Test Settings
We included the fastest of our previously-tested notebooks in today’s comparison, though it’s really not a fair fight when the X7200 uses a desktop CPU.
| Test System Configuration | |
|---|---|
| MALIBAL Nine X7200 CPU | Intel Core i7-980X Extreme LGA 1366, 3.33-3.60 GHz, 12 MB L3 Cache |
| MALIBAL Nine X7200 RAM | 3 x Samsung M471B5273CH0-CH9 (3 x 4 GB) DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24, 12 GB Total |
| MALIBAL Nine X7200 Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M 2 GB 425 MHz GPU Core, GDDR5-2400, Mobile Driver Version 259.51 |
| MALIBAL Nine X7200 Hard Drive | 2 x Intel X25-M 80GB SSD, 160 GB (Striped), SATA 3Gb/s |
| Alienware M17x CPU | Intel Core i7-920XM PGA988, 2.00-3.20 GHz, 8 MB L3 Cache |
| Alienware M17x RAM | 2 x Kingston KHX1333C7S3K2/4G (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24, 4 GB Total |
| Alienware M17x Graphics | 2 x AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5870 1 GB, CrossFire 700 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4000, Mobile Driver Version 8..692.2-100203a1-095371C-Dell |
| Alienware M17x Hard Drive | Corsair CSSD-V128GB2-BRKT SSD, 128 GB, SATA 3Gb/s |
| AVADirect W880CU CPU | Intel Core i7-820QM PGA998, 1.73-3.06 GHz, 8 MB L3 Cache |
| AVADirect W880CU RAM | 2 x Kingston KVR1333D3S9/2G (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24. 4.0 GB Total |
| AVADirect W880CU Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M 2 GB 425 MHz GPU Core, GDDR5-2400, Mobile Driver Version 258.68 |
| AVADirect W880CU Hard Drive | Corsair CSSD-V128GB2-BRKT SSD, 128 GB, SATA 3Gb/s |
| Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
| Software | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit |
In order to make this a fair fight, a desktop platform had to be added to the mix. Gigabyte’s X58A-UD3R was chosen for its comparable quality and features, and we even used MALIBAL’s hard drives and CPU to test it. Manually selecting a 133.0 MHz base clock disabled Gigabyte’s auto-overclock method while simultaneously underclocking that frequency by 1/3 of 1 MHz compared to reference specification.
Here’s where things get a little strange: we didn’t have three matching 4 GB modules on hand, so we used three unmatched DDR3-1600 modules from a previous roundup to match MALIBAL’s DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24 configuration. Identical internal organization between all three modules made triple-channel mode possible in spite of the differing brands.
Yet, that’s not where the oddness ends. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 480M graphics processor is nothing other than a 2 GB version of its GeForce GTX 465, underclocked so excessively that no high-end desktop part is slow enough to compete. Since the responsibility for this performance-to-naming disparity rests purely on Nvidia, we didn’t want to punish MALIBAL or its supplier Clevo by comparing it to a vastly-superior GeForce GTX 480 desktop card. Instead, we chose the GeForce GTS 450 for the desktop’s SLI configuration. MSI and ECS’ GTS 450 cards were paired because of their identical clock speeds.
We’re sure that some readers will view this mishmash of components as an intentional crippling of the desktop platform, but we’re equally sure that our benchmark set will prove the validity of these choices.
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | Campaign, Act III, Second Sun (45 sec. FRAPS) Test Set 1: Highest Settings, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 4x AA |
| 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, 4x AA |
| DiRT 2 | Run with -benchmark example_benchmark.xml Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 4x AA |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat | Call Of Pripyat Benchmark version Test Set 1: High Preset, DX11 EFDL, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, DX11 EFDL, 4x MSAA |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| iTunes | Version: 9.0.2.25 x64 Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 min Default format AAC |
| Handbrake 0.9.4 | Version 0.9.4, convert first .vob file from The Last Samurai (1 GB) to .mp4, High Profile |
| TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress | Version: 4.7.3.292 Import File: Terminator 2 SE DVD (5 Minutes) Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9 |
| DivX Codec 6.9.1 | Encoding mode: Insane Quality Enhanced multithreading enabled using SSE4 Quarter-pixel search |
| Xvid 1.2.2 | Display encoding status = off |
| MainConcept Reference 1.6.1 | 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 Kb/s), Mode: PAL (25 FPS) |
| Productivity | |
| Adobe Photoshop CS4 | Version: 11.0 x64, Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 | Version: 11.0 x64, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV) |
| Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 | Version: 9.0.663, Virus base: 270.14.1/2407, Benchmark: Scan 334 MB Folder of ZIP/RAR compressed files |
| WinRAR 3.90 | Version x64 3.90, Dictionary = 4096 KB, Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB) |
| 7-Zip | Version 4.65: Format=Zip, Compression=Ultra, Method=Deflate, Dictionary Size=32 KB, Word Size=128, Threads=8 Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB) |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| 3DMark Vantage | Version: 1.0.1, GPU and CPU scores |
| PCMark Vantage | Version: 1.0.1.0 x64, System, Productivity, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2010 | Version 2010.1.16.11, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
