Test Setup
For our benchmark testing we had to deviate slightly from our normal test platform as the motherboard we have been using is based on an Nvidia chipset and CrossFire will not be recognized by the system. We attempted to see if the card would show up properly on the EVGA 680i motherboard. Alas, the system could not see that CrossFire could be enabled. We then moved everything to an Intel D975XBX motherboard.
Even using the new board we still ran into some issues with keeping CrossFire enabled in all of the tests. The only two applications that would allow us to enable CrossFire were 3DMark05 and Doom3. On the following pages we will explain in more detail under each test.
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| System Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor(s) | Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Conroe2.93 GHz, 1,066 MHz FSB, 32kB+32kB L1 , 4 MB L2 |
| Platform | EVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR, LGA 775NVIDIA nForce 680i SLIIntel D975XBX, LGA 775Intel 975X Express Chipset |
| RAM | Corsair CM2X1024-9136C5D2x 1024 MB DDR2 @ 800 MHz (CL5-5-5-15) |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Raptor, WD1500ADFD150 GB, 10,000 rpm, 16 MB cache, SATA150 |
| Networking | nForce4 Gigabit Ethernet (Nvidia), Intel 82573E/82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Intel) |
| Graphics Cards | |
| AMD / ATI Based Cards | Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro Dual 1 GB GDDR3(512 MB per GPU)650 MHz Core1,000 MHz Memory (2.00 GHz DDR)ATI Radeon X1950XTX 512 MB GDDR4580 MHz Core700 MHz Memory (1.40 GHz DDR)Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro Ultimate 256 MB GDDR3580 MHz Core800 MHz Memory (1.60 GHz DDR) |
| Nvidia Based Cards | EVGA GeForce 8800GTX KO 768 MB GDDR3626 MHz Core1.45 GHz Streaming Processor1,000 MHz Memory (2.00 GHz DDR)Nvidia GeForce 8800GTX 768 MB GDDR3575 MHz Core1.35 GHz Streaming Processor900 MHz Memory (1.80 GHz DDR)Foxconn GeForce 8800GTS ONOC 640 MB GDDR3575 MHz Core1.20 GHz Streaming Processor900 MHz Memory (1.80 GHz DDR)XFX GeForce 8800GTS 640 MB GDDR3500 MHz Core1.20 GHz Streaming Processor800 MHz Memory (1.60 GHz DDR)BFG GeForce 8800GTS OC 320 MB GDDR3550 MHz Core1.30 GHz Streaming Processor800 MHz Memory (1.60 GHz DDR)Nvidia GeForce 7900GTX 512 MB GDDR3675 MHz Core820 MHz Memory (1.64 GHz DDR) |
| Power Supply | PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1,000W |
| CPU Cooler | Zalman CNPS9700 LED |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.10.2600, Service Pack 2 |
| DirectX Version | 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904) |
| Graphics Driver(s) | ATI - Catalyst 7.3 WHQLNVIDIA - Forceware 93.71 (7900GTX & 7950GT)NVIDIA - Forceware 97.92 (8800GTX & GTS) |
