Version: 5.0
Visual C++ 5.0 is a C++ compiler by Microsoft released in 1997. I use this as a real-world benchmark for 1997-1999 era CPUs.
In order to benchmark I've taken the Apache 1.3b3 source code (released 1997) and compile it via command line. To record the computing time I've written a very small program in Turbo Pascal to dump the actual time into a file. This way I can record the time when the compiler starts and record the time when it's finished. Deduct the times and you'll get the total computation time.
I can share the source-code and timestamp utility but not the Visual C++ 5.0 application since it's copyrighted by Microsoft.
My benchmark method
1. Install Visual C++ 5.0.
2. Unpack my files to a D:\>-drive so you'll have the following files:
- D:\13b3> which contains the source code
- D:\BENCH.BAT which is the command to start the benchmark.
- D:\SHOWTIME.EXE (and SHOWTIME.PAS) which is the utility to show the current time.
- VCVARS32.BAT which loads the path environment needed for C++. It's called via BENCH.BAT.
You can also run the files from a different drive (like C:\> ) but you'll have to manually change the paths in the BENCH.BAT file. In hindsight I should've written it to work with relative paths
.3. Start BENCH.BAT and let it do its thing. Deduct starting time from the finished time at the end and you'll know how long it took to compile. On my benchmark system Windows run at 1024x768x16@75Hz and the command window is maximised but not full-screen.
The time between 21:48:59 and 21:51:51 is 172 seconds.
Since it does require some I/O by reading source code and writing the compiled binaries scores may differentiate when running the benchmark from system to system. However, on my ALi Aladdin IV (GA-5AX) system I've consistently used the same CF-card drive setup so the computation times are comparable.