Test Hardware
| Socket 775 Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 |
| (Conroe 65 nm, 3.00 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache) | |
| DDR3 System Memory | Crucial Ballistix BL12864BA1608.8SFB DDR3-1600 |
| 2x 1024 MB at DDR3-1066, CL 5.0-5-5-15 | |
| DDR2 System Memory | Crucial Ballistix BL12864AA804.16FD3 DDR2-800 |
| 2x 1024 MB at DDR2-1066, CL 5.0-5-5-15 | |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital WD1500ADFD-00NLR1, Firmware : 20.07P20 |
| 150 GB, 10,000 RPM, 16 MB cache, SATA/150 | |
| Graphics Card | Gigabyte GV-RX385512H (Radeon HD 3850) |
| 670MHz GPU, 512MB GDDR3-1660 | |
| Sound Card | Asus Xonar D2X (PCI-Express) |
| Power Supply | Coolermaster RS850-EMBA (850W, ATX12V v2.2) |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| OS | Windows Vista Ultimate 6.0.6000 (Vista Retail) |
| DirectX Version | DirectX 10.0 |
| Platform Drivers | Intel INF 9.0.0.1008 |
| Graphics Driver | ATI Catalyst 8.4 |
We’ve been using Gigabyte’s Radeon HD 3850 for a while, and while it is getting a little old it continues to allow readers to look back at former articles and compare performance levels. Intel’s upcoming socket change will give us a better opportunity to make major changes to our reference configuration.
Crucial’s Ballistix DDR2-800 predates our reference system, yet its ability to run at DDR2-1066 CAS 5.0-5-5-15 allows us to compare DDR2 to DDR3 platforms at the same data rate and timings.
Making for a fair comparison, DDR3 platforms use Ballstix DDR3-1600 CAS 8, slowed to 1066 MHz data rate with tighter CAS 5.0-5-5-15 timings.
Overclock testing is an important part of today’s article, so we used Swiftech’s Apogee GTX water block, MCP-655b high-flow pump and 120 mm x3 fan radiator to keep temperatures near ambient conditions. This Swiftech kit has worked so well for us that it’s been used in five consecutive LGA775 motherboard shootouts.
