Test System Configuration
Here’s a photo of our current sub-$4000 build with all components installed. We left the audio card power cable disconnected in this photo to better illustrate the enhanced DIMM clearance of the Asus Xonar DX audio card, and attached the cable prior to testing.
Now for a quick recap of this system’s performance configuration.
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 |
| 3.00GHz, 1333 FSB, 12MB Cache | |
| Motherboard | ASUS Striker II Extreme, BIOS 0704 (05/21/2008) |
| RAM | Patriot Extreme Performance PDC34G1333LLK PC3-10666 |
| DDR3-1333, 2x 2048 MB, CAS 7.0-7-7-20 | |
| Hard Drive | 2x Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ, RAID 0 |
| 750 GB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache, SATA 300 | |
| Networking | NVIDIA nForce onboard Gigabit Ethernet NIC |
| Graphics Cards | 2x Gigabyte GeForce 9800 GX2, 1024 MB RAM (Per Card) |
| 600 MHz GPU, 2000 MHz RAM Data Rate | |
| Power Supply | Coolermaster RS850-EMBA (850W, ATX12V v2.2) |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| OS | Windows Vista Ultimate 6.0.6000 (Vista Retail) |
| DirectX Version | DirectX 10.0 |
| Platform Driver | nVIDIA nForce Version 9.46 |
| Graphics Driver | nVIDIA ForceWare 175.16 |
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And I think this shows perfectly the problem with the "must have the biggest and best" mentality of today's consumer - just because it's out doesn't mean it's ready.
If I were building a system right now I'd probably go for a pair of 8800GTXs knowing that when I needed to upgrade my graphics again I can stick a 3rd in.
Of course, without the endlessly-pocketed show-off consumer, we'd never get refinement and improvement of such products so we sensible types can benefit 6 months down the line.