Test Configurations

On the follow pages we'll run a variety of tests, grouped in the following categories:

• Single Core (Benchmarks that use only one core, such as Superpi, Hexus Pifast, ..)
  
• Multi Core (Benchmarks that use obviouly, more then one core, such as Wprime, Cinebench, ...)
  
• 3D and gaming (The Futuremark suite and a few games)

I started benching at first on and Microsoft Windows Vista 64 bit. But even with the latest drivers, I had nothing but trouble. That's why I choose to go for a more proven platform, and went with and Microsoft Windows XP 32 Bit SP3. Downside of this is that I couldn't run some benchmarks, such as Vantage.

We used a few platforms, because of the different sockets and memory requirements. Here they are:

Test Setup Core 2 Duo
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 (@ 3.33 Ghz)
Mainboard	Asus Maximus II Formula
Video card	AMD Radeon HD 4870X2
Memory	2 * 2048Mb DDR2 OCZ @ 1066 Mhz 4-4-4-12

Test Setup Core 2 Quad
CPU	Intel Core 2 Quad QX9770 (@ 3.20 Ghz)
Mainboard	DFI X48
Video card	AMD Radeon HD 4870X2
Memory	2 * 1024Mb DDR3 OCZ @ 1600Mhz 8-8-8-20

Test Setup AMD Phenom
CPU	AMD Phenom X4 9850 BE @ 3,2 GHz (200 Mhz HTT)
Mainboard	Foxconn 790 GX
Video card	AMD Radeon HD 4870X2
Memory	2 * 2048Mb DDR2 OCZ @ 800Mhz 4-4-4-10

Test Setup Core i7
CPU	Intel Core i7 920 (@ 2,66 GHz)
Mainboard	Asus P6T Deluxe
Video card	AMD Radeon HD 4870X2
Memory	3 * 1024Mb DDR3 OCZ @ 1066 Mhz 7-7-7-20

Test Setup Core i7
CPU	Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 965 (@ 3,2 GHz)
Mainboard	Asus P6T Deluxe
Video card	AMD Radeon HD 4870X2
Memory	3 * 1024Mb DDR3 OCZ @ 1333Mhz 7-7-7-20

Sisoft Sandra

CPU Arithmetic Benchmark

The following benchmark is multi threaded. The 4 real cores and the 4 virtual cores, together 8 threads are working nicely together as you can see.


Score, higher is better

CPU Multimedia Benchmark

Same goes for the Multimedia CPU benchmark.


Score, higher is better

Memory Bandwidth Benchmark

The triple channel memory configuration seems to be paying off. Close to 16 gigabyte of bandwidth. The i7 920 is performing a bit lower, but keep in mind that the memory is running 266 MHz slower compared to the i7 965 XE. The Core 2 Duo configuration is getting nowhere near. And AMD is in the middle, but not close enough to threaten the new Intel series.


Score in megabytes, higher is better

Let's take a look at the performance of our contesters in single core applications. >>>