Test Configuration

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-3770K (reference 3.5GHz, HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 3.7GHz; also overclocked to 4.2GHz and 4.8GHz; DX11 CPU graphics), supplied by Intel.
• Intel Core i7-920 (reference 2.66GHz, overclocked to 4.2GHz using the 21x multiplier; Turbo boost and HT are on)
• ECS Z77H2-A2X motherboard (Intel z77 chipset, shipping BIOS, USB/PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x)
• Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-DH3 Series 7 mATX motherboard (shipping BIOS, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0 specification, CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x)
• Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P x58 motherboard (latest BIOS, USB 2.0, PCIe 2.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 16x+16x).
• 6 GB Kingston DDR3 PC 1800 Kingston RAM (3×2 GB, dual- and tri-channel at 1333 and 1200MHz; 2×2 GB supplied by Kingston)
• 8 GB Kingston DDR3 PC 1866 Kingston RAM (2×2, 3×2 and 4×2 GB, dual- and tri-channel at 1600, 1833 and 2000MHz; supplied by Kingston)
• GeForce GTX 680, 2 GB (reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• GeForce GTX 690,  GB (reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• Two identical 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hard drives
• Kingston HyperX SSD 3K 240 GB, supplied by Kingston used for Bloomfield platform
• Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GB, supplied by Kingston used for Ivy Bridge platform
• Thermaltake ToughPower 775 W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I supplied by Thermaltake
• Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU cooler for Core i7-920 supplied by Thermaltake for i7-920′s 4.2GHz overclock
• Noctua NH-DH14 CPU cooler, supplied by Noctua for i7-3770K’s 4.2/4.8GHz overclock
• Philips DVD SATA writer/Sony DVD SATA writer
• HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD
• ASUS VG278 1920×1080 120Hz 3D Vision 2 ready 27″ display supplied by ASUS/Nvidia

Test Configuration – Software

• GeForce WHQL 301.42 drivers used for the GTX 5680; latest Intel drivers for Graphics and Chipset from Intel website; latest drivers for HD 4000 and shipping drivers for Series 7 motherboards.
• Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
• Latest DirectX
• All games are patched to their latest versions.
• VSync is off in the control panel.
• Varying AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied if possible; 16xAF forced in control panel for Crysis.
• All results show average rates as noted.
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 7 64, all DX9 titles were run under DX9 render paths, DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths and DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.

Note

• 4GB of Kingston HyperX PC1866 used for benching all games on the 500GB HDDs, except as noted when 8GB was used.  All other tests with both PCs were run with 8GB of DDR3 from a 240GB Kingston HyperX SSD

The benchmarks

The Game benchmarks

• Serious Sam 3, BFE
• Left 4 Dead 2
• Crysis
• World in Conflict
• Far Cry 2
• Just Cause 2
• Resident Evil 5
• Alien vs. Predator
• Battleforge
• STALKER, Call of Pripyat
• F1 2010
• Metro 2033
• Lost Planet 2
• H.A.W.X. 2
• Civilization 5
• Total War: Shogun II
• Crysis 2
• Dirt 3
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• Batman: Arkham City
• Max Payne 3

Other Tests

• Super Pi
• Fritz Chess Bench
• Custom PC Benchmark
• Cinebench
• x264 HD
• Crystal Disk Mark
• AS SSD
• ATTO
• Folder copy
• HD Tach
• HD Tune

Synthetic Benching Suites

• SiSoft Sandra 2012 SP4c
• PC Mark Vantage
• PC Mark 7

Synthetic Gaming Benchmarks

• Heaven 3.0
• Vantage
• 3DMark11

We have got an interesting project going. First we look at synthetic and real world benches before we head for gaming results.