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• System HardwareHardwareDetailsSystem ICPUIntel Core i7-920 (45nm, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB L2 Cache)Motherboard (Socket 1366)Supermicro X8SAX Revision: 1.1 Chipset: Intel X58 + ICH10R BIOS: 1.0BRAM3 x 2 GB DDR3-1333 Corsair CM3X1024-1333C9DHXSystem IICPUIntel Core i7-920 (45nm, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB L2 Cache)Motherboard (Socket 1366)Asus Rampage II Gene Revision: 2.0G Chipset: Intel X58 + ICH10R BIOS: 0809RAM3 x 2 GB DDR3-1066 CorsairTR3X6G1600C8DSystem IIICPU AMDAMD Phenom II X4 955 (45 nm, 3.2 GHz, 4 x 512 KB L2 and 6 MB L3 Cache, TDP 125 W, Rev. C2)Motherboard (Socket AM3)Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P (Rev. 1.0) Chipset: AMD 790GX, SB750 BIOS: 3L (04/08/2009)RAM2 x 2 GB DDR3-1600 (Corsair CM3X2G1600C9DHX)System IVCPU AMDAMD Phenom II X4 955 (45 nm, 3.2 GHz, 4 x 512 KB L2 and 6 MB L3 Cache, TDP 125 W, Rev. C2)Motherboard (Socket AM2+)MSI K9N2 Diamond Revision: 1.1 Chipset: Nvidia 780a BIOS: 2.4RAM2 x 2 GB DDR2-1066 GeIL (GE24GB1066C5DC)HDD SystemSeagate NL35 400 GB ST3400832NS 7,200 RPM, SATA/150, 8 MB CacheSystem Drive ControllerPromise SATA 300 TX4HDD6 x Intel X25-E 64 GB SSDGraphicsZotac Geforce GTX 260² GPU: Geforce GTX 260 (576 MHz) Graphics RAM: 896 MB DDR3 (1998 MHz) Stream Processors: 216 Shader Clock: 1242 MHzPower SupplyOCZ EliteXstream 800W OCZ800EXS-EUBenchmarksPerformance Measurementsh2benchw 3.12PCMark Vantage 1.0I/O PerformanceIOMeter 2006.07.27File Server-Benchmark, Web Server-Benchmark, Workstation-Benchmark, Database-BenchmarkStreaming ReadsStreaming WritesSystem Software and DriversDriversDetailsOperating SystemWindows Vista Ultimate SP1AMD Chipset9.6Intel ChipsetChipset Installation Utility 9.1.0.1007Nvidia Forceware15.26Nvidia Graphics186.18Intel Matrix Storage8.7.0.1007AMD RAIDXpert2.4.1540 The Test Drives: 6x Intel X25-E Flash SSDs Intel’s X25-E professional flash SSD has been the premier choice for high-end PC and workstation solutions due to its impressively high performance, both in throughput and I/O performance. Many other flash SSDs might be capable of delivering the same and even more than the 200 MB/s throughput, but most cannot maintain Intel’s high write performance, low latencies, and I/O performance numbers, which are still unmatched. The X25-E has a downside, though: it still costs several hundred dollars for today’s 32 or 64 GB models. Maximum performance comes at the expense of capacity. See more products Intel X25-E Extreme 64GB 2.5"... Dell Small Business $899.99 PC Connection $783.86 NextWarehouse.com $756.75 Other World Computing $759.99 ElectronicsPLUS $774.19

• The Blitz Extreme is the DDR3 motherboard - but for our tests, we selected the Blitz Formula , which is the DDR2 version. The DDR2 motherboard offers equal performance, while the price you pay for memory modules is a lot lower. You will recognize this board by its fusion water block on the Northbridge. A long copper heat pipe connects the Northbridge, the Southbridge and Asus' Crosshair controller, which automatically assigns the 16 PCI Express lanes into one or two x16 slots for AMD/ATI dual graphics. The heat pipe ends at the backpanel, where it also cools four of the eight phases of the voltage regulator and offers a heat sink, which is designed to be ventilated through the processor cooler. If you deploy a water cooling solution you can use two radial fans, which Asus includes. We found the design to be clean and straightforward. You can always use at least one of the two 32 bit PCI slots and at least one of two x1 PCI Express slots - even if you install two dual-slot graphics cards. The six SATA/300 connectors are bent 90° sideways, which allows you to plug in cables without interfering with long expansion cards. Asus also added a small controller to provide a single UltraATA/133 channel for legacy devices. The HD audio solution is placed on a x1 PCI Express expansion card for the sake of decoupling it from the motherboard. While this card, called Supreme FX2, carries all analog (electrical) audio jacks, the optical and coaxial digital audio outputs can be found in the backpanel, right next to an uncommon CMOS reset switch. Be careful when you plug in a Firewire or an optical audio cable, because you could accidentally hit the reset button and kill your settings. Apart from that, the ideal of routing the CMOS reset to the exterior was a good idea. There are also physical power and reset switches on the lower end of the motherboard. The Flash ROM for the BIOS software is 16 Mb, which means that a BIOS update doesn't fit on a 3.5" floppy. However, the motherboard supports BIOS updates via USB 2.0 storage devices. The Blitz Formula comes with a Marvell PHY to support the on-board Gigabit Ethernet port, and it has a secondary Gigabit Ethernet port, powered by another Marvell controller. The Firewire ports are run by a VIA controller and we found as many as six fan headers. We only found solid capacitors on this motherboard, which is a good basis for long durability. We liked Asus' "CPU Level Up" feature, which switches from the classic clock speed setting to a processor-dependant setting. We used a Core 2 Duo E6400 and switched to the Level Up list, where we found Core 2 Extreme X6800 and Core 2 Duo E6850 settings. The Blitz Formula tries to switch to the appropriate clock speeds to match these models, hence it "levels" the clock speed up by automatically increasing the FSB speed and the voltage it may require to do that. A 3 GHz FSB375 speed was easy to reach with the Blitz Formula. Asus supports all current socket 775 processors and says that 45-nm Penryn processors will also be supported, which we are sure is the case. We were able to overclock this motherboard to slightly above 500 MHz FSB speed, which is an excellent result. Asus includes a number of software titles: Stalker, the Asus AI Suite, Asus PC Probe II, Asus Update, 3DMark06, InterVideo MediaOne Gallery, Ulead PhotoImpact 12 SE, CyberLink PowerBackup and Corel Snapfire Plus SE.

