System setup and notes
Hardware and Software
Test Platforms
| System | MESH Matrix² CrossFire 1900XT System | MESH Matrix² CrossFire 1300 System | Matrix² CrossFire RD 1600 System | HEXUS AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 System | HEXUS Intel Presler 965 System |
| Processor(s) | AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 @ 2.6GHz. 2MB L2 cache, dual-core | AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.0GHz, 1MB L2 cache, dual-core) | AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.0GHz, 1MB L2 cache, dual-core) | AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 (2.8GHz, 1MB L2 cache, single-core) | Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 (3.73GHz, 4MB L2 cache, dual core) |
| Mainboard | ASUS A8R32-MVP Radeon Xpress 3200 CrossFire Edition | ASUS A8R32-MVP Radeon Xpress 3200 CrossFire Edition | ASUS A8R32-MVP Radeon Xpress 3200 CrossFire Edition | ASUS A8N32-SLI nForce4 X16 | Intel D975XBK | Chipset driver | ATI CATALYST 6.2 | ATI CATALYST 6.2 | ATI CATALYST 6.2 | NVIDIA 6.70 | Intel INF Update Utility 7.2.2.1006 |
| Memory | 2GByte (2x1024MB)Samsung PC3200 Original DDR SDRAM | 1GByte (2x512MB) Samsung PC3200 Original DDR SDRAM | 1GByte (2x512MB) Samsung PC3200 Original DDR SDRAM | 2GByte (2x1024MB)Corsair TwinX3500LL XMS PRO DDR SDRAM | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS2-5400UL DDR2 SDRAM | Memory timings | 3-3-3-8 2T @ 400MHz | 3-3-3-8 2T @ 400MHz | 3-3-3-8 2T @ 400MHz | 2-3-2-6 1T @ 400MHz | 3-2-2-8 @ 533MHz (DDR2) |
| Graphics Card(s) | 2x ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB in CrossFire setup | 2x ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 512MB in CrossFire setup | 2x ATI Radeon X1300 Pro 512MB in CrossFire setup | 2x ATI Radeon X1900 XTX 512MB in CrossFire setup (Master Card at XT speeds) | ATI Radeon X1800 XL 256MB | Graphics Card Driver | ATI CATALYST 6.2 | ATI CATALYST 6.2 | ATI CATALYST 6.2 | ATI CATALYST 6.2 | ATI CATALYST 6.2 | Disk drive(s) | Maxtor 400GB 16MB cache SATA | Maxtor 250GB SATA | Maxtor 250GB SATA | Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA | Western Digital 160GB IDE | Monitor | Dell 2405FPW Widescreen (1920x1200) | Dell 2405FPW Widescreen (1920x1200) | Dell 2405FPW Widescreen (1920x1200) | Dell 2405FPW Widescreen (1920x1200) | Dell 2405FPW Widescreen (1920x1200) | Operating system | Windows XP Home SP2 | Windows XP Home SP2 | Windows XP Home SP2 | Windows XP Pro SP2 | Windows XP Pro SP2 |
Benchmark Software
ScienceMark 2.0 (21st March 2005)HEXUS.in-house Cryptography Benchmark
HEXUS Pifast Benchmark
Realstorm Raytracing 2004
CINEBENCH 2003 multi-CPU render
HEXUS.in-house MP3 Encoding Benchmark using LAME 3.97a (Intel HT compiler) - 701MB WAV
picCOLOR 32-bit b568
KribiBench v1.1
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - HEXUS custom benchmark
Quake 4 HEXUS Custom Benchmark
Far Cry - HEXUS custom benchmark
Notes
As noted, the MESH Matrix² CrossFire 1300/1600 system only differ in the graphics cards used. We've added in a couple of high-end systems that we use for CPU and motherboard reviews as a comparative guide to the MESH Matrix² CrossFire 1900XT's performance. Our high-end AMD system is based around gaming performance and features a single-core AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 CPU, which, at 2.8GHz, is stil the fastest in terms of clockspeed. We've also paired up an ATI X1900 master card with a regular 'XTX card.There were no software or hardware problems to report on the three MESH SKUs. Obviously, featuring twin X1900 XT cards in CrossFire mode, the Matrix² CrossFire 1900XT machine was the loudest out of the submitted trio. We indicated that card-related noise could be lowered with the introduction of a front-mounted intake fan. That, however, is our only recommendation.
Let's get on to the benchmarks, shall we?
