Update 2/18/98: Intel announces the availability of the IPEAK family of platform performance tools. 

Ordering and pricing information

Order by calling 800-538-3373 ext. 301.

The IPEAK Graphics Toolkit provides an integrated GUI environment for analyzing and improving graphics hardware and software performance on the Intel Architecture platform.
It is comprised of two tools: IPEAK Graphics Performance Tool (GPT) and Intel Baseline AGP System Evaluation Suite (IBASES)

IPEAK Intel Baseline AGP System Evaluation Suite (IBASES)

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is an exciting new technology aimed at speeding up data-intensive 3D graphics and video applications. AGP is a dedicated port between the motherboard's chipset and the graphics hardware. This port makes greater bandwidth available for moving graphics and video data from system memory to the graphics adapter. The AGP port also removes graphics traffic from the PCI bus, thus allowing for greater throughput for the computer's peripherals that utilize the PCI bus. The Intel Baseline AGP System Evaluation Suite (IBASES) provides a collection of tools that evaluate AGP performance for optimum hardware and software integration. The individual tools evaluate the driver and adapter for AGP texturing volume and throughput, functionally test this combination for support of AGP capabilities through DirectX*5.0, and monitor application utilization of AGP, as well as, traditional local video memory.

IBASES supports proper validation of AGP by enabling the capabilities to test the adapter, the driver and the video memory.

The Driver/Adapter Test evaluates DirectX* memory heaps, namely local video memory, non-local memory (AGP), and system memory. Ten tests are included that perform various stress tests on the heaps. All tests check for memory corruption, memory leaks, and capabilities request compliance.

The AGP Texturing Test clearly demonstrates the advantages of AGP: the capacity to allocate a large amount of textures, and the capability of using these textures efficiently. In addition, the tool has a DMA Texture mode that shows how slowly a comparable PCI adapter would be. This tool displays textures stored in AGP system memory by mapping them to a rectangular grid

The Video Memory Monitor displays the amount of AGP and video memory allocated by a software application in DirectX* heaps over time and provides a visual confirmation of AGP memory usage. The test does this by executing concurrently with the application you wish to monitor. AGP activity can be recorded and played back for a post-mortem analysis of a software application. The recorded log is stored as a compressed file to minimize its size.

For more information about IBASES and AGP, check these resources on the Internet:
http://developer.intel.com/technology/agp/
http://www.agpforum.org/

Key Features

• Test video memory utilization of AGP graphics adapters and drivers using DirectX* 5.0 APIs
• Compares texturing capabilities of traditional DMA adapters versus AGP execute mode adapters and drivers in a simple visual presentation
• Displays local and non-local video memory utilization status and page faults in real-time while AGP software applications execute

System Requirements

• An AGP capable motherboard
• Microsoft* Windows* 98 or Windows* 95 (OSR 2.1)
• AGP graphics adapter with DirectX* 5.0 AGP capable driver. Note that on the OEM Service Release* (OSR2.1), the driver must install the Intel VGARTD.vxd version 1.0.14 or later, otherwise AGP functionality will not be available on this operating system.
  Windows 98 does not require VGARTD.vxd.
  To verify if VxD is installed, check to see if the file VGARTD.vxd exists under the path Windows\System\

Feedback to Graphics Toolkit

Tell us what you think about the IPEAK Graphics Toolkit and what you'd like to see in future releases.