Test Settings And Benchmarks
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| Test Hardware Configurations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Q1 2013 $1000 PC | Q4 2012 $2000 PC |
| Processor (Overclock) | Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.40 GHz, 1.28 V | Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.40 GHz, 1.26 V |
| Graphics (Overclock) | PowerColor 2GBD5-2DHPPV3E: 975 MHz GPU, GDDR5-6000 O/C to 1,200 MHz GDDR5-6400 | 2 x MSI R7970-2PMD3GD5/OC: 1,010 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5500 O/C to 1,125 MHz GDDR5-6300 |
| Memory (Overclock) | 8 GB Crucial DDR3-1600 CAS 8-8-8-24, O/C at 1.50 V to DDR3-2133 CL 9-9-9-24 | 16 GB G.Skill DDR3-1600 CAS 8-8-8-24, O/C at 1.60 V to DDR3-2133 CL 10-11-10-24 |
| Motherboard (Overclock) | ASRock Z77 Extreme4: LGA 1155, Intel Z77 Express Stock 100 MHz BCLK | Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H: LGA 1155, Intel Z77 Express Stock 100 MHz BCLK |
| Optical | Lite-On iHAS124 24x DVD±R | Asus BW-12B1ST 16x BD-R |
| Case | Rosewill Redbone U3 | Cooler Master Storm Enforcer |
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo |
| Hard Drive | Mushkin Chronos Deluxe DX 240 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD | |
| Power | Antec Neo Eco 520C: ATX12V v2.3, 80 PLUS | Corsair HX750: ATX12V V2.3 80 PLUS Gold |
| Software | ||
| OS | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | |
| Graphics | AMD Catalyst 13.1 | AMD Catalyst 12.10 |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.3.0.1026 | Intel INF 9.3.0.1020 |
The overclocks between this month’s Core i5 and our previous Core i7 builds are surprisingly similar, even though the previous build’s CPU was good enough to run 4.40 GHz at a lower voltage. The overclocking limit in our previous build appeared to be a hot voltage regulator, while the overclocking limit of today’s build appears to be nothing more than a builder too stubborn to use even slightly more than 1.30 V CPU core over the long term. We've seen too many chips die in the lab, unfortunately.
We dropped StarCraft II from the rest of this Marathon. But, lacking the previous build on which to run its replacement, I’ve given it an encore in today’s tests.
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| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Battlefield 3 | Campaign Mode, "Going Hunting" 90-Second Fraps Test Set 1: Medium Quality Defaults (No AA, 4x AF) Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Defaults (4x AA, 16x AF) |
| F1 2012 | Version 1.2, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 8x MSAA |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | Update 1.5.26, Celedon Aethirborn Level 6, 25-Second Fraps Test Set 1: DX11, High Details No AA, 8x AF, FXAA enabled Test Set 2: DX11, Ultra Details, 8x AA, 16x AF, FXAA enabled |
| StarCraft II | V1.5.1, "Tom's Hardware Guide V2" custom map, 60-Second Fraps Test Set 1: High Details, High Quality Test Set 2: Ultra Details, Extreme Quality |
| Adobe Creative Suite | |
| Adobe After Effects CS6 | Version 11.0.0.378 x64: Create Video which includes three Streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneosly |
| Adobe Photoshop CS6 | Version 13 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Adobe Premeire Pro CS6 | Version 6.0.0.0, 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| iTunes | Version 10.4.1.10 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format |
| Lame MP3 | Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.98: Video from Canon Eos 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile) |
| TotalCode Studio 2.5 | Version: 2.5.0.10677: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| Productivity | |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version 10.0.102.95: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| Adobe Acrobat X | Version 10.0.0.396: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 | Version 14.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
| Blender | Version: 2.64a, Cycles Engine, Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, 1920x1080, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Render THG.blend frame 1 |
| Visual Studio 2010 | Version 10.0, Compile Google Chrome, Scripted |
| File Compression | |
| WinZip | Version 17.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
| WinRAR | Version 4.2: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.28: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| 3DMark 11 | Version: 1.0.1.0, Benchmark Only |
| PCMark 7 | Version: 1.0.4 x64, System, Productivity, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2011 | Version Version 2013.01.19.11, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / Cryptography, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
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