Test Settings And Benchmarks
| Test Hardware Configurations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2012 $2000 PC | Q2 2012 $2000 PC | |
| Processor (Overclock) | Intel Core i7-3930K (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.20 GHz, Six Physical Cores, O/C to 4.6 GHz, 1.32 V | Intel Core i7-3770K (Ivy Bridge) 3.50 GHz, Four Physical Cores, O/C to 4.60 GHz, 1.25 V |
| Graphics (Overclock) | EVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR: 980 MHz GPU, GDDR5-6008O/C to 1301 MHz GDDR5-7048 | Asus GTX680-DC2T-2GD5: 1201 MHz GPU, GDDR5-6008O/C to 1262 MHz GDDR5-7204 |
| Memory (Overclock) | 16 GB G.Skill DDR3-1600, CAS 8-8-8-24O/C at 1.6 V to DDR3-2133 CL 10-11-10-24 | 8 GB G.Skill DDR3-1600, CAS 8-8-8-24O/C at 1.6 V to DDR3-2000 CL 8-10-9-16 |
| Motherboard (Overclock) | ASRock X79 Extreme4: LGA 2011, Intel X79 ExpressStock 100 MHz BCLK | ASRock Z77 Extreme6: LGA 1155, Intel Z77 ExpressStock 100 MHz BCLK |
| Optical | Asus BW-12B1ST, 16x BD-R | Lite-On iHAS124-04, 24x DVD±R |
| Case | NZXT Phantom 410 | Antec Nine Hundred |
| CPU Cooler | Scythe Mugen 3 Rev. B SCMG-3100 | Zalman CNPS12X |
| Hard Drive | Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSDRevert to Win7 AHCI driver on O/C | Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSDRevert to Win7 AHCI driver on O/C |
| Power | Seasonic SS-850HT: 850 W, ATX12V, 80 PLUS Silver | Seasonic SS-750KM: 750 W, ATX12V, 80 PLUS Gold |
| Software | ||
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 | |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce 301.42 | |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.2.3.1020 | |
Two times the SSD capacity, twice the RAM, 50% more x86 cores, and the ability to write Blu-ray discs make our newest build look far more professional than last quarter's competition. A higher-end graphics card, plus an integrated Quick Sync-enabled GPU, are distinct advantages favoring that prior configuration, even if our benchmarks don't utilize Quick Sync.
Motherboards using the X79 Express chipset ship with an enterprise-oriented version of Intel's integrated controller driver. Switching back to the operation system's default AHCI driver results in a performance boost, which will be shown in our PCMark hard drive tests for the overclocked configuration. Other overclocking factors, such as CPU frequency, do not noticeably alter PCMark's drive test results.
| 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) |
| DiRT 3 | V1.01, Run with -benchmark example_benchmark.xml 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 |
| StarCraft II | V1.5.1, "Tom's Hardware Guide V2" custom map, 60s Fraps Test Set 1: High Details, High Quality Test Set 2: Ultra Details, Extreme 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 0.95: "Big Buck Bunny" (720x480, 23.972 FPS) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile) |
| MainConcept Reference | Version: 2.2.0.5440: 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 | |
| Adobe Photoshop CS5 | Version 12.1 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 | Version 14.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
| WinZip | Version 15.5 Pro: THG-Workload (650 MB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
| WinRAR | Version 4.1: THG-Workload (650 MB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.22: THG-Workload (650 MB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version 10.0.102.82: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| 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 2011.10.17.80, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |