Hardware And Software Test Configurations
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| Test Hardware Configurations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | $500 Gaming PC | $1,000 Enthusiast PC | $2,000 Performance PC |
| Processor (Overclock) | Intel Pentium G850 2.9 GHz, Two Physical CoresNo Overclocking | AMD FX-8350 4 GHz, Eight Physical CoresO/C to 4.33 GHz at 1.34 V | Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5 GHz, Four Physical CoresO/C to 4.40 GHz, 1.26V |
| Graphics (Overclock) | PoweColor AX7850 1GBD5-DH: 860 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4800, O/C to 1200 MHz GDDR5-5240 | GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD: 980 MHz GPU, GDDR5-6008, O/C to 1137 MHz GDDR5-7012 | 2 x MSI R7970-2PMD3GD5/OC: 1010 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5500O/C to 1125 MHz GDDR5-6300 |
| Memory (Overclock) | 8 GB G.Skill DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24, O/C at 1.60 V to DDR3-1333 CL 7-8-7-22 | 8 GB Mushkin DDR3-1600 CAS 8-8-8-24, O/C at 1.60 V to DDR3-1866 CL 9-9-9-24 | 8 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 H77 Pro4/MVP: LGA 1155, Intel H77 ExpressStock 100 MHz BCLK | Gigabyte GA-970A-D3: Socket AM3+, AMD 970/SB950Stock 200 MHz RCLK | Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H: LGA 1155, Intel Z77 ExpressStock 100 MHz BCLK |
| Optical | LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±R | LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±R | Asus BW-12B1ST 16x BD-R |
| Case | Rosewill Blackbone | HEC Compucase Blitz | Cooler Master Storm Enforcer |
| CPU Cooler | Pentium G850 Boxed Cooler | Xigamtek Loki SD963 | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital WD3200AAKX: 320 GB, 7200 RPM HDD | OCZ AGT3-25SAT3-60G: 60 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD | Mushkin Chronos Deluxe DX 240 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD |
| Power | Antec VP-450: 450 W, ATX 12V v2.3 | Corsair CX600 V2: 600 W, ATX12V v2.3, 80 PLUS | Corsair HX750: ATX12V V2.3 80 PLUS Gold |
| Software | |||
| OS | Microsoft Windows 8 Professional RTM x64 | ||
| Graphics | AMD Catalyst 12.10 | Nvidia GeForce 310.54 | AMD Catalyst 12.10 |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.3.1025 | AMD Platform Driver 8.00.881 | Intel INF 9.3.0.1020 |
A great amount of overclocking effort turned into a spectacular fiasco when both the $1,000 and $2,000 systems reached their cooling limits long before their CPUs could be fully performance-optimized. Paul's $500 build couldn't be overclocked, so he never had to face the embarrassment that Don and I did.
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| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Battlefield 3 | Campaign Mode, "Going Hunting" 90-Seconds Fraps Test Set 1: Medium Quality Defaults (No AA, 4x AF) Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Defaults (4x AA, 16x AF) |
| F1 2012 | Steam version, in-game benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA |
| Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | Update 1.5.26, Celedon Aethirborn Level 6, 25 Seconds 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 |
| Adobe Creative Suite | |
| Adobe After Effects CS6 | Version 11.0.0.378 x64: Create Video which includes 3 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) |
| TotalCodeStudio 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, Two-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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