Test Systems And Benchmarks
Here are our two overclocked configurations, side by side:
| System | Intel | AMD |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Core i7 920 @ 3.8 GHz (190 MHz x 20) | Phenom II X4 940 @ 3.64 GHz (202 MHz x 18) |
| Cooler | Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme | Ajigo MF091 |
| Motherboard | Asus Rampage II Extreme | Asus M3A78-T |
| RAM | Corsair 6 GB Dominator DDR3-1600 CAS 8 | Corsair 4 GB Dominator DDR2-1066 CAS 5 |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon HD 4870 X2 (8.12 special) | AMD Radeon HD 4870 X2 (8.12 special) |
| Hard Drives | Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 250 GBIntel 80 GB MLC SSD | Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 250 GBIntel 80 GB MLC SSD |
| Sound | Integrated | Integrated |
| Network | Integrated | Integrated |
| Power | Cooler Master UCP 1100W | Cooler Master UCP 1100W |
| Optical | Lite-On DH-4O1S | Lite-On DH-4O1S |
Naturally, there are going to be points of contention here. First of all, there are the memory capacities: 4 GB versus 6 GB. That’s a system architecture detail, and both capacities are what we’d consider sweet spots for each respective platform. Then there are the motherboard discrepancies for testing: a high-end Asus board versus a mid-range Asus board with more than $150 separating them. We settled on a 3.8 GHz overclock with our Core i7, although Thomas was able to take his retail sample to 4 GHz. The more conservative clock speed chosen here should reflect our less-expensive recommendation. And although our German team was able to get its Phenom II running at 3.8 GHz, ours topped out just under 3.65, despite some extremely aggressive settings. We got most of the numbers run at 3.7 GHz, but the handful that won’t complete forced us to drop just a bit.
All of these tests were run under Windows Vista x64. It's also worth noting that AMD supplied special drivers for Phenom II testing, although this shouldn't emerge as statistically significant, since we aren't comparing any Nvidia cards in this particular situation.
| Benchmarks and Settings | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Crysis | Version: 1.2.1, Video Quality: Very High Details, Demo: CPU-Benchmark + Tom’s Hardware Tool |
| Far Cry 2 | Quality settings set to max, 2560x1600/1920x1200, latest Steam version, in-game benchmark (Ranch medium). |
| Left 4 Dead | Quality settings set to max, 2560x1600/1920x1200, latest Steam version, timed demo. |
| Call of Duty: World at War | Quality settings set to max, 2560x1600/1920x1200, Patch v1.1, 60s FRAPS run through Semper Fi campaign. |
| Audio Encoding | |
| iTunes | Version: 7.7.0.43, Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 min., Default format AAC |
| Lame MP3 | Version: 3.98 Beta 3 (05-22-2007), Audio CD ""Terminator II" SE, 53 min, wave to MP3, 160 Kb/s |
| Video Encoding | |
| TMPEG 4.5 | Version: 4.5.1.254, Import File: Terminator 2 SE DVD (5 Minutes), Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9 |
| DivX 6.8.3 | Encoding mode: Insane Quality, Enhanced Multi-threading, Enabled using SSE4, Quarter-pixel search |
| XviD 1.1.3 | Display encoding status=off |
| Mainconcept Reference 1.5.1 Reference H.264 Plugin Pro 1.5.1 | MPEG2 to MPEG2 (H.264), MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG2), Audio: MPEG2 (44.1 KHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kbp/s), Mode: PAL (25 FPS), Profile: Tom’s Hardware Settings for Qct-Core |
| Applications | |
| Autodesk 3D Studio Max 9 | Version: 9.0, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV) |
| Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus 8 | Version: 8.0.134, Virus base: 270.4.5/1533, Benchmark: Scan 334 MB Folder of ZIP/RAR compressed files |
| Winrar 3.80 | Version 3.70 BETA 8, WinZIP Commandline Version 2.3, Compression= Best, Dictionary= 4,096 KB, Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB) |
| Winzip 11 | Version 11.2, Compression=Best, Benchmark: THG-Workload (139 MB) |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| 3DMark Vantage | Version: 1.02, GPU and CPU scores |
| PCMark Vantage | Version: 1.00, System, Memory, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks, Windows Media Player 10.00.00.3646 |
| SiSoftware Sandra XII SP2 | Version 2008.5.14.24, CPU Test=CPU Arithmetic/MultiMedia, Memory Test=Bandwidth Benchmark |
