How We Tested
The following tables include the stock and overclocked settings for this quarter's mainstream enthusiast system, followed by the configuration we put together earlier this year, which serves as our comparison point.
At the very bottom, you’ll find the programs and games used for benchmarking.
Q1 2015 Enthusiast PC Test Settings: $1074 of Performance Hardware
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| Header Cell - Column 0 | Default Configuration | Overclocked |
|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | MSI Z97 PC Mate, LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express | N/A |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-4790K (Haswell): 4GHz, 8MB Shared L3 Cache | 4.5GHz @ 1.28V |
| Memory | 8GB G.Skill Ares (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133, F3-2133C9D-8GAB 1600 MT/s, CAS 11-11-11-28 1T | 2133 MT/s,CAS 9-10-11-28 2T |
| Graphics | Asus Strix GeForce GTX 970 256-bit 4GB GDDR5, 1216MHz GPU Boost, GDDR5-7012 | 1416MHz GPU Boost,GDDR5-7812, 120% Power |
| System Drive | PNY Optima 240GB Solid State Drive (SSD) | Unchanged |
| Storage Drive | Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB | Unchanged |
| Optical | Pioneer Black Blu-ray BDC-207DBK OEM | Unchanged |
| Case | Cooler Master HAF XB Evo Computer Case | Unchanged |
| Power | EVGA 600B 80 PLUS Bronze PSU | Unchanged |
Q3 2014 Enthusiast PC Test Settings: $1006 of Performance Hardware
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| Header Cell - Column 0 | Default Configuration | Overclocked |
|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer, LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express | Unchanged |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4690K (Haswell): 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo Boost), 6MB Shared L3 Cache | 4.6GHz (46 * 100MHz), 1.335V (Load) |
| Memory | 8GB G.Skill Trident (2 x 4GB) F3-2400C10D-8GTD, 1600 MT/s, CAS 11-11-11-28 1T | 2400 MT/s, 10-12-12-31 2T, 1.65V |
| Graphics | Zotac AMP! Superclocked GeForce GTX 770 2GB, 1150/1202MHz base/typical GPU Boost, GDDR5-7200 | +30MHz GPU, GDDR5-7800 |
| System Drive | Adata Premier Pro SP920 128GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD | Unchanged |
| Storage Drive | WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB Cache, SATA 6Gb/s | Unchanged |
| Optical | Asus DRW-24B1ST OEM DVD Burner | Unchanged |
| Case | Cooler Master HAF XM Computer Case | Unchanged |
| Power | In Win GreenMe 650W 80 PLUS Bronze PSU | Unchanged |
Benchmark Details
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| 3D Games | |
|---|---|
| Arma 3 | V. 1.20 Current PC, V.1.08 Q1 PC 30-sec. Fraps "Infantry Showcase" Test Set 1: Standard Preset, No AA, Standard AF Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, 8x FSAA, Ultra AF |
| Battlefield 4 | Version 1.0.0.1, DirectX 11, 100-sec. Fraps "Tashgar" Test Set 1: Medium Quality Preset, No AA, 4x AF, SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 4x MSAA, 16x AF, HBAO |
| Far Cry 3 | V. 1.05, DirectX 11, 50-sec. Fraps "Amanaki Outpost" Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA, Standard ATC, SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 4x MSAA, Enhanced ATC, HDAO AMD/ HBAO NVidia |
| Grid 2 | Version 1.0.85.8679, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 8x MSAA |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.99, Video: Video from Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 frames) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds, Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile) |
| iTunes | Version 11.0.4.4 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 (160Kb/s) |
| TotalCode Studio 2.5 | Version: 2.5.0.10677, MPEG2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1kHz, Two-channel, 16-bit, 224Kb/s) Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| Adobe Creative Suite | |
| Adobe After Effects CC | Version 12.0.0.404: Create Video, 3 Streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously |
| Adobe Photoshop CC | Version 14 x64: Filter 15.7MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 | Version 6.0.0.0, 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality |
| Adobe Acrobat XI | Version 11.0.0: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encyption |
| Productivity | |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version 10.0.102.95: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 | Version 15.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
| Blender | Version 2.68a, Cycles Engine, Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, 1920x1080, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Render THG.blend frame 1 |
| Visual Studio | Version 10.0, Compile Google Chrome, Scripted |
| Compression | |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.30 alpha, LZMA2, Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012 (1.3GB) |
| WinRAR | Version 5.0, RAR, Syntax "winrar a -r -m3" Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012 (1.3GB) |
| WinZip | Version 18.0 Pro, Syntax "-a -ez -p -r" Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012 (1.3GB) |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| 3DMark Professional | Version: 1.2.250.0, Fire Strike Standard and Extreme |
| PCMark 8 | Version: 1.0.0 x64 Full Test |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2014 | Version: 2014.02.20.10, Processor Arithmetic, Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth Benchmarks |
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