Test Settings
We compared Digital Storm’s 3.8 GHz build to the closest-matching custom machine we’ve tested, Maingear’s Ephex. A 73% price difference should make it easy for the Gaming Dominator to prove its value, but we can still see how much performance is really sacrificed.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| Test System Configurations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Digital Storm Gaming Dominator | Maingear Ephex |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-950 (3.20 GHz, 8 MB Cache) Overclocked to 3.83 GHz (23 x 166.6 MHz) | Intel Core i7-920 (2.66 GHz, 8 MB Cache) Overclocked to 3.80 GHz (14 x 200) |
| Motherboard | MSI X58 Pro BIOS 7.3 (04-17-2009) Intel X58/ICH10R Chipset, LGA-1366 | Asus P6T Intel X58/ICH10R Chipset, LGA-1366 |
| RAM | Mushkin 6 GB DDR3-1333 CAS 9 at DDR3-1333 CAS 8-8-8-19 (1T) | Kingston 6 GB DDR3-1600 CAS 8-8-8-20 (1T) |
| Graphics | XFX GeForce GTX 295 1.79 GB 576/1242MHz GPU/Shader, GDDR3-2016 | 3 x EVGA GeForce GTX 285 1 GB, SLI 648/1476MHz GPU/Shader, GDDR3-2484 |
| Test Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB 7,200 RPM, 32 MB Cache SATA 3.0 Gb/s | Intel X25-M 80 GB SATA 3.0 Gb/s SSD |
| Sound | Integrated HD Audio | Integrated HD Audio |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
| Software | ||
| OS | Windows Vista Home Premium x64 SP1 | Windows Vista Home Premium x64 SP1 |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce 186.18 | Nvidia GeForce 182.08 |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.1.0.1007 | Intel INF 9.1.0.1007 |
Sharp-eyed readers will notice the difference in graphics driver, which couldn’t be avoided since the Ephex had been tested a couple of months ago. The system’s current $3,869 price remains relatively high due to its SSD drive and 3-way SLI graphics configuration.
A few of our Maingear Ephex benchmarks are also a little outdated, but we retained these for today’s comparison.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Call of Duty: World at War | Patch 1.1, FRAPS/saved game High Textures, No AA / No AF, vsync off Ultra Textures, 4x AA / Max AF, vsync off |
| 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, 8x AA |
| Far Cry 2 | DirectX 10, Steam Version, in-game benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra High Quality, 8x AA |
| World in Conflict | Patch 1009, DirectX 10, timedemo Test 1: High Details, No AA / No AF Test 2: Very HighDetails 4x AA / 16x 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 SE", 53 min wave to MP3 |
| TMPEG 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 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 kbp/s), Mode: PAL (25 FPS) |
| Productivity | |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 | Version: 11.0, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV) |
| 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 3.80, WinZIP Commandline 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) |
| Synthetics | |
| 3DMark Vantage | Version: 1.01, 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 |
TOPICS
