System setup and notes
| System | Intel LGA775 1333FSB system |
|---|---|
| Processors | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 (3.2GHz, 1600MHz FSB 12MiB L2 cache, LGA775,
quad-core) Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 12MiB L2 cache, LGA775, quad-core) |
| Heatsink | AKASA AK-965 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-X38T-DQ6 (Intel X38 + ICH9R) |
| Memory | 2GiB (2 x 1GiB) OCZ PC12800 DDR3-1600 |
| Memory timings and speed | 9-9-9-24 1T @ DDR3-1598.5 / DDR3-1340 |
| Graphics card(s) | NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MiB |
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 160GB SATAII (ST3160812AS) |
| Optical drive(s) | Sony DW-Q30A |
| BIOS revision | F4a (29/10/2007) |
| Mainboard software | Intel Inf 8.4.0.1016 |
| Graphics driver | ForceWare 169.04 |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business 64-bit |
| PSU | FSP Epsilon 600W |
| Monitor | Dell 2405FPW |
Software
| Benchmarks | Sandra Lite 2k7 SP1 Build 2007.8.10.105 float buffered memory
bandwidth ScienceMark 2.0 32-bit Build 21MAR05 memory latency CPU-Z v1.41 HEXUS.PiFast to 10m places LAME multi-threaded benchmark - 701.5MB file - encoded into 128kbps stereo. DivX 6.6.1 (existing DV avi source-file, home-theatre profile, 1700Kbps, insane-quality video, 40Kbps, Stereo, 16KHz Audio) CINEBENCH R10 POV-Ray 32-bit 3.7.0 beta 21a - internal benchmark mode. Company of Heroes - 1024x768 Quake 4 1.30 SMP support enabled (low-end script - 1024x768 - demo001 recorded by HEXUS) Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - 1024x768 |
|---|
Notes
We were unable to run EIST on the Gigabyte GA-X38T-DQ6 board and will therefore provide under-load power-consumption figures only. We were unable to satisfactorily run 4GiB of DDR3-1600 RAM with the QX9770 processor, and that's why we've had to reduce it to 2GiB.We've purposely omitted the AMD Phenom 9600 quad-core processor for the reasons cited on the previous page: it simply does not compete against the QX9770 when evaluated on the basis of price. Rather, its current pricing is more akin to an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600's, so and head on over to here to see how it performs. You wouldn't directly compare a £700 LCD TV to a £180 model, would you?
We've also taken a look at the QX6850's comparative performance against a range of cheaper processors, tying everything nicely together.
It's Extreme vs. Extreme. We've run the QX9770 with DDR3-1600 memory and the QX9650 with DDR3-1333: both with 9-9-9-24 timings.
Let's see what a hike in FSB and speed does for a processor which is already the fastest on the market.
