What is Sandra

What is Sandra?

Sandra stands for “System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant”, and is a synthetic information and diagnostic utility used to provide diagnostic information, including that which may be undocumented, about hardware and software as well as other devices whether they are hardware or software (synthetic devices). Sandra is a native 32-bit Win32 application, that also provides information on 16-bit Windows and DOS as well.

There are two versions of Sandra, in line with industry standards:

• Sandra Standard (free for home use only)
• Sandra Professional (for commercial testing environments)

The basic or standard SiSoft Sandra installation includes:

• 50 Information, Benchmarking, Listing & Testing/Diagnostic Modules.
• Multi-threaded Wizards for all tasks (e.g. Create various reports).
• Multi-processor designed (multi-threaded) benchmarks.
• Full 32-bit, all-new code. Uses all Windows 95/98/Me extensions.
• You still get information on the 16-bit subsystem.
• Windows 95/98/Me support.
• Plug-and-Play support.
• DMI/SMBIOS support.
• VESA, VBE, ACPI, APM, BIOS SMB, I2C & SMBus support.
• Supports AGP, PCI, VESA & EISA.
• WinG, DirectX (DirectDraw, Direct 3D, DSound, DMusic, DPlay, DInput), OpenGL, Glide support and information.
• Detects all new CPUs including the Intel Pentium MMX, Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, Celeron, Xeon, Xeon III, OverDrive; Cyrix 5×86, 6×86, 6x86MX, MII, MIII, MediaGX, MediaGXm; AMD K5, K6, K6-2, K6-2+, K6-III, Athlon (K7); NexGen 586, 686; IDT WinChip C6, WinChip 2, WinChip 2-3D, etc.
• Detects MMX, MMX Enhanced, 3DNow!, 3DNow! Enhanced, SSE (Streaming SIMD) and other CPU information like cache, speed, etc.
• Advanced settings information on modern CPUs.
• Detects Intel, AMD, ALi, SiS, VIA and all other chipsets on the market.
• Network & Internet information.
• Can save, print, fax, e-mail and upload a report.
• Can export a SMS report for Microsoft SMS management system.
• Can export a RPT (hierarchical) report that can be imported into most programs.
• Can export a XML report for electronic data interchange.
• Can export a HTML report directly (with CSS support) or display one dynamically from the XML using XSL & CSS.
• InstallShield Install/UnInstall wizard.
• Compatible with Windows 98’s Task Scheduler or the Sage interface of the Windows 95 Plus! pack.
• Looks better in HiColour/TrueColour (16-bit+) modes.
• See Compatibility List for more information.

The Professional version of SiSoft Sandra adds:

• Same capabilities as the Standard Version, Plus:
• 20 additional modules.
• Network support (IPX/SPX, TCP/IP).
• See Compatibility List for more information.

This is a list of SiSoft Sandra Modules

• System Summary
• CPU/BIOS Info (incl. voltage and temperature)
• Mainboard/Chipset/System Monitors Info
• APM & ACPI (Advanced Power Management) Info (Professional Version Only)
• PCI & AGP bus and devices Info
• Video Information (monitor, card, video bios, caps, etc.)
• OpenGL Information
• Glide Information (Professional Version Only)
• DirectX (DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectSound (3D), DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectInput) Info
• Keyboard Info
• Mouse Info
• Sound Card (wave, midi, aux, mix) Info
• MCI Devices (mpeg, avi, seq, vcr, video-disc, wave) Info
• Joystick Info
• Printers Info
• DOS Memory Info (base, HMA, UMB, XMS, EMS, DPMI, VCPI)
• Windows Memory Information
• Windows (& DOS SubSystem) Information
• Font (Raster, Vector, TrueType) Information
• Modem/ISDN TA Information (Professional Version Only)
• Network Information (Professional Version Only)
• WinSock (Internet) Information
• Drives Information (Removable Hard Disks, CD-ROM/DVD, RamDrives, etc.)
• Ports (Serial/Parallel) Information
• Remote Access Service Connections (Dial-Up, Internet)
• OLE objects/servers Info (Professional Version Only)
• Processes (Tasks, 32 & 16-bit) & Threads Info
• Modules (DLL, DRV, 32 & 16-bit) Info (Professional Version Only)
• DOS Device Drivers Info (Professional Version Only)
• SCSI Information (Professional Version Only)
• CMOS/RTC Information (Professional Version Only)
• CPU Benchmark (MP support)
• CPU Multi-Media Benchmark (including MMX, 3DNow!, 3DNow! Enh, SSE) (MP support)
• Drives (Removable, Hard Disks, Network, RamDrives) Benchmark
• CD-ROM/DVD Benchmark
• Memory Benchmark (MP support)
• Network Benchmark
• CMOS Dump
• Hardware Interrupts Usage
• Software Interrupts Real-Mode (DOS SubSystem) Handlers
• Software Interrupts Protected-Mode (Windows) Handlers (Professional Version Only)
• DMA Channel Usage (Professional Version Only)
• I/O Ports Usage (Professional Version Only)
• Memory Range Usage (Professional Version Only)
• Plug & Play Enumerator (Professional Version Only)
• Hardware registry settings
• Environment settings
• Listings of system files (.ini, .sys, .bat)
• Add new/delete module Wizard
• Create a report or script Wizard (save, print, fax or e-mail in CIM (SMS/DMI), HTML, XML, RPT or TEXT format)
• Performance Enhancing Tips (& Wizard)
• MS-Plus! Sage / Windows 98/Me Task Scheduler interface

Note: If you intend to do some of your own benchmark testing, then you may want to read the Sandra Errata List.

Courtesy, SiSoft Sandra.