Test System And Settings
Note that we used two test systems: a Core i7 920-based system for the majority of the benchmarks and a Core 2 Quad Q6600-based system to demonstrate what slower CPU architecture, lower clock speeds, and fewer logical CPU cores will offer in the way of performance (since i7 sports Hyper-Threading).
Once again, we chose a range of graphics cards to test, most of them from our "Best Cards for the Money" monthly recommendations. This gives us a nice, broad spectrum of cards to scrutinize from various budgets.
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| Header Cell - Column 0 | Graphic Test System | CPU Test System |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7-920 (Bloomfield),2.67 GHz, QPI-2400, 8 MB Cache | Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (Kentsfield),2.7 GHz, FSB-1200, 8 MB Cache |
| Motherboard | ASRock X58 Supercomputer Intel X58, BIOS P1.90 | MSI P7N SLI Platinum Nvidia nForce 750i, BIOS A2 |
| Networking | Onboard Realtek Gigabit LAN controller | Onboard nForce 750i Gigabit Ethernet |
| Memory | Mushkin PC3-10700 3x 2,048 MB, DDR3-1066, CL 8-8-8-19 at 1.8 V | A-Data Extreme DDR2 800+ 2x 2,048 MB, DDR2-800, CL 5-5-5-18 at 1.8 V |
| Graphics | Sapphire HD4650 512 MB DDR2 PCIeGigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI 1 GB DDR3 PCIeDiamond Radeon HD 4770 512 MB DDR5 PCIePowercolor AX4830 512 MB DDR3 PCIeGigabyte GV-NX88T512HPV1 512 MB DDR3 PCIeAsus ENGTS250 DK 1 GB DDR3 PCIeAsus EAH4850 MT 512 MB DDR3 PCIeASUS ENGTX260 796 MB DDR3 PCIeATI Radeon HD 4870 reference | ASUS ENGTX260 796 MB DDR3 PCIe |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar WD50 00AAJS-00YFA, 500 GB, 7200 RPM, 8 MB cache, SATA 3.0 GB/s | Western Digital Caviar WD50 00AAJS-00YFA, 500 GB, 7200 RPM, 8 MB cache, SATA 3.0 GB/s |
| Power | Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W1200 W, ATX 12V 2.2, EPS 12v 2.91 | Ultra HE1000X ATX 2.2, 1000W |
| Software and Drivers | ||
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit 6.0.6001, SP1 | |
| DirectX version | DirectX 10 | |
| Graphics Drivers | Nvidia GeForce 185.85, Catalyst 9.5 |
