Our testing methods
As ever, we did our best to deliver clean benchmark numbers. Tests were run at least three times, and the results were averaged.

Our test systems were configured like so:

ProcessorsDual Xeon 5160 3.0GHz
Dual Xeon 5355 2.66GHz		Dual Opteron 2218 2.6GHz
System bus1333MHz (333MHz quad-pumped)1GHz HyperTransport
MotherboardSuperMicro X7DB8+Tyan Tiger K8SSA (S3992)
BIOS revision10/02/20069/20/2006
North bridgeIntel 5000P MCHServerWorks BCM 5780
South bridgeIntel 6321 ESB ICHServerWorks BCM 5785
Chipset driversINF Update 8.1.1.10019.81.0.0.D
Memory size8GB (8 DIMMs)8GB (8 DIMMs)
Memory typeATP 1024MB DDR2-667 FB-DIMMs at 667MHzATP 1024MB ECC reg. DDR2-667 DIMMs at 667MHz
CAS latency (CL)55
RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)55
RAS precharge (tRP)55
Cycle time (tRAS)1513
Storage controllerIntel 6321 ESB ICH with
Intel Matrix Storage Manager 6.2		Broadcom RAIDCore with
2.1.6044.3 drivers
Hard drives2 x WD Caviar WD1600YD 160GB in RAID 0
GraphicsIntegrated ATI ES1000 with 6.14.10.6553 drivers
OSWindows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
Power supplyAblecom PWS-702A-1R 700W

We used the following versions of our test applications:

The tests and methods we employ are usually publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.