Test notes
We totally faked some of this. I don't actually have a Core 2 Quad Q9450, so I underclocked a Core 2 Extreme QX9650 in order to simulate one. The performance should be exactly the same, so no worries. I can't say the same for sure about power consumption, though, so I left the Q9450 out of those tests. We used the same basic method to simulate a Core 2 Duo E8400 with an underclocked E8500 and a Phenom X3 8450 with an underclocked 8750.
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:
| Processor | Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz | Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3.00GHz |
Core 2 Extreme QX9770 3.2GHz | Dual Core 2 Extreme QX9775 3.2GHz | Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8GHz Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0GHz Athlon 64 X2 6400+ 3.2GHz |
Phenom
9500 2.2GHz Phenom 9600 2.3GHz |
| Core 2 Extreme QX9650 3.00GHz | Phenom
X3 8450 2.1GHz Phenom X3 8750 2.4GHz Phenom X4 9750 2.4GHz Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition 2.5GHz |
|||||
| Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz | ||||||
| Core
2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5GHz Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz |
||||||
| System bus | 1066MHz (266MHz quad-pumped) | 1333MHz (333MHz quad-pumped) | 1600MHz (400MHz quad-pumped) | 1600MHz (400MHz quad-pumped) | 1GHz HyperTransport | 1GHz HyperTransport |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6 | Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6 | Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 | Intel D5400XS | Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe | MSI K9A2 Platinum |
| BIOS revision | F1 | F1 | F6b | XS54010J.86A.0780. 2008.0110.1956 |
1201 | VP.0B7
(No patch) V1.2B1 (TLB patch) |
| F4 | V1.3 | |||||
| F5c | ||||||
| F5c | ||||||
| North bridge | P35 Express MCH | P35 Express MCH | X38 Express MCH | 5400 MCH | nForce 590 SLI SPP | 790FX |
| South bridge | ICH9R | ICH9R | ICH9R | 6321ESB ICH | nForce 590 SLI MCP | SB600 |
| Chipset drivers | INF Update 8.3.0.1013 Intel Matrix Storage Manager 7.5 |
INF Update 8.3.0.1013 Intel Matrix Storage Manager 7.5 |
INF Update 8.3.0.1013 Intel Matrix Storage Manager 7.5 |
INF Update
8.5.0.1009 Intel Matrix Storage Manager 7.8 |
ForceWare 15.01 | - |
| Memory size | 4GB (4 DIMMs) | 4GB (4 DIMMs) | 4GB (4 DIMMs) | 4GB (2 DIMMs) | 4GB (4 DIMMs) | 4GB (4 DIMMs) |
| Memory type | Corsair TWIN3X2048-1333C9DHX DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz |
Corsair TWIN3X2048-1333C9DHX DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz |
Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz |
Micron ECC DDR2-800 FB-DIMM at 800MHz | Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500 DDR2 SDRAM at ~800MHz |
Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz |
| CAS latency (CL) | 8 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| RAS to CAS delay (tRCD) | 8 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| RAS precharge (tRP) | 8 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Cycle time (tRAS) | 20 | 24 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 |
| Audio | Integrated ICH9R/ALC889A with Realtek 6.0.1.5449 drivers |
Integrated ICH9R/ALC889A with Realtek 6.0.1.5449 drivers |
Integrated
ICH9R/ALC889A with Realtek 6.0.1.5449 drivers |
Integrated
6321ESB/STAC9274D5 with SigmaTel 6.10.5511.0 drivers |
Integrated nForce 590 MCP/AD1988B with Soundmax 6.10.2.6100 drivers |
Integrated
SB600/ALC888 with Realtek 6.0.1.5532 drivers |
| Hard drive | WD Caviar SE16 320GB SATA | |||||
| Graphics | GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB PCIe with ForceWare 163.11 and 163.71 drivers | |||||
| OS | Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Edition | |||||
| OS updates | KB940105, KB929777 (nForce/790FX systems only), KB938194, KB938979 | |||||
Please note that testing was conducted in two stages. Non-gaming apps and Supreme Commander were tested with Vista patches KB940105 and KB929777 (nForce/790FX systems only) and ForceWare 163.11 drivers. The other games were tested with the additional Vista patches KB938194 and KB938979 and ForceWare 163.71 drivers.
Thanks to Corsair for providing us with memory for our testing. Their products and support are far and away superior to generic, no-name memory.
Our single-socket test systems were powered by OCZ GameXStream 700W power supply units. The dual-socket systems were powered by PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR power supplies. Thanks to OCZ for providing these units for our use in testing.
Also, the folks at NCIXUS.com hooked us up with a nice deal on the WD Caviar SE16 drives used in our test rigs. NCIX now sells to U.S. customers, so check them out.
The test systems' Windows desktops were set at 1280x1024 in 32-bit color at an 85Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled.
We used the following versions of our test applications:
- SiSoft Sandra XI.SP4a 64-bit
- CPU-Z 1.40
- WorldBench 6 beta 2
- Team Fortress 2
- Lost Planet: Extreme Condition with DirectX 10
- BioShock 1.0 with DirectX 10
- Supreme Commander 1.1.3260
- Valve VRAD map build benchmark
- Valve Source Engine particle simulation benchmark
- Cinebench R10 64-bit Edition
- POV-Ray for Windows 3.7 beta 21a 64-bit
- CASE Lab Euler3d CFD benchmark multithreaded edition
- MyriMatch proteomics benchmark
- notfred's Folding benchmark CD 8/8/07 revision
- picCOLOR 4.0 build 598 64-bit
- The Panorama Factory 4.5 x64 Edition
- Windows Media Encoder 9 x64 Edition
- LAME MT 3.97a 64-bit
- VirtualDub 1.7.6 with DivX 6.7
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.
