Test System And Benchmarks
A couple notes here: we'll compare this system against the previous $1,300 SBM machine, which was based on a Core i7-920 with two GeForce GTX 260s in SLI.
Unfortunately, we didn't benchmark that system at 2560x1600 before sending it off to the lucky winner of that machine, which is where I anticipate the four Radeon HD 4850s would have shown the biggest advantage. While this is a pity, we'll be able to compare 2560x1600 game benchmarks against Thomas' $2,500 AMD system in the SBM conclusion article, so that will just have to suffice.
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| $1,250 AMD Enthusiast PC Test Settings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Standard Speed | Overclocked | |
| Motherboard | MSI 790FX-GD70 ATX AMD 790FX, AM3 | Unchanged |
| Processor | AMD Phenom II X4 945 @ 3 GHz, 200 MHz Reference Clock | 3.675 GHz at 1.46V 245 MHz Reference Clock |
| Memory | Patriot PVS34G1333LLKN 4GB DDR3-1333 2 x 2GB, CAS 7-7-7-20 | DDR3-1306 |
| Graphics | 4 x Gigabyte GV-R485OC-1GH Radeon HD 4850 in CrossFire 1GB GDDR3-1998 Per Card, 700 MHz GPU | Unchanged |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7,200 RPM, 32 MB Cache SATA 3.0 Gb/s | Unchanged |
| Optical | Sony Optiarc AD-7240S-0B SATA 24X DVD±R | Unchanged |
| Case | NZXT Tempest ATX Tower | Unchanged |
| Power | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad S75CF750 W, ATX12V 2.2, 80-Plus Certified | Unchanged |
| CPU Cooler | Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 | Unchanged |
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| $1,300 Portable Performance PC (from previous SBM) Test Settings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Standard Speed | Overclocked | |
| Motherboard | DFI LANParty Jr X58-T3H6 microATX Intel X58/ICH10R, LGA 1366 | Unchanged |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-920 2.66 GHz, 2.80 GHz Turbo, 133 MHz Bclk, 1.36 V (load) | 3.44 GHz at 1.296V (load), 172 MHz Bclk |
| Memory | G.Skill 10666CL7T 6GB DDR3-1064 3 x 2GB, CAS 8-8-8-19, 1.56V | DDR3-1378 at 1.56V, CAS 8-8-8-19 |
| Graphics | 2 x BFG GeForce GTX 260 in SLI 896MB GDDR3-1998 Per Card 590 MHz GPU, 1,296 MHz shader | 600 MHz GPU, 1,300 MHz shader, GDDR3-2060 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7,200 RPM, 32 MB Cache SATA 3.0 Gb/s | Unchanged |
| Optical | Lite-On iHAS422 SATA 22X DVD±R | Unchanged |
| Case | SilverStone TJ08-B microATX Mini-Tower | Unchanged |
| Power | PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad S75QB750 W, ATX12V 2.2, 80-Plus Certified | Unchanged |
| CPU Cooler | Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 | Unchanged |
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| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Crysis | Patch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Very High Quality, No AA |
| Far Cry 2 | DirectX 10, in-game benchmark Test Set 1: Very High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra High Quality, 4x AA |
| World In Conflict | Patch 1009, DirectX 10, timedemo Test 1: Very High Details, No AA/No AF Test 2: Very High Details 4x AA/16x AF |
| Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. | DirectX 10.1, in-game benchmark Test Set 1: Highest Settings, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 4x AA |
| Fallout 3 | Patch 1.0.0.17, Saved Game "Capital Wasteland" (60 sec) Test Set 1: Highest Details, No AA, No AF Test Set 2: Highest Details, 4x AA, 15x AF |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| iTunes 8 | Version: 8.1.0.52 (x64) Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min Default format AAC |
| Lame MP3 | Version: 3.98 64bits (07-04-2008) Audio CD "Terminator II," 53 min. wave to MP3 |
| TMPGEnc 4.6 | Version: 4.6.3.268 Import File: "Terminator 2" SE DVD (5 Minutes) Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9 |
| DivX 6.8.5 | Encoding mode: Insane Quality Enhanced multithreading enabled using SSE4 Quarter-pixel search |
| Xvid 1.2.1 | Display encoding status = off |
| Mainconcept Reference 1.6.1 | 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 Kb/s), Mode: PAL (25 FPS) |
| Productivity | |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 | Version: 11.0, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV) |
| Photoshop CS4 (64-bit) | Version: 11.0 Extended, Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Gisoft AVG Anti-Virus 8.5 | Version: 8.5.287, Virus database 2094, Benchmark: Scan 334 MB Folder of ZIP/RAR compressed files |
| WinRAR 3.80 | Version 3.80, WinZip Command line Version 3.0, Compression = Best, Dictionary = 4,096 KB, Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB) |
| WinZip 12 | Version 12.0, 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 2009 SP3 | Version 2009.4.15.92, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / Multimedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
