System setup and notes
| Motherboard | DFI LANPARTY LT X48-TR2 | Intel DX48BT2 | EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI | EVGA nForce 790i SLI FTW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | ||||
| Chipset | Intel X48 + ICH9R |
Intel X48 + ICH9R |
NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI |
NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI |
| CPU | Intel
Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (3.00GHz, 12MB L2 cache, 1333MHz FSB, LGA775) |
|||
| Actual CPU frequency | 2999.7MHz |
2999.7MHz |
3000.0MHz |
3000.0MHz |
| BIOS revision | (03/20/2008) |
1554 (05/01/2008) |
P04 (04/18/2008) |
I790SZ10 (07/30/2008) |
| Memory | 4x1GB Corsair
CM2X1024-8500C5D |
2GB (2 x 1GB)
Corsair Dominator PC14400
+ 2GB (2 x
1GB) OCZ Platinum EB PC12800 |
2GB (2 x 1GB)
Corsair Dominator PC14400
+ 2GB (2 x
1GB) OCZ Platinum EB PC12800 |
2GB (2 x 1GB)
Corsair Dominator PC14400
+ 2GB (2 x
1GB) OCZ Platinum EB PC12800 |
| Memory timings and speed | 4-4-4-12 2T @
DDR2-800 |
9-9-9-24 2T @
DDR3-1333 |
7-7-7-20 2T @
DDR3-1333 |
7-7-7-20 2T @
DDR3-1333 |
| Graphics card (single GPU tests) | NVIDIA
GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB |
|||
| Graphics driver | Forceware
169.12 |
|||
| Graphics cards (Multi GPU tests) |
1-3x
ATi Radeon 3870 512MB (2 ATI samples, 1 Sapphire retail card) |
1-3
x NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB (2 x BFG, 1 x Inno3D retail cards) |
||
| Graphics driver | CATALYST
8.5 |
Forceware
174.74 |
||
| Chipset driver | Intel
Inf 8.4.0.1016 + Intel Matrix Storage Manager 7.8.0.1012 |
NVIDIA
driver pack
9.64 |
||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate
160GB SATAII (ST3160812AS) |
|||
| Operating system | Windows
Vista Business x64 |
|||
Tests
| Benchmarks |
ScienceMark 2.0 memory latency
HD Tach 3.0.1.0 - SATA average read speed Quake 4 v1.30 - 1024x768 - SMP on |
|---|
Testing notes
All our systems were set up with an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 processor which, whilst not necessarily indicative of many real world systems built with these boards, will help to highlight any visable performance differences.
There are two Intel boards (one DDR2 and one DDR3) and two NVIDIA boards (both DDR3). All four systems utilise 4GB of RAM in the form of 4x1GB modules.
The DFI LANPARTY LT X48-TR2's memory was run at 800MHz with 4,4,4,12 timings due to the difficulty in getting them stable at 1,066MHz with 5,5,5,15 Timings.
On the DDR3 side the DX48DT2 couldn't be run at the desired timings due to the 'Intel knows best' overrides in place. As such we had to run the tests at the SPD default timings which are notably slacker than desired. Until Intel fixes this issue however, the results are indicative of the performance an end user would achieve with our specific components.
For our gaming tests we will be using a GeForce 8800 GTX for single-card numbers on both the Intel and NVIDIA platforms to get a cross-platform comparison, whilst our multi-GPU tests will be using up to three HD 3870s in CrossFire on the Intel platform, and up to three GeForce 9800 GTXs on the NVIDIA platform, in order to get an idea of the platform's scalability.