System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: $2,500 Performance PC

Test Settings And Benchmarks

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$2,500 Portable Performance PC Test Settings
Row 0 - Cell 0 Standard SpeedOverclocked
MotherboardMSI 790FX-GD70 Socket AM3 Chipset: AMD 790FX/SB750 Unchanged
ProcessorAMD Phenom II X4 955 Four Cores, 3.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache3.91 GHz at 1.4875V, 206 MHz HT Clock
Memory2 x Crucial 4GB DDR3-1333 Kit 4 x 2GB (8GB Total), CAS 9-9-9-28DDR3-1648 at 1.65V, CAS 8-7-7-18
Graphics3 x MSI R4890-T2D1G OC (CrossFireX) 880 MHz GPU, GDDR5-3996GDDR5-4600 930 MHz GPU
Hard Drives2 x Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G1 (RAID 0) 80GB per drive, MLC, 160GB total Unchanged
OpticalLG GGW-H20L BD-RE / HD-DVD ROM 6x BD-R, 2x BD-RE, 16x DVD±R Unchanged
CaseNZXT Panzerbox ATX Mid-Tower Unchanged
PowerCorsair CMPSU-1000HX Modular 1,000 W ATX12V 2.2, EPS12V 2.91, 80 PLUS Certified Unchanged
CPU CoolerSwiftech H20-220 2 x 120mm Liquid Kit Unchanged
Component CoolingAntec SpotCool LED Cooling Fan Unchanged
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Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
CrysisPatch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Very High Quality, No AA
Fallout 3Patch 1.0.0.17, Saved Game "Capital Wasteland" (60 sec) Test Set 1: Highest Details, No AA, No AF Test Set 2: Highest Details, 4x AA, 15x AF
Far Cry 2DirectX 10, in-game benchmark Test Set 1: Very High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra High Quality, 4x AA
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.XDirectX 10.1, in-game benchmark Test Set 1: Highest Settings, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 4x AA
World in ConflictPatch 1009, DirectX 10, timedemo Test 1: Very High Details, No AA / No AF Test 2: Very High Details 4x AA / 16x AF
Audio/Video Encoding
iTunes 8Version: 8.1.0.52 (x64) Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 min Default format AAC
Lame MP3Version: 3.98 64-bit (07-04-2008) Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min wave to MP3
TMPEG 4.6Version: 4.6.3.268 Import File: Terminator 2 SE DVD (5 Minutes) Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9
DivX 6.8.5Encoding mode: Insane Quality Enhanced multithreading enabled using SSE4 Quarter-pixel search
XviD 1.2.1Display encoding status = off
MainConcept Reference 1.6.1 Reference H.264 Plugin Pro 1.5.1MPEG2 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 (64-bit)Version: 11.0 Extended, Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates
Autodesk 3ds Max 2009Version: 11.0, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV)
Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus 8.5Version: 8.5.287, Virus database 2094, Benchmark: Scan 334 MB Folder of ZIP/RAR compressed files
WinRAR 3.80Version 3.80, WinZIP Commandline Version 3.0, Compression = Best, Dictionary = 4,096 KB, Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB)
WinZip 12Version 12.0, Compression = Best, Benchmark: THG-Workload (139 MB)
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark VantageVersion: 1.01
PCMark VantageVersion: 1.00, System, Memory, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks, Windows Media Player 10.00.00.3646
SiSoftware Sandra 2009 SP3Version 2009.4.15.92, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / Multimedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.