Test Configuration

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550S (engineering sample reference 2.83 GHz and overclocked to 4.0 GHz – i.e. 470 FSB.)
  
• ASUS Rampage Formula (Intel X48 chipset, latest BIOS, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire 16x+16x).
• 4 GB DDR2-PC8500 RAM (2×2 GB, dual-channel at PC6400 speeds)
• ATi Radeon HD4890-XOC by Diamond (1 GB, Diamond reference clocks 925/1050; also underclocked to 750/900 and to 850/975)
• ATi Radeon HD4890-XOC by HIS (1 GB, HIS reference clocks 850/975)
  
• ATi Radeon 4870 by ASUS (1GB, reference clocks, also overclocked to 800/1050)
• ATi Radeon 4870-X2 (2GB, reference clocks) by VisionTek
• Onboard SupremeFX-II (ASUS P5e Deluxe motherboard daughter-card)
• 2 – 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drives

Test Configuration – Software

• ATi Catalyst 9-5; highest quality mip-mapping set in the driver, Catalyst AI set to “Standard”
• Windows Vista 64-bit SP1; very latest updates
• DirectX March 2008.
• All games patched to their latest versions.

Test Configuration – Settings

• vsync is off in the control panel and is never set in-game.
• 4xAA enabled in all games and “forced” in Catalyst Control Center for UT3; all in-game settings at “maximum” or “ultra” with 16xAF always applied
• All results show average, minimum and maximum frame rates except as noted.
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Vista 64, all DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths