System Builder Marathon: Overclocking

Introduction

Here's a list of the System Builder Marathon (SBM) articles in this five day series.

It's time for the highly anticipated overclocking segment of our System Builder Marathon, where each builder puts his overclocking credentials on the line in order to prove the extra value of his component choices. Some of this week's configurations were a little more controversial than those of previous marathons, but will daring to be different pay off?

Before we go into the overclocking results of each system, here's a quick look at the benchmarks we've selected.

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Benchmarks and Settings
3D-Games
CrysisVersion: 1.1Video Quality 1: High Details No Anti-AliasingVideo Quality 2: Very High Details, 4x Anti-AliasingBenchmark: Benchmark_CPU.bat
PreyVersion: 1.3Video Quality 1: Default (No AA, 8x AF)Video Quality 2: High Quality, 4x AABenchmark: THG-Demo
Supreme CommanderVersion: 3.220Video Quality 1: DefaultVideo Quality 2: High Fidelity, High Shadow, 4x AABenchmark: Real 60 Game
Unreal Tournament 3Version: RetailTexture Detail: 5World Detail: 5Field of View: 100Benchmark: Botmatch (WAR-Torlan, 12 bots, 1 Minute)
Warhammer Mark of ChaosVersion: 1.6Video Quality:Default (Highest Settings)Demo: THG Timedemo (1 Minute)
Audio
iTunes 7.2Version: 7.1.1.5Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 minHigh Quality (160kb/s)
Lame MP3Version: 3.98 Beta 3 (05-22-2007)Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 minwave to MP3160kb/s
Video
TMPEGEnc 4.0 XpressVersion: 4.2.10.211Import File: Terminator 2 SE DVD (5 Minutes)Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9Audio: Dolby Digital, 48000 Hz, 6-Channel, EnglishAdvanced Acoustic Engine MP3 Encoder (160kb/s)
DivX 6.6Version: 6.6.1Profile: Home Theater Profile (720 x 576)1-pass, 780 kb/sEncoding mode: Insane QualityEnhanced multithreading
XviD 1.1.2Version: 1.1.2Target quantizer: 1.00 (maximum quality)
Applications
Adobe Photoshop CS3Version: 10.0x20070321Filtering 69 MB TIF PhotoBenchmark: Tom's Guide-Benchmark V1.0.0.4
Autodesk 3D Studio MaxVersion: 9.0Rendering One Video FrameQuality: HTDV 1920x1080 & 1280x720
Grisoft AVG Anti-VirusVersion: 7.5.467Virus Base: 269.6.1/776Benchmark: Scanning 3.82 GB Application Folder
Maxon Cinema 4DVersion: 10.008Resolution: 1280 x 1024Benchmark: Rose Drop, 8-bits (50 Frames)
Rarlab WinrarVersion 3.70 BETA 8Compression = BestDictionary = 4096 kBUncompressed Folder Size: 642 MB
Synthetics
SPECviewperf 9Version: 9.0.3
PCMark05 ProVersion: 1.1.0System, CPU and Memory TestsWindows Media Player 11.0.6000.6324Windows Media Encoder 9.00.00.2980
Futuremark 3DMark 2006Version 1.10System Test Only
SiSoftware Sandra XIIVersion 2007.5.11.40CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic, MultimediaMemory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.