Test System & Benchmarks - Tom's SBM: The $1,500 Mainstream PC

Now that we’ve looked at our choices and justifications in detail, let’s recap our components one more time before getting into the benches :

$1,500 Mainstream System Test Configuration
Component	Base Settings	Overclock Setting
CPU	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz, FSB 1066, 8 MB Cache	3.456 GHz (9x 384 MHz), FSB-1536 1.45 V Core
CPU Cooler	Swiftech H20-220	Swiftech H20-220
Motherboard	DFI Lanparty X38 Intel X38, BIOS 6.00 (03/19/2008) Northbridge Voltage : 1.40V
RAM	4.0 GB Patriot Viper DDR2-800 Model PVS24G6400LLK 2x 2048 MB, DDR2-800, CL 5-5-5-12 at 1.90V 2x 2048 MB, DDR2-800, CL 5-5-5-12 at 1.90V	2x 2048MB, DDR2-768, CL 5-5-5-12 at 2.10V
Graphics	2x ASUS Radeon 4850 TOP (Crossfire) 2x ATI 4850 GPU, 685 MHz 2x 512 MB DDR3 1050 MHz	700 MHz GPU, DDR3 (1070 MHz)
Hard Drives	2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB ST3500630AS (RAID 0) 1.0 TB, 7,200 RPM, 32 MB Cache	Unchanged
Sound	Onboard	Unchanged
Network	Integrated Gigabit Networking	Integrated Gigabit Networking
Power	Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX 2.01, 60A 12V Rail	Unchanged
Optical	LITE-ON 20X DVD±R SATA Model iHAS120-04	Unchanged
Software and Drivers
Operating System	Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit, SP1	Unchanged
Graphics Driver	ATI Catalyst 8.10 32-bit Edition	Unchanged
Onboard Device Drivers	DFI Lanparty DK X38/X48 v .001	Unchanged

You know the hardware, you know the overclock, so let’s have a detailed look at the benchmarks and settings before we scrutinize the results.

3D-Game Benchmarks and Settings
Crysis	Version : 1.2.1 Video Quality : Very High Details Demo : CPU-Benchmark + Tom’s Hardware Tool
Supreme Commander Forged Alliance	Version : 1.5.3599 Video Quality : Highest Settings Demo : WallaceTX_006_006 Benchmark : Fraps 2.9.4 - Build 7037
Unreal Tournament 3	Version : 1.2 Sound and DirectX10 Texture Details : 5 Level Details : 5 Demo : vCTF-Reflection_bot Time : 12/60
World in Conflict	Version : 1.0.0.9 Video Quality : Very High details Demo : Game-Benchmark

Audio Benchmarks and Settings
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 Benchmarks and Settings
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 multithreading 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 kbps) Mode : PAL (25 FPS) Profile : Tom’s Hardware Settings for Qct-Core

Application Benchmarks and Settings
Autodesk 3D Studio Max 9	Version : 9.0 Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV)
Adobe Photoshop CS 3	Version : 10.0x20070321 Filtering from a 69 MB TIF-Photo Benchmark : Tomshardware-Benchmark V1.0.0.4 Filters : Crosshatch, Glass, Sumi-e, Accented Edges, Angled Strokes, Sprayed Strokes
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 = 4096 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

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