Part 2: How Many CPU Cores Do You Need?
Features
By
Don Woligroski
published
Test System And Benchmarks
Here is our test system:
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| System Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor #1 | AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz, FSB-200, 2000 MHz HT link, 6 MB Cache. |
| Processor #2 | AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition o/c to 3.2 GHz, FSB-200, 2000 MHz HT link, 6 MB Cache. |
| Platform | Asus M4A78T-E rev. 1.xx790GX chipset, SB750 southbridge, BIOS rev. 1001 |
| RAM | G.Skill F3-10666CL7-2GBPK (2 x 2 GB)DDR3-1333 @ DDR3-1338 CAS 9-9-9-24-33-1T |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Black 640 GB 7,200 RPM, 32 MB Cache SATA 3.0 Gb/s |
| Networking | Onboard Gigabit Ethernet |
| Graphics Cards | Gigabyte GV-N250ZL-1GI 1 GB DDR3 PCIe |
| Power Supply | Ultra HE1000X, ATX 2.2, 1000W |
| Software and Drivers | |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit 6.0.6001, SP1 |
| DirectX Version | DirectX 10 |
| Graphics Driver | Forceware 186.18 |
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| Benchmarks and Settings | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Crysis | Quality settings set to lowest, Object Detail to High, Physics to Very High, version 1.2.1, 1024x768, Benchmark tool, 3-run average |
| Left 4 Dead | Quality settings set to lowest, 1024x768, version 1.0.1.1, timed demo. |
| World in Conflict | Quality settings set to lowest, 1024x768, Patch 1.009, Built-in benchmark. |
| Audio Encoding | |
| iTunes | Version: 8.1.0.52, Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min., Default format AAC |
| Lame MP3 | Version: 3.98 (64-bit), Audio CD ""Terminator II" SE, 53 min, wave to MP3, 160 Kb/s |
| Video Encoding | |
| TMPEG 4.6 | Version: 4.6.3.268, Import File: "Terminator II" SE DVD (5 Minutes), Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9 |
| DivX 6.8.5 | Encoding mode: Insane Quality, Enhanced Multi-Threading, 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), Profile: Tom’s Hardware Settings for Qct-Core |
| Applications | |
| Autodesk 3D Studio Max 2009 (64-bit) | Version: 2009, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV) |
| Grisoft AVG Antivirus 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 3.80, Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB) |
| WinZip 12 | Version 12, Compression=Best, Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 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 | CPU Test=CPU Arithmetic/MultiMedia, Memory Test=Bandwidth Benchmark |
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Contributor
Don Woligroski was a former senior hardware editor for Tom's Hardware. He has covered a wide range of PC hardware topics, including CPUs, GPUs, system building, and emerging technologies.