Performance testing

Question

Hi all,

I am working on a game (Metro-style) called "Plop!". On my development system (a HP ProBook 6550b) gameplay is very smooth and crisp.

However, support for additional architectures (like ARM) in Windows 8 gives us developers the responsibility to test how our applications behave on the more lightweight hardware platforms.
Tools to help us with this would be really great. Is there someone at Microsoft that can shed some light on this matter?

Greetings from the Netherlands & many thanks in advance,

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Peter Vrenken - MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer - Atos

Answer 1

Hello Peter,

Performance is something that depends on your goals for the app and the customers’ expectations.  The best bet would be to run your application on as low-end currently shipping Windows 7 machines that you think your customers would use, and that would at least get you a rough estimate of where you may need to focus.  Simulators of course are purely software and not necessarily indicative of the hardware they simulate.  All Windows versions have built-in ETW tracing and Performance Monitor to help with performance.

For ARM information please see the following blogpost: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/02/09/building-windows-for-the-arm-processor-architecture.aspx.

Best Wishes - Eric

Answer 2

Hi Eric,

thanks for the feedback. The blogpost contains indeed very interesting information.

About your tip to test with low-end Windows 7 hardware: I haven't got a clue on how to compare performance on such a system with that of a ARM based one.

The testing chapter in the post describes a test farm in which also racks with ARM based systems are available. I know it will be a longshot, but isn't there a upload-and-test facility through which we can get access to a few of them? :-)
This would be a really neat way for developers to tackle WOA performance hurdles without having access to the required hardware.

Greetings from the cold and rainy Netherlands,

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Peter Vrenken - MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer - Atos

Answer 3

Peter,

I am glad you enjoyed the blog post.  I have passed on your suggestion about the testing.

Best Wishes - Eric

Answer 4

Hi,

Can we get access to WEI (Windows Experience Index) from WinRT? This would be helpful in reducing visual effects and/or FPS as the computer is less powerful.

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FremyCompany - Microsoft Student Partner

Answer 5

FremyCompany,

I do not see anything that would accomplish this.

Best Wishes - Eric

Answer 6

Ok, thanks.

Would be really valuable, though.

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FremyCompany - Microsoft Student Partner