Intel or Nvidia? nForce 680i Challenges Intel P965 and 975X

Features
By Patrick Schmid
published

Test Setup

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System Hardware
Socket 775Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (Conroe 65 nm, 2.93 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache)
Motherboard IEVGA nForce 680i SLI Socket 775 (Socket 775)Chipset : Nvidia nForce 680i SLI, BIOS : P20
Motherboard IIMSI 975X Platinum PowerUp Edition (Socket 775)Chipset : Intel 975X, BIOS : V7.2
Motherboard IIIGigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 (Socket 775)Chipset : Intel P965, BIOS : F7
Common Hardware
RAM2x 1024 MB DDR2-800 (CL 3.0-4-3-9)Corsair CM2X1024-6400C3 XMS6403v1.1
Graphics CardHIS X1900XTX IceQ3GPU : ATI X1900XTX (650 MHz)
Video Memory : 512 MB GDDR3 (1550 MHz)
Hard Drive I (read)1x 150 GB 10,000 RPM, 8 MB Cache, SATA/300Western Digital WD1500ADFD
Hard Drive II (write)1x 150 GB 10,000 RPM, 8 MB Cache, SATA/300Western Digital WD1500ADFD
DVD-ROMGigabyte GO-D1600C (16x)
Software
ATI GraphicsCatalyst Suite 6.11
Intel ChipsetSoftware Installation Utility 8.1.1.1010
Nvidia ChipsetNvidia Forceware 9.53
DirectXVersion : 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
OSWindows XP, Build 2600 SP2

Corsair’s XMS2 memory rated for DDR2-800 speeds runs at fast CL 3.0-4-3-9 timings.Benchmarks And Settings

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Benchmarks and Settings
3D-Games
Call Of Duty 2Version : 1.3 RetailVideo Mode : 1280x960Anti Aliasing : 4xGraphics Card : mediumTimedemo demo2
Quake 4Version : 1.2 (Dual-Core Patch)Video Mode : 1280x1024Video Quality : UltraTHG Timedemo waste.maptimedemo demo8.demo 1 (1 = load textures)
Video
TMPEG 3.0 ExpressVersion : 3.0.4.24 (no Audio)182 MB VOB MPEG2-source (704x576) 16:9
DivX 6.4Version : 6.4 (4 Logical CPUs)Cerfinition Profile : High Definition ProfileMultipass, 3000 kbit/sEncoding mode : Insane Quality
XviD 1.2.0Version : 1.2.0 SMP BetaEncoding type : Twopass - Single passProfile @ Level : DXN HT PALTarget size (kbytes) : 570000
MainConcept H.264 Encoder v2Version : 2.12:19 min MPEG2-source 1920x1080 to H.264Profile : HighAudio : AACStream : Program
Audio
Lame MP3Version 3.97 Beta 2 (11-29-2005)Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 74 minwave to mp3160 kbps
OGGVersion 1.1.2 (Intel P4 MOD)Version 1.1.2 (Intel AMD MOD)Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 74 minwave to oggQuality : 5
Applications
WinrarVersion 3.61 (Multi-Core)(303 MB, 47 Files, 2 Folders)Compression = BestDictionary = 4096 kB
Autodesk 3D Studio MaxVersion : 8.0Characters "Dragon_Charater_rig"Rendering HTDV 1920x1080
Adobe Photoshop CS 2Version : 9.0.1VT-Runtime ScriptRendering from 5 Pictures (66 MB, 7 Filters)
CinebenchVersion 9.564 BitnCPU, 1 CPU
Synthetic
EverestVersion 3.01.652Cache & Memory Benchmark
PCMark05 ProVersion : 1.1.0CPU and Memory TestsWindows Media Player 10.00.00.3646Windows Media Encoder 9.00.00.2980
SiSoft Sandra 2007Version 2007.5.11.17CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMediaMemory Test = Bandwidth BenchmarkMemory Latency Test = ns
Patrick Schmid