System setup and notes
Hardware and Software
Test Platforms
| System | Armari Pantheon FX | HEXUS Intel Presler System |
| Processor(s) | AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 @ 2.8GHz | Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 955 @ 3.46GHz & 4.26GHz |
| Mainboard | ASUS A8N-VM CSM nForce 430 | Intel D975XBK | Chipset driver | ForceWare 4.50 | Intel INF Update Utility 7.2.2.1006 |
| Memory | 2GByte (2x1024MB)Corsair TwinX3200C2PT | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS2-5400UL | Memory timings | 3-3-3-8 @ 400MHz | 3-2-2-8 @ 533MHz |
| Graphics Cards | XFX GeForce 7800 GTX DDR3 512MB XXX Ed | ATI Radeon X1800 XL 256MB | Graphics Card Driver | ForceWare 81.95 | ATI CATALYST 5.12 | Disk drive(s) | 2x Hitachi 250GB SATA | Western Digital 200GB (200JD) SATA | Operating system | Windows XP Pro SP2 | Windows XP Pro SP2 |
Benchmark Software
ScienceMark 2.0 (21st March 2005)HEXUS.in-house Cryptography Benchmark
HEXUS Pifast Benchmark
Realstorm Raytracing 2004
CINEBENCH 2003 multi-CPU render
HEXUS.in-house MP3 Encoding Benchmark using LAME 3.97a (Intel HT compiler) - 701MB WAV
picCOLOR 32-bit b568
KribiBench v1.1
Quake 4 - HEXUS custom benchmark
F.E.A.R - HEXUS custom benchmark
Need For Speed: Most Wanted- HEXUS custom benchmark
Notes
We'll be comparing the Armari Pantheon FX's performance against a high-end system based on Intel's Pentium Extreme Edition 955 processor that we reviewed recently. It can be considered the AMD Athlon 64 FX-60's main rival and considering the pre-overclocked nature of the Armari system, we've run our Intel comparison machine, in a standard desktop case, at both default (3.46GHz) and overclocked (4.26GHz, 16x multiplier, 266MHz FSB, default VCore) configurations.
Using the cooling provided by the Silverstone SFF chassis, we were unable to run the FX-60 at 3GHz (15x multiplier) without compromising stability. 2.8GHz, therefore, can be considered a normal air-cooled overclock for a chassis with comparatively limited ventilation and airflow.
Let's hit the benchmarks, shall we.
