Test System And Benchmarks
iBuyPower provides our reference workstation hardware, and we continue using the company's P500X as the baseline point of comparison in our workstation coverage. Check out our review of that system in iBuyPower P500X And P900DX Workstations, Reviewed.Â
Test System Specifications | ||
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iBuyPower P500X | Dell T5600 | |
CPU | Intel Xeon E3-1270 v2 (Ivy Bridge), 3.5 GHz, Quad-Core, LGA 1155, 8 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled | 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2687W (Sandy Bridge-EP), 3.1 GHz, Octa-Core, LGA 2011, 20 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled |
Cooler | Asetek 550LC | 2 x Dell Heat Sink and Fan Combo |
Motherboard | Asus P8B WS, Intel C206 PCH, BIOS 2009 | Dell 0Y56T3, Intel C602 PCH, BIOS A08 |
RAM | 2 x Kingston KVR1333D3E9S/4G, ECC DDR3-1333 CAS9 | 8 x Hynix HMT325R7CFR8C, ECC DDR3-1333 CAS9 |
Graphics | PNY Quadro 2000 1 GB625 MHz GPU, 1300 MHz Memory128-bit GDDR5, 42 GB/s Memory Bandwidth192 CUDA cores | PNY Quadro K5000 4 GB706 MHz GPU, 1350 MHz Memory256-bit GDDR5, 173 GB/s Memory Bandwidth1536 CUDA cores |
RAID Controller | N/A | Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller H310, SAS/SATA RAID, PCIe 2.0 x8 |
SSD | Kingston Hyper-X SH100S3B/120G, 120 GB MLC SSD | 2 x Samsung PM830 MZ-7PC256D, 256 GB MLC SSD |
Hard Drive | HGST HDS732020BLA642 2 TB, 7K3000, 7200 RPM | N/A |
Optical | Lite-On iHAS124-04(C) 24x Dual-Layer DVD±RW Writer | Samsung/Toshiba SN-208 Slimline 8x DVD+/-RW SATA |
Sound | Echo Digital Audio AudioFire 2 (not included in price) | Echo Digital Audio AudioFire 2 (not included in price)Creative Labs Sound Blaster Recon3D PCIe (not used in testing) |
Networking | Integrated Intel 82574L | Integrated Intel 82579 |
FireWire | Integrated VIA 6308S | LSI L-FW323-07 Three-Port PCI FireWire Card |
Power Supply | Corsair TX650 V2, 80 PLUS Bronze, 650 W | Dell H825EF-00, 825 W |
Case | Cooler Master Silencio 550 | Dell T5600 Case |
Software | ||
Operating System | Windows 7 Professional x64 | Windows 7 Professional x64 |
Graphics Driver | Quadro Driver 320.49 | Quadro Driver 320.49 |
Audio Driver | 5.8 | 5.8 |
ASIO Driver | Included in audio driver | Included in audio driver |
Warranty and Price | ||
Warranty | Three-year labor, one-year parts | Three-year basic hardware service with three-year NBD on-site service after remote diagnostic |
Price As Configured | $1999 | $8012 |
Since our last workstation review, Adobe shipped its Creative Cloud suite, while Autodesk released the 2014 versions of their apps. So, the workstation tests are updated to reflect those changes.
Application Benchmarks and Settings | |
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Compression/Archiving | |
7-Zip | Version 9.28: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
WinRAR | Version 4.2: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
WinZip | Version 17.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
Content Creation | |
Newtek Lightwave 3D 11.5 | Custom workload: High-polygon-count Tom’s Hardware logo, Modeler test: Scripted cloning of surface details across a segment of the logo, Render test: 1920x1080 render of logo with photoreal motion blur, ray-traced shadows, global illumination, OpenGL Test: Generate OpenGL preview of animation for real-time playback on screen |
Blender | Version: 2.68a Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, Resolution: 1920x1080, Anti-Aliasing: 8x, Render: THG.blend frame 1, Cycles renderer and internal tile renderer (9x9) |
e-on SoftwareVue 11 Infinite PLE | Custom workload: Landscape (generated in Vue 8 full version and imported into PLE) |
Autodesk 3ds Max 2014 | Space Flyby Mentalray, Frame 248, 1440x1080 Tom’s Hardware Logo render in V-Ray, 1920x1080, global illumination, photorealistic motion blur, ray-traced shadows, Create Nitrous preview of logo scene, to Y: RAM drive, Autodesk chair scene in iray, 1920x1080, 250 passes, GPU (CUDA) only rendering, Car render in V-Ray RT, 1920x1080, 256 passes, CUDA-only |
Autodesk Maya 2014 | Tom’s Hardware Logo render in mental ray, 1920x1080, global illumination, photo-realistic motion blur, ray-traced shadows, OpenGL Test: Generate Playblast (OpenGL preview) animation to Y: RAM drive |
Maxon Cinebench r11.5 | 3D Rendering and OpenGL Benchmarks, built-in benchmarks with default settings |
Adobe Premiere Pro CC | Custom Workload: Edit of 59.94 fps 720p DVCProHD footage, with transitions and some color correction, Render To H.264 720p |
Adobe Photoshop CC | Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates filters |
Adobe After Effects CC | Custom Workload: SD motion graphics sequence with three picture-in-picture frames sourced from 720p HD QuickTime, Same scene rendered using a frame sequence instead of from QuickTime sources, HD redo of the project using frame sequences, to 1080p |
Adobe Acrobat XI | Version 11: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption |
Reaper v.4.402 | DAWBench Universal 2012: Test number of simultaneous copies of ReaXComp that the system can effectively run, Custom Workload: Render and mix down to .wav custom score project, multiple tracks of audio, VST synthesizers and effects |
Visual Studio 2010 | Compile Chrome project (1/31/2012) with devenv.com /build Release |
Encoding Benchmarks and Settings | |
HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.9.9Video: Big Buck Bunny (720x480, 23.972 frames) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48,000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile) |
TotalCode Studio 2.5 | Version: 2.5.0.10677: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
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) |
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
SPECviewperf 11 | Default GUI options; Workloads: CATIA, EnSight, LightWave, Maya, Pro/E, SolidWorks, Teamcenter Visualization Mockup, Siemens NX |
LuxMark 2.0 | OpenCL-based rendering benchmark, default settings |
CASE Euler3D | CFD simulation over NACA 445.6 aeroelastic test wing at Mach 0.5 |
Thesycon DPCLat | DPC Latency Checker, run with default settings |
SiSoftware Sandra | CPU Test=CPU Arithmetic/Multimedia, Memory Test=Bandwidth Benchmark, Cryptography |
Iometer 1.1.0 | Workers = 1, 16 GB repeating data, 4 KB random, 128 KB sequential |
AS SSD 1.7.4739 | Sequential, 4 KB Random, and 4K-64 THRD tests |