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:

Processors Dual Xeon E5450 3.0GHz Dual Xeon X5492 3.4GHz Dual Xeon L5430 2.66GHz Dual Xeon X5550 2.66GHz
Dual Xeon W5580 3.2GHz		 Dual Opteron 2347 HE 1.9GHz
Dual Opteron 2356 2.3GHz		 Dual Opteron 2384 2.7GHz
Dual Opteron 2389 2.9GHz
Dual Opteron 2435 2.6GHz
System bus 1333 MT/s
(333MHz)		 1600 MT/s
(400MHz)		 1333 MT/s
(333MHz)		 QPI 6.4 GT/s
(3.2GHz)		 HT 2.0 GT/s
(1.0GHz)		 HT 2.0 GT/s
(1.0GHz)
HT 4.4 GT/s
(2.2GHz)
HT 4.8 GT/s
(2.4GHz)
Motherboard SuperMicro X7DB8+ SuperMicro X7DWA Asus RS160-E5 SuperMicro X8DA3 SuperMicro H8DMU+ SuperMicro H8DMU+
BIOS revision 6/23/2008 8/04/2008 8/08/2008 2/20/2009 3/25/08 10/15/08
10/15/08
05/18/09
North bridge Intel 5000P MCH Intel 5400 MCH Intel 5100 MCH Intel 5520 MCH Nvidia nForce Pro 3600 Nvidia nForce Pro 3600
South bridge Intel 6321 ESB ICH Intel 6321 ESB ICH Intel ICH9R Intel ICH10R Nvidia nForce Pro 3600 Nvidia nForce Pro 3600
Chipset drivers INF Update 9.0.0.1008 INF Update 9.0.0.1008 INF Update 9.0.0.1008 INF Update 8.9.0.1006 - -
Memory size 16GB (8 DIMMs) 16GB (8 DIMMs) 6GB (6 DIMMs) 24GB (6 DIMMs) 16GB (8 DIMMs) 16GB (8 DIMMs)
Memory type 2048MB DDR2-800 FB-DIMMs 2048MB DDR2-800 FB-DIMMs 1024MB registered ECC
DDR2-667 DIMMs		 4096MB registered ECC
DDR3-1333 DIMMs		 2048MB registered ECC
DDR2-800 DIMMs		 2048MB registered ECC
DDR2-800 DIMMs
Memory speed (Effective) 667MHz 800MHz 667MHz 1333MHz 667MHz 800MHz
CAS latency (CL) 5 5 5 10 5 6
RAS to CAS delay (tRCD) 5 5 5 9 5 5
RAS precharge (tRP) 5 5 5 9 5 5
Storage controller Intel 6321 ESB ICH with
Matrix Storage Manager 8.6 		Intel 6321 ESB ICH with
Matrix Storage Manager 8.6 		Intel ICH9R with
Matrix Storage Manager 8.6 		Intel ICH10R with
Matrix Storage Manager 8.6 		Nvidia nForce Pro 3600 LSI Logic Embedded MegaRAID
with 8.9.518.2007 drivers
Power supply Ablecom PWS-702A-1R 700W Ablecom PWS-702A-1R 700W FSP Group FSP460-701UG 460W Ablecom PWS-702A-1R 700W Ablecom PWS-702A-1R 700W Ablecom PWS-702A-1R 700W
Graphics Integrated ATI ES1000 with 8.240.50.3000 drivers Integrated ATI ES1000 with 8.240.50.3000 drivers Integrated XGI Volari Z9s with 1.09.10_ASUS drivers Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS with ForceWare 182.08 drivers Integrated ATI ES1000 with 8.240.50.3000 drivers Integrated ATI ES1000 with 8.240.50.3000 drivers
Hard drive WD Caviar WD1600YD 160GB
OS Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x64 Edition with Service Pack 1

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.