Path: utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!bobmon
From: bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Cache & Buffers..how many buffers are required?
Message-ID: <19767@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Date: 17 Apr 89 19:58:47 GMT
Reply-To: bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante)
Organization: malkaryotic
Lines: 24

silver@eniac.seas.upenn.edu.UUCP (Andy Silverman) <10004@netnews.upenn.edu> :
-In article <2082@uwovax.uwo.ca> 16012_3705@uwovax.uwo.ca (Jeff Racine) writes:
->
->	Can anybody offer some insight?  I have been told that if you use a 
->disk caching program then you can reduce the number of buffers specified in
->the `Buffers= ' entry in config.sys.
-
-	[ Simtel20 buffer-testing programs... ]	  I used it on my XT
-clone, which I had previously set at 30 buffers, and the thing showed me
-that the best value was in fact five buffers.  So I switched it and noticed
-a substantial performance increase, not to mention saved memory.  So I 
-recommend these programs highly.

I came to exactly the same conclusion "The old-fashioned way:  I EARNED
it."  [-: Dub in snooty voice. :-]  30+ buffers down to FIVE.

Actually I just did a lot of manual config.sys changing and file-access
timing.  Incidentally, old versions of DOS defaulted to 5 buffers, but
recent ones (> 3.1 ?) default to a larger number like 15, based on
memory size -- so you have to explicitly set the buffers.  This caused
quite a blip in my data until I discovered the change in defaults.

(Flame time:  There's still one relic I'd like to cut down that would save
me a cool 30K -- anybody got some ideas for tossing COMMAND.COM? :-)