Test Setup

Operating System: Windows Vista Enterprise

We have recently switched to a different version of Windows for our benchmarks. Now, all benchmarks at THG are run on Windows Vista Enterprise. While this version is not available in stores, its performance results are identical to Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate. However, we were forced to make this switch, since this is the only version that offers an Open License. This License allows us to activate Windows Vista over the Internet repeatedly, without having to make calls to Microsoft’s activation hotline each time.

Hardware Configuration

We have updated our testbed system with new components, such as the graphics card, sound card and hard drive, in order to offer our readers results based on a platform which is both current and practical.

Hardware Setup

System Hardware
AMD Platform AM2+ (AMD 790FX)	Gigabyte GA-790FX-DQ6 (Rev.1.0) AMD 790FX, BIOS: F3
AMD Platform AM2 (Nvidia Nforce 5)	Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe, Rev.1.03G NVIDIA nForce5, BIOS: 1001 (03/13/2007)
Intel Platform S775 (Intel P35)	Gigabyte P35C-DS3R, Rev. 1.0 Intel P35, BIOS: F2o (05/11/2007)
Intel Platform S775 (Intel X38)	Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6, Rev. 1.0 Intel X38, BIOS: F4 (09/19/2007)
Memory	2x 1GB A-Data DDR2-1066+ Vitesta Extreme Edition
DVD-ROM	Samsung SH-D163A , SATA150
Graphics Card	Foxconn Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTX GPU: 575 MHz Shader: 1350 MHz Memory: 786 MB DDR4 (900 MHz, 384 Bit)
Sound Card	Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
Power Supply	Zalman, ATX 2.01, 510 Watt

• 16 – Test Setup
  

  1. 1 – AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition
  2. 2 – B2 Stepping – TLB Bug is Still Around
  3. 3 – B2 Stepping – TLB Bug is Still Around (Cont'd)
  4. 4 – Phenom 9600 Black Edition
  5. 5 – Overclocking – AMD’s OverDrive Badly Supported
  6. 6 – Overclocking – Newer Versions from other Sources?
  7. 7 – Overclocking – AMD OverDrive not yet Mature
  8. 8 – Overclocking – AMD OverDrive not yet Mature (Cont’d.)
  9. 9 – Overlocking by 13.04% - 2.60 GHz
  10. 10 – Overclocking – Hitting the Limit at 2.70 GHz
  11. 11 – Overclocking – Hitting the Limit at 2.70 GHz (Cont’d.)
  12. 12 – Only 12.5% more Performance
  13. 13 – Slower than Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q6600
  14. 14 – Power Consumption – 21 Watts when Idle
  15. 15 – Power Consumption – 150 Watts when Overclocked
  16. 16 – Test Setup
  17. 17 – Software Configuration
  18. 18 – Benchmarks and Settings
  19. 19 – 3D-Games - UT2004, Prey
  20. 20 – 3D-Games - Quake 4, Warhammer
  21. 21 – 3D-Games -Supreme Commander, Serious Sam 2
  22. 22 – 3D-Rendering - Cinema 4D, 3D-Studio Max
  23. 23 – Applications - AVG, WinRAR
  24. 24 – Applications - Photoshop, PDF
  25. 25 – Applications - Deep Fritz
  26. 26 – Audio Encoding - iTunes, Lame
  27. 27 – Synthetic - Sandra CPU
  28. 28 – Synthetic - Sandra Memory
  29. 29 – Synthetic - Sandra Multimedia
  30. 30 – Synthetic - PC-Mark
  31. 31 – Synthetic - 3DMark06
  32. 32 – Video Encoding - Xvid, Pinnacle Studio
  33. 33 – Video Encoding - Premiere, Mainconcept
  34. 34 – Video Encoding - HDTV, DivX
  35. 35 – Video Encoding - CloneDVD
  36. 36 – Conclusion – AMD’s Phenom 9600 can’t Beat Intel’s Q6600
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