Q: PCMark2002 Pro ASF test crashes, any ideas?
A: This happens if you have installed Windows Media Player 9 or WM9 codecs. Unfortunately there isn't yet a workaround available that would let you keep WM9 and have PCMark2002 Pro complete all tests. We are currently checking this issue.

Q: I have previously been able to run the HDD test, but now it is skipped, why?
A: If you have once ran the hdd test succesfully, but are nowdays unable to do so, there is one thing that should be checked: In the root of the drive that you benchmarked is a file called ~_PCMARK. Delete this file and try running the test again.

Q: I get incredibly high or highly variable scores in the PCMark2002 HDD tests.
A: HDD testing is a complex issue that has to our knowledge no 100% proof methods. The PCMark HDD tests seem to give appropriate results for 99.5% of all tested systems. The remaining 0.5% of the results are strange in one way or another. There are a few things you should consider when testing your hard drive:

The disk to be tested should be defragmented, or otherwise the test data might be badly fragmented, which decreases the score. Another possibility is that the data might be fragmented differently from one run to another, resulting in highly variable scores.
The ideal is that the disk to be tested is freshly formatted. This way the results should be as high as possible, and the results should be repeatable. If your Windows settings, or your hard drive controller settings are such that disk access is cached and reported as completed, even though the task was just started, your results will be incorrect and very high. Especially in the File Copy test, there is no way we can detect if the large test files were really copied, or if the task was just cached and reported as complete.
We will try to fix these issues in an update or in the next PCMark version, but HDD testing will remain a far more complex issue than for example 3D fill rate testing. Only ideal testing conditions will give optimal and repeatable results.

Q: My highly tuned system gets a HDD score of just around 1000. My CPU score is over 5K and I've seen HDD scores of the same size.
A: 1000 points for the HDD test is a true high-end result, the HDD test does NOT scale the same way as the CPU or the Memory scores. As for the 5K HDD scores, this is something we'll need to fix. It seems like some systems just cache the HDD transactions and report them as complete. We'll need to add some extra verification that the files have truly been read/written/copied.

Q: I have seen some over 10K CPU scores, even though my 2 GHz system gets just over 5K.
A: This is something we'll need to fix, and we think it's related to the operating system timer problem that distorted measurements in the original 3DMark2001.

Q: Why doesn't my mouse roller work in ResultBrowser2002?
A: ResultBrowser2002 is built using the common Java libraries, and these do not include mouse roller functionality. There are a small number of typical Windows OS features that don't work in RB2002 for this reason.

Q: Why does ResultBrowser2002 not start without Java Runtime Environment installed?
A: ResultBrowser2002 is a Java application and needs JRE in order to run.

Q: Where can I download ResultBrowser2002?
A: Register the Pro version of PCMark and you will get a download link.

Q: What is ResultBrowser2002?
A: ResultBrowser2002 is the offline Result Browser for PCMark2002.

Q: Can I watch the PCMark2002 results with the 3DMark2001 SE offline Result Browser?
A: Unfortunately, no. We hope to have better backwards compatibility with the .xml result format we use in PCMark.

Q: Where can I download ResultBrowser2002?
A: Register the Pro version of PCMark and you will get a download link.

Q: What is ResultBrowser2002?
A: ResultBrowser2002 is the offline Result Browser for PCMark2002.

Q: Can I watch the PCMark2002 results with the 3DMark2001 SE offline Result Browser?
A: Unfortunately, no. We hope to have better backwards compatibility with the .xml result format we use in PCMark.

Q: Can I uninstall PCMark2002 Pro Pack?
A: You can uninstall the offline Result Browser (ResultBrowser2002), but the video clips are not uninstalled then. The video test clips are deleted when PCMark is uninstalled. JRE must be uninstalled separately, but it can be useful even though you don't intend to run ResultBrowser2002 anymore.

Q: Why does the Pro Pack want to install the Java Runtime Environment?
A: PCMark's offline Result Browser requires JRE to run. JRE is a small install and easy to uninstall later, if needed.

Q: That's one huge download. Why should I get that enormous package?
A: PCMark2002 Pro Pack is required for full PCMark2002 Pro functionality. The Pro Pack includes the PCMark offline Result Browser and the test clips of the video tests, which actually takes up most of the ~40MBs. This means that you cannot run the video tests without installing the Pro Pack.

Q: ANYTHING detected incorrectly.
A: We do our best to make System Info detect all available hardware correctly, but with new hardware and drivers constantly appearing, this is a very hard task. Also, some hardware features cannot be generically detected, and requires some hardware specific lookup info. We have not implemented any such detections in System Info since such software would require constant updating.

Q: The .xml results seem to be possible to edit in any text editor?
A: Yes, but the ORB won't accept any manually altered results.

Q: Why does PCMark seem to save the results in .xml format by default when this is not a very readable format?
A: The .xml format is for submitting the results to the ORB, and for viewing the results in the offline Result Browser.

Q: Do all PCMark tests score like "bigger is better"?
A: All but the video playback performance tests. These tests measure the CPU workload percentage during playback, where smaller is naturally better.