• Let’s have a closer look at the technical differences between these integrated graphics processors. IGPs for AMD CPUS: Integrated Radeon HD 4200 Chipset Name: 785G Process: 45nm Platform: AM3 Universal Shaders: 40 Texture Units: 4 ROPs: 4 Memory Bus: 64-bit Core Speed MHz: 500 Memory Speed MHz: 667 (1,333 effective) DirectX / Shader Model: DX 10.1 / SM 4.0 A revamped 780G, the AMD 785G is a new chipset with some appealing features for HTPC enthusiasts under the Universal Video Decoder 2.0 marketing blanket, including picture-in-picture acceleration, dynamic contrast, HD flesh-tone enhancement, and HD color vibrance. Unfortunately, the 785G lacks eight-channel LPCM audio over HDMI, just like its 780G predecessor, although it's capable of playing back lossy six-channel audio such as Dolby Digital or DTS over the HDMI connector. Integrated Radeon HD 3300 Chipset Name: 790GX Process: 55nm Platform: AM2+/AM3 Universal Shaders: 40 Texture Units: 4 ROPs: 4 Memory Bus: 64-bit Core Speed MHz: 700 Memory Speed MHz: 667 (1,333 effective) DirectX / Shader Model: DX 10.1 / SM 4.0 The 790GX chipset is simply an overclocked 780G, so its performance should approach that of the 780G (assuming GPU clock speed won't have much of an effect on video playback or quality). It is slightly handicapped compared to the new 785G chipset, as it features AMD's older UVD 1.0 standard with none of the capabilities listed under the 785G notes above. However, it should still benefit from drivers that have matured a lot over the last year. The 780G and 790GX are limited to two-channel LPCM over HDMI, like the new 785G. Also like the 785G, they can handle six-channel Dolby Digital or DTS. Integrated GeForce 8200 Chipset Name GeForce 8200 Process: 80nm Platform: AM2+ Universal Shaders: 16 Texture Units: 4 ROPs: 4 Memory Bus: 64-bit Core Speed MHz: 500 Memory Speed MHz: 400 (800 effective) DirectX / Shader Model: DX 10 / SM 4.0 The GeForce 8200 has been around for some time as the only HD-capable IGP to compete on AMD's turf. While the 8200 IGP isn't as fast as AMD's 780/790 series in 3D apps, it can handle accelerated HD video playback. It will be interesting to see if the 8200's drivers have improved since our last review, when it scored a zero in the HQV HD video-quality tests. Integrated GeForce 9300/9400 Chipset Name: GeForce 9300/9400 Process: 65nm Platform: LGA 775 Universal Shaders: 16 Texture Units: 8 ROPs: 4 Memory Bus: 64-bit Core Speed MHz: 450 (9300) / 580 (9300) Memory Speed MHz: 400 (800 effective) DirectX / Shader Model: DX 10 / SM 4.0 Nvidia has provided an excellent chipset with its GeForce 9300/9400, bringing very good HD playback to the Intel LGA 775 platform. This GeForce 9300/9400 chipset has featured picture-in-picture acceleration, dynamic contrast, and eight-channel LPCM audio over HDMI for some time now, so it is ahead of the curve. Note that the only difference between the GeForce 9300 and 9400 is a slight clock speed increase, while all other features are identical. IGPs for Intel CPUs: Integrated GMA X4500 Chipset Name: G45 Process: 65nm Platform: LGA 775 Universal Shaders: 10 Texture Units: 4 ROPs: 8 Memory Bus: 64-bit Core Speed MHz: 800 Memory Speed MHz: 400 (800 effective) DirectX / Shader Model: DX 10 / SM 4.0 The GMA X4500 is Intel's best graphics chipset to date, although compared to its AMD and Nvidia competition, it is still underpowered. While it had buggy HD playback on its release, Intel has put a lot of effort into improving its drivers, and the situation has improved a great deal. The G45 is capable of eight-channel LPCM over HDMI too, though it has had some issues in the past as well.