System Builder Marathon: Overclocking

Supreme Commander, UT3, Warhammer

At default settings Supreme Commander likes both overclocked systems, and overclocking puts the new configuration back in the lead.

An even larger lead for the current $4000 build opens up when Supreme commander’s fidelity and anti-aliasing are increased, where this same system had fallen behind at stock speeds. Great overclocking capability made all the difference with our Gigabyte 9800 GX2 graphics cards.

With super-high frame rates for both stock and overclocked configurations, UT3’s favoritism of the older configuration makes the new system look bad while meaning nothing in actual game play.

The overclocking results prove Warhammer’s preference for CPU performance, as the former build had far better CPU overclocking. Without overclocking, the game still preferred the former system’s SLI pair of 8800 GTX graphics cards over the current 9800 GX2’s.