System setup and notes
| System | AMD Phenom AM2+ system | AMD Phenom AM3 system | Intel Core 2 system | Intel Core i7 system |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processors | AMD Phenom II X4 940
(3.0GHz, 2MB L2, 6MB L3,
AM2+, quad-core, 45nm) £167 AMD Phenom II X4 920 (2.80GHz, 2MB L2, 6MB L3, AM2+, quad-core, 45nm) £151 AMD Phenom X4 9950 BE (2.60GHz, 2MB L2, 2MB L3, AM2+, quad-core, 65nm) £128 |
AMD
Phenom II X4
955 BE (3.20GHz, 2MB L2, 6MB L3, AM3, quad-core, 45nm) £199 AMD Phenom II X4 810 (2.60GHz, 2MB L2, 4MB L3, AM3, quad-core, 45nm) £143 |
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 (2.50GHz, 6MB L2 cache, quad-core, 45nm) £160 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz, 12MB L2 cache, quad-core, 45nm) £210 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 (3.0GHz, 12MB L2 cache, quad-core, 45nm) £260 |
Intel Core i7 920
(2.66GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 8MB L3, quad-core,
45nm) £