Q: If I get a CPU score of 3000 but only a 300 HDD score, does that mean that my HDD score is really bad?
A: No, the CPU and Memory scores are somewhat comparable, but the HDD score scales completely differently.

Q: Is, for example, 3456 a good CPU score?
A: Please compare your score in the Online ResultBrowser (ORB).

Q: Which tests affect the PCMark total scores?
A: See the FAQ entry above.

Q: How are the PCMark total scores (CPU, Memory, HDD) calculated?
A: The total score formulas can be found in the PCMark help file.

Q: What does the Battery score measure?
A: A Battery score is given when the Battery test is run with default settings. The Battery score is simply the number of test loops (one test loop = all selected tests run once) that was successfully run from a battery charge of 95% or more to 40%.

Q: Why doesn't the Battery test give a total Battery score?
A: It does give a Battery score if you run the Battery test using the default settings, which means that you just click 'Next' through the Battery test startup wizard. It also requires that the initial battery charge is at least 95%.

Q: What is the idea of the Battery test?
A: The Battery test is designed for laptop battery endurance comparison.

Q: Why does my system skip the video quality tests?
A: See the two FAQ entries above.

Q: Even though I have DVD playback software installed (example: PowerDVD), why are the DVD playback tests still skipped?
A: The DVD playback installation might have partly failed somehow. Please check the Options dialog in PCMark. The textbox at the bottom of the dialog should show installed DVD playback components. If none are present, PCMark will not be able to run the DVD performance or quality tests. Some DVD software players don't share their engines for other than their own use.

Q: Why does my system skip the DVD playback tests?
A: Install some DVD playback software to enable those tests.

Q: Which tests affect the PCMark total scores?
A: See the FAQ entry above.

Q: How are the PCMark total scores (CPU, Memory, HDD) calculated?
A: The total score formulas can be found in the PCMark help file.

Q: What does the Battery score measure?
A: A Battery score is given when the Battery test is run with default settings. The Battery score is simply the number of test loops (one test loop = all selected tests run once) that was successfully run from a battery charge of 95% or more to 40%.

Q: Why doesn't the Battery test give a total Battery score?
A: It does give a Battery score if you run the Battery test using the default settings, which means that you just click 'Next' through the Battery test startup wizard. It also requires that the initial battery charge is at least 95%.

Q: What is the idea of the Battery test?
A: The Battery test is designed for laptop battery endurance comparison.

Q: Why does my system skip the video quality tests?
A: See the two FAQ entries above.

Q: Even though I have DVD playback software installed (example: PowerDVD), why are the DVD playback tests still skipped?
A: The DVD playback installation might have partly failed somehow. Please check the Options dialog in PCMark. The textbox at the bottom of the dialog should show installed DVD playback components. If none are present, PCMark will not be able to run the DVD performance or quality tests. Some DVD software players don't share their engines for other than their own use.

Q: Why does my system skip the DVD playback tests?
A: Install some DVD playback software to enable those tests.

Q: What does my Win98 system skip the ASF encoding & playback tests?
A: Please download and install the newest MS Media Player from here. NOTE! PCMark2002 ASF test will FAIL if you have installed Windows Media Player 9 or WM9 codecs!

Q: What do the WinXP 2D tests actually do?
A: Please read the PCMark help file for more info on any test.

Q: Why doesn't the WinXP 2D lines test really look like lines?
A: There are a large amount of lines that are drawn, but instead of a mess of colored lines, the test was made to look a bit nicer. The same thing applies the other WinXP 2D tests.

Q: Can I run the Windows XP 2D tests on Win98 or Win2K?
A: No, you must have WinXP to run those tests.

Q: What is the Crunch test?
A: It is a multitasking test, where a CPU test, a memory test, and a video memory test is run simultaneously. You can read more about it in the PCMark help file.

Q: What is this cached and uncached HDD testing, and why are uncached operations faster than cached?
A: Please read the PCMark help file for a comprehensive explanation about this and all other tests.

Q: Why do the hard drive tests take so long?
A: The hard drive tests must be performed with huge data blocks, because otherwise the data is cached in the main memory and the system memory is tested instead of the hard drives.

Q: What's the point in testing system memory with memory blocks small enough to fit the cache?
A: PCMark tests the whole memory subsystem, including the L1 and L2 caches, the video memory and the AGP bus.

Q: Why doesn't my CPU score get any better when running on dual CPUs?
A: The CPU tests are not multithreaded.

Q: What do I get when I register PCMark?
A: Please read the info on the subject on our website, or the PCMark Readme or help file.

Q: What do the tests in PCMark do, what and how do they test the system?
A: Please read the PCMark help files for detailed descriptions of the tests.

Q: Why are most of the PCMark GUI controls grayed and not functional?
A: These controls and the corresponding functionalities will be activated once you register PCMark.

Q: Why doesn't PCMark work on my WinNT4 / Win95 system?
A: PCMark requires Win98, WinME, WinXP Home Edition, Win2000 or WinXP Pro to work.

Q: What is PCMark2002?
A: PCMark2002 is a benchmark that measures your PC's performance when running normal home and office applications.