Our testing methods
We've moved to Windows Vista x64 for motherboard testing, and we have also tinkered with our test suite, updating various applications and replacing a few. Unfortunately, Vista's lack of EAX support limits our ability to test 3D positional audio performance, but we've managed to cover all of the other bases.

Keep in mind that the P5K3 Deluxe is running with DDR3 memory while the rest of the systems are equipped with DDR2. We've elected to use DDR3-1066 here, since on the P5K3 Deluxe, running the memory at 1333MHz requires a front-side bus of the same speed.

All tests were run at least twice, and their results were averaged, using the following test systems.

Processor Core 2 Duo E6700 2.67GHz
System bus 1066MHz (266MHz quad-pumped)
Motherboard Asus P5K3 Deluxe Abit IP35 Pro Asus P5K Deluxe Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 MSI P35 Platinum
Bios revision 0201 10 1101 F4 A7345IMS
North bridge Intel P35 Intel P35 Intel P35 Intel P35 Intel P35
South bridge Intel ICH9R Intel ICH9R Intel ICH9R Intel ICH9R Intel ICH9R
Chipset drivers Chipset 8.3.0.1013
AHCI 7.5.0.1017		 Chipset 8.3.0.1013
AHCI 7.5.0.1017		 Chipset 8.3.0.1013
AHCI 7.5.0.1017		 Chipset 8.3.0.1013
AHCI 7.5.0.1017		 Chipset 8.3.0.1013
AHCI 7.5.0.1017
Memory size 2GB (2 DIMMs) 2GB (2 DIMMs) 2GB (2 DIMMs) 2GB (2 DIMMs) 2GB (2 DIMMs)
Memory type Corsair CM3X1024-1066C7 DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5 DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
CAS latency (CL) 7 4 4 4 4
RAS to CAS delay (tRCD) 7 4 4 4 4
RAS precharge (tRP) 7 4 4 4 4
Cycle time (tRAS) 21 12 12 12 12
Audio codec Integrated ICH9R/AD1988B with 5.10.1.6110 drivers Integrated ICH9R/ALC888 with 1.67 drivers Integrated ICH9R/AD1988B with 5.10.1.6110 drivers Integrated ICH9R/ALC889A with 1.67 drivers Integrated ICH9R/ALC888 with 1.67 drivers
Graphics GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB PCI-E with ForceWare 93.71 drivers
Hard drive Western Raptor X 150GB
OS Windows Vista Ultimate x64

Thanks to Corsair for providing us with memory for our testing. 2GB of RAM seems to be the new standard for most folks, and Corsair hooked us up with some of its 1GB DIMMs for testing.

Also, all of our test systems were powered by OCZ GameXStream 700W power supply units. Thanks to OCZ for providing these units for our use in testing.

Finally, we'd like to thank Western Digital for sending Raptor WD1500ADFD hard drives for our test rigs. The Raptor's still the fastest all-around drive on the market, and the only 10K-RPM Serial ATA drive you can buy.

We used the following versions of our test applications:

The test systems' Windows desktop was set at 1280x1024 in 32-bit color at an 85Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests.

All the tests and methods we employed are publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.