| Test Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processors | Intel Core i7-920 Extreme (Bloomfield) 2.66 GHz, LGA 1366, 4.8 GT/s QPI, 8 MB L3, Power-savings enabled |
| Intel Core i7-870 (Lynnfield) 2.93 GHz, LGA 1156, 8 MB L3, Power-savings enabled | |
| Intel Core i5-750 (Lynnfield) 2.66 GHz, LGA 1156, 8 MB L3, Power-savings enabled | |
| Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550S (Yorkfield) 2.83 GHz, LGA 775, 1,333 MHz FSB, 12 MB L2, Power-savings enabled | |
| AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (Deneb) 3.4 GHz, Socket AM3, 4 GT/s HyperTransport, 6 MB L3, Power-savings enabled | |
| Motherboards | Asus P6T (LGA 1366) X58/ICH10R, BIOS 0707 |
| Gigabyte P55-UD6 (LGA 1156) P55, BIOS F3 | |
| Intel DX48BT2 (LGA 775) X48/ICH10R, BIOS 1902 | |
| Asus M4A79T Deluxe (AM3) 790FX/SB750, BIOS 1103 | |
| Memory | Corsair 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1600 7-7-7-20 @ DDR3-1333 |
| Corsair 6 GB (3 x 2 GB) DDR3-1600 7-7-7-20 @ DDR3-1333 | |
| Hard Drive | Intel SSDSA2M160G2GC 160 GB SATA 3 Gb/s |
| Graphics | Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB x2 |
| BFG GeForce GTX 285 OCFU Edition 1GB x2 | |
| Power Supply | Cooler Master UCP 1100W |
| System Software And Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 7 x64 RTM |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Platform Driver | Intel INF Chipset Update Utility 9.1.1.1015 |
| Graphics Driver | Catalyst 9.8 |
| GeForce 190.62 | |
A few notes about our setup here:
Most notably, we've shifted from Windows Vista to Windows 7 for testing. Let us know what you think about this in the comments section, but it was pretty clear that Vista was never a favorite, so we're hoping Windows 7 is a more popular environment in which to test. We can confirm that all of the games benchmarked here work in Windows 7. FS X did have occasional hiccups when loading a map, but restarting the app fixed the problem every time.
It should also be noted that the GeForce GTX 285 OCFU Edition cards are clocked too aggressively for an SLI configuration; we had to manually turn the fan speed up in Nvidia's System Tools utility in order to keep them stable through testing. To be fair, we also had trouble with the Radeon HD 4870 X2s in CrossFire on Asus' P6T, where the top card doesn't get enough fresh air due to spacing issues.
All power-saving options were left enabled so that Turbo Boost, EIST, and Cool'n'Quiet would function as intended in a production environment.
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Benchmark | Setttings |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky | High Quality Settings, No AA / No AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, DirectX 10 / DirectX 10.1 |
| High Quality Settings, 4x AA / No AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, DirectX 10 / DirectX 10.1 | |
| Resident Evil 5 | Fixed Benchmark, No AA / No AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, DirectX 10 |
| Fixed Benchmark, 4x AA / No AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, DirectX 10 | |
| Far Cry 2 | Ultra High Quality Settings, No AA / No AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, Steam Version, DirectX 10 |
| Ultra High Quality Settings, 4x AA / No AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, Steam Version, DirectX 10 | |
| Left 4 Dead | High Quality Settings, No AA / No AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, Tomshardware Demo, Steam Version |
| High Quality Settings, 4x AA / 8x AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, Tomshardware Demo, Steam Version | |
| Grand Theft Auto 4 | Very High Quality Settings, No AA / Max AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, In-Game Benchmark |
| Crysis | Very High Quality Settings, No AA / No AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, DirectX 10, Patch 1.2.1, 64-bit executable |
| Very High Quality Settings, 4x AA / No AF, vsync off, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, DirectX 10, Patch 1.2.1, 64-bit executable | |
| Flight Simulator X | Ultra High Quality Settings, No AA / Trilinear Filtering, 20 fps target, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, DirectX 10 |
| Ultra High Quality Settings, AA Enabled / AF Enabled, 20 fps target, 1680x1050 / 2560x1600, DirectX 10 | |
- Introduction
- Bringing Out The Big Guns
- Test Hardware And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
- Benchmark Results: Resident Evil 5
- Benchmark Results: Far Cry 2
- Benchmark Results: Left 4 Dead
- Benchmark Results: Grand Theft Auto 4
- Benchmark Results: Crysis
- Benchmark Results: Flight Simulator X
- Conclusion

PS: If you want a 3rd and 4th player, you should go discuss x86 licensing with your beloved Intel...
I'd rather have seen 4890 and then 4890CF. That way you see single card performance compared to crossfire instead of dual corssfire compared to quad crossfire.
I do understand why the card is compared to the GTX 285 based on price though.
But excellent review, overall, I'm actually surprised at how the 965BE did, I thought it'd be behind, where it was actually right in the pack.
Great review.
I like vista, rock solid and stable since I got it years ago. Don't listen to the bashers who never have tried the product.
I get a good performance boost from my second gtx280 with my q9650 @ 4 gz
As mentioned in the story, these were tested on 790GX and X48 platforms, which don't do SLI. While there are Nvidia-based SLI platforms available for both configurations, I felt that they were quite a bit more rare and applicable to a much smaller contingent of readers than the CrossFire-capable platforms. The beauty of X58 and P55 is that they'll do both!
Regards,
Chris
I'd rather have seen 4890 and then 4890CF. That way you see single card performance compared to crossfire instead of dual corssfire compared to quad crossfire.
I do understand why the card is compared to the GTX 285 based on price though.
I wish there is a third and fourth player in the market so AMD won't sit on its butt and do nothing. AMD has this idea that “we don’t have to compete on performance, just make our product cheap enough and people will buy it”. That’s what doomed GM and Chrysler.
I wish Nvidia and NEC join/rejoin the CPU market.
I thought people should have learned by now that GPU~intensive tests say little about CPUs, except whether they're 'Good Enough', or not.
PS: If you want a 3rd and 4th player, you should go discuss x86 licensing with your beloved Intel...
Then, I can see x8 PCIe2.0 links hurting the P55 chipset and the X58 showing its true potential.
This will definitely affect SLI/Crossfire setups but I am not sure how it will affect single card solutions.
Agreed. Vista was pretty good after all the manufactures released the drivers. I still think Win 7 is better than XP and Vista.