involved). I'll check
again first chance I get - I don't have any Intel machine with me ATM.
 
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