Test System And Benchmarks
Since the current and previous $1000 System Builder Marathon PCs use the same CPU and clock rates, we don’t expect to see much difference in many of the processor-bound tests in our suite. The newer system does have a slightly-faster hard drive, but last quarter's system included lower-latency memory.
We will, however, see some differences between the firmware-unlocked Radeon HD 6950 and this quarter's pair of Radeon HD 6850 cards in CrossFire. Will the dual-card configuration rule the roost, or can the Radeon HD 6950’s 2 GB of memory even the odds at high resolutions with anti-aliasing applied?
| Current $1000 Enthusiast PC Test Settings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Standard Speed | Overclocked | |
| Motherboard | MSI P67A-G43 LGA 1155, Intel P67 chipset | Unchanged |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2500K3.3 GHz (3.7 GHz Turbo Boost), Quad-Core, 6 MB L3 Cache | 4500 MHz at 1.4 V |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 Dual-Channel Desktop Memory Kit, CAS 9-9-9-22-1T | Unchanged |
| Graphics | 2 x Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 1 GB GDDR5 @ 1050 MHzGPU @ 820 MHz | GDDR5 @ 1100 MHz GPU @ 875 MHz |
| Hard Drives | Western Digital Caviar Black 750 GB 750 GB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB cache SATA 3Gb/s | Unchanged |
| Optical | LG GH22MS7022x DVD Burner | Unchanged |
| Case | Xclio Nighthawk | Unchanged |
| Power | Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650 W ATX12V, EPS12V, 80 PLUS-Certified | Unchanged |
| March 2011 $1000 Enthusiast PC Test Settings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Standard Speed | Overclocked | |
| Motherboard | ASRock P67 Extreme4 LGA 1155, Intel P67 chipset | Unchanged |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2500K3.3 GHz (3.7 GHz Turbo Boost), Quad-Core, 6 MB L3 Cache | 4400 MHz at 1.4 V |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 Dual-Channel Desktop Memory Kit, CAS 7-7-7-20-1T | Unchanged |
| Graphics | Gigabyte Radeon HD 6950 2 GB GDDR5 @ 1250 MHz1408-shader Cayman GPU @ 800 MHz | GDDR5 @ 1300 MHz GPU modded to 1536 shaders @ 880 MHz |
| Hard Drives | Samsung Spinpoint 1 TB 1 TB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB cache SATA 3Gb/s | Unchanged |
| Optical | Asus DRW-24B1ST24x DVD Burner | Unchanged |
| Case | In-Win Android | Unchanged |
| Power | Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650 W ATX12V, EPS12V, 80 PLUS-Certified | Unchanged |
And here's the list of benchmarks:
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| 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, No AA |
| Metro 2033 | Full Game, Built-In Benchmark, "Frontline" Scene Test Set 1: DX11, High, AAA, 4x AF, No PhysX, No DoF Test Set 2: DX11, Very High, 4x AA, 16x AF, No PhysX, DoF On |
| Just Cause 2 | In-game benchmark: Concrete JungleTest Set 1: Medium Details, No AA, 8x AFTest Set 2: Highest Details, 8x AA, 16x AF |
| F1 2010 | V1.01, Run with -benchmark example_benchmark.xml Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| iTunes | Version 9.0.3.15 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 0.94: "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: 2.0.0.1555: 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 |
| Productivity | |
| Adobe Photoshop CS5 | Version 12.0 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 | Version 12.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
| WinZIP | Version 14.0 Pro: THG-Workload (464 MB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
| WinRAR | Version 4.0 Beta 4: THG-Workload (464 MB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.2: THG-Workload (464 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 | |
| 3DMark 11 | Version: 1.0.1.0, Benchmark Only |
| PCMark Vantage | Version: 1.0.1.0 x64, System, Productivity, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2011 | Version 2011.1.17.15, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |