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• System HardwareBenchmarksDetailsPerformance BenchmarksMotherboard (Socket AM3)Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P (Rev. 1.0) Chipset: AMD 790GX, SB750 BIOS: 5c (04/01/2009)RAM DDR3 (Dual)2 x 2GB DDR3-1600 (Corsair CM3X2G1600C9DHX) 2 x 1GB DDR3-1600 (Crucial BL12864BA1608.8SFB)at DDR3-1066 speedCommon HardwareCPU AMD IAMD Phenom II X4 965 (45nm, 3.4 GHz, 4 x 512KB L2 and 6MB L3 Cache, TDP 140W, Rev. C2)CPU AMD IIAMD Athlon II X4 620 (45nm, 2.6 GHz, 4 x 512KB L2 Cache, TDP 95W, Rev. C2)GraphicsZotac GeForce GTX 260² GPU: GeForce GTX 260 (576 MHz) Graphics RAM: 896MB DDR3 (1998 MHz) Stream Processors: 216 Shader Clock: 1242 MHzHard DriveWestern Digital VelociRaptor, 300GB (WD3000HLFS) 10,000 RPM, SATA/300, 16MB CacheBlu-Ray DriveLG GGW-H20L, SATA/150Power SupplyPC Power & Cooling, Silencer 750EPS12V 750WSystem Software and DriversOperating SystemWindows Vista Enterprise Version 6.0 x64 Service Pack 2 (Build 6000)Drivers and SettingsAMD Chipset DriversCatalyst Control Center 9.4Intel Chipset DriversChipset Installation Utility Ver. 9.1.0.1012Intel Storage DriversMatrix Storage Drivers Ver. 8.8.0.10093D-Games Benchmarks and SettingsBenchmarkDetailsFar cry 2Version: 1.0.1 Far Cry 2 Benchmark Tool Video Mode: 1280x800 Direct3D 9 Overall Quality: Medium Bloom activated HDR off Demo: Ranch SmallGTA IVVersion: 1.0.3 Video Mode: 1280x1024 - 1280x1024 - Aspect Ratio: Auto - All options: Medium - View Distance: 30 - Detail Distance: 100 - Vehicle Density: 100 - Shadow Density: 16 - Definition: On - Vsync: Off Ingame BenchmarkLeft 4 DeadVersion: 1.0.0.5 Video Mode: 1280x800 Game Settings - Anti Aliasing none - Filtering Trilinear - Wait for vertical sync disabled - Shader Detail Medium - Effect Detail Medium - Model/Texture Detail Medium Demo: THG Demo 1Audio Benchmarks and SettingsBenchmarkDetailsiTunesVersion: 8.1.0.52 Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min. Convert to AAC audio formatLame MP3Version 3.98 Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min convert WAV to MP3 audio format Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kbps)Video Benchmarks and SettingsBenchmarkDetailsTMPEG 4.6Version: 4.6.3.268 Video: Terminator 2 SE DVD (720x576, 16:9) 5 Minutes Audio: Dolby Digital, 48000 Hz, 6-channel, English Advanced Acoustic Engine MP3 Encoder (160 Kbps, 44.1 kHz)DivX 6.8.5Version: 6.8.5 == Main Menu == default == Codec Menu == Encoding mode: Insane Quality Enhanced multithreading Enabled using SSE4 Quarter-pixel search == Video Menu == Quantization: MPEG-2XviD 1.2.1Version: 1.2.1 Other Options / Encoder Menu - Display encoding status = offMainconcept Reference 1.6.1Version: 1.6.1 MPEG-2 to MPEG-2 (H.264) MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2) Audio: MPEG2 (44.1 kHz, 2-channel, 16-bit, 224 Kbps) Codec: H.264 Mode: PAL (25 FPS) Profile: Settings for eight threadsAdobe Premiere Pro CS4Version: 4.0 WMV 1920x1080 (39 sec) Export: Adobe Media Encoder == Video == H.264 Blu-ray 1440x1080i 25 High Quality Encoding Passes: one Bitrate Mode: VBR Frame: 1440x1080 Frame Rate: 25 == Audio == PCM Audio, 48 kHz, Stereo Encoding Passes: oneApplication Benchmarks and SettingsBenchmarkDetailsGrisoft AVG Anti Virus 8Version: 8.5.287 Virus base: 270.12.16/2094 Benchmark Scan: some compressed ZIP and RAR archivesWinrar 3.9Version 3.90 x64 BETA 1 Compression = Best Benchmark: THG-WorkloadWinzip 12Version 12.0 (8252) WinZIP Commandline Version 3 Compression = Best Dictionary = 4096KB Benchmark: THG-WorkloadAutodesk 3D Studio Max 2009Version: 9 x64 Rendering Dragon Image Resolution: 1920x1280 (frame 1-5)Adobe Photoshop CS 4 (64-Bit)Version: 11 Filtering a 16MB TIF (15000x7266) Filters: Radial Blur (Amount: 10; Method: zoom; Quality: good) Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark sysmbol) Median (Radius: 1 px) Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar)Adobe Acrobat 9 professionalVersion: 9.0.0 (Extended) == Printing Preferenced Menu == Default Settings: Standard == Adobe PDF Security - Edit Menu == Encrypt all documents (128-bit RC4) Open Password: 123 Permissions Password: 321Microsoft Powerpoint 2007Version: 2007 SP2 PPT to PDF Powerpoint Document (115 Pages) Adobe PDF-PrinterDeep Fritz 11Version: 11 Fritz Chess Benchmark Version 4.2Synthetic Benchmarks and SettingsBenchmarkDetails3DMark VantageVersion: 1.02Options: Performance Graphics Test 1 Graphics Test 2 CPU Test 1 CPU Test 2PCMark VantageVersion: 1.00 PCMark Benchmark Memory BenchmarkSiSoftware Sandra 2009Version: 2009 SP3 Processor Arithmetic, Cryptography, Memory Bandwith GA-MA790FXT-UD5P... Newegg.com $174.99 PC Connection $207.86 Directron $176.99 Compuvest $193.75 CDW.com $209.99 Efficiency Considerations Typically, we would measure idle and peak power consumption and look at the system efficiency by tracking power required to complete a specific workload (typically PCMark Vantage). From this, we could calculate the resulting performance per watt. However, we had to modify several variables which wouldn’t normally appear in real life. We reduced the Phenom’s clock speed and had to disable Cool’n’Quiet so the Phenom II X4 965 would run at a constant 2.6 GHz instead of its 3.4 GHz default. Since the slowest Phenom II X4 starts at 3.0 GHz, hardly anyone would run it at decreased speeds. In addition, we decreased the Phenom II’s memory speed to DDR3-1066 to match AMD’s specification for the Athlon II X4. Now, there is a measurable power consumption benefit if you opt for a processor without L3 cache. Cache alone accounts for roughly one-third of the processor’s silicon real estate. This becomes clear when you look at the processor’s power ratings. AMD rates the Phenom II at 95W to 140W while the Athlon II X4 is a 95W part. The peak power of our test system equipped with the Phenom II X4 965 at 3.4 GHz hit 226W while the 2.6 GHz Athlon II X4 maxes at 170W. Idle power tells a similar story. We measured 84W for the Athlon II X4 620 and 85W for the same system running a Phenom II X4 965. In these cases, Cool’n’Quiet was enabled, so processors throttled the voltage and clock speed to as little as 800 MHz. Since most sections of the processors that aren’t in use are largely switched off, idle power doesn’t differ much between our contenders.

• OS X’s GUI is running on an OpenGL backbone, hence, animations are extremely fast, and things move in a very fluid manner. Everything is rendered through OpenGL. Because of this, GUI duties are significantly less taxing on the main processor, and when you’re on the desktop doing work, processing for the interface is offloaded to the otherwise idling GPU. One popular game such as Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, available for both platforms, actually integrates Fraps into the game, allowing players to record in-game videos as they play, without the need to install a utility. The point here isn’t that you can do exactly the same thing by using a utility in Windows, it’s that OS X is OpenGL, allowing much better resource control and other graphical features like built in Fraps. Quick View One exceptional feature that’s integrated into Leopard is the ability to "quick view" many different file formats. I don’t need to open a PDF viewer to take a look at a PDF document. Just select the file and hit the space bar. A window pops up with the document fully displayed and scrollable. Quick View is compatible with many audio, video, and document formats and you can even Quick View multiple files of different formats at the same time. Dashboard Apple introduced the concept of widgets with the release of Tiger, and there are tons of useful as well as entertaining widgets that are free for use. Widgets are easily accessible from the Dashboard, which flows right onto your screen when you need it. Simple tools such as calculator, system status, and other things can be accessed from Dashboard. Google for example has a Gmail widget, which when launched, shows you your Gmail inbox without having to open a web browser or email client. One of the best system monitoring tools out there is iStat Pro, which details everything from core temperatures to fan speeds and other statistics.

• The “Lifeline” operating system from EMC that comes with the Intel SS4200-E leaves us with mixed feelings. On one hand, the NAS device is easy to set up and use. On the other hand, it’s almost too easy—enthusiasts will be forced to sit through some of the features intended to dumb-down network storage, like automatic RAID configuration. Automatic RAID Configuration Once the Intel SS4200-E is connected to the network, the baseline configuration is done by the "Intel System Storage Manager" program, which comes on a CD included with the device. The default setup contains, for example, a step to set a password for administrative access, as well as to enter the date and time. However the user cannot directly access the hard drive configuration. If you install two hard drives, they will automatically be put into a RAID 1 configuration; if you have four hard drives, they are automatically put in a RAID 5 configuration. In spite of the automatic setup procedure, the user can manually access the configuration of the NAS device after the initial configuration. In order to do so, you log on to the Web interface using the password created during initial configuration. Here you have to be careful, because the data on the hard drives will always be lost when the RAID mode is changed. Setting up the RAID mode and formatting the hard drives can take several hours, depending on the number and capacity of the drives. As an alternative to the RAID 5 configuration, with four hard drives, you can also choose a RAID 10 configuration. Unfortunately, this cannot be done until you set up a RAID 5 array first. Web Interface Design The Web interface is well-organized, and you can access it using Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, as well as Google’s Chrome. The PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo Wii browsers are also supported. On the start page you will find frequently-used functions, like creating user profiles and folders, creating and restoring data backups, and searching. The search function lets you find files on the NAS device that are recognized by the integrated index server. Common file types are supported: .txt, .php, .doc, .xls, .pdf, .ppt, and .html. The “Dashboard” menu gives you an overview of the system’s status. It shows free and used storage space as well as the device’s RAID mode. You have access to folder and user administration through the menu’s "Shared Folders" and "Users" options, respectively, and can find the extended configuration under the menu "Settings". Extended Configuration Here you will find settings for the power saving modes of the hard drives, an event log, group administration, as well as email notification settings (used in case of hard drive failure). To be able to use group administration, NFS network protocol support, event logs, as well as further improvements to the details, you need firmware version 1.1.11.32736. Although this version contains several improvements compared to the previous firmware version, it is still missing some crucial features: online capacity extension and RAID-level migration. If you’re running out of storage space, or you decide to switch from RAID level 10 to RAID level 5, you have no choice but to back up all of your data and restore it later. When the RAID level is changed, all data is erased. Network Management With SNMP It doesn’t really make sense that the Intel SS4200-E supports a feature that private users will never use because it is primarily employed in professional environments: the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). SNMP is used to monitor and control network elements like servers, routers, switches or NAS devices from a central location. With that said, perhaps it’d work in a small office managed remotely by a VAR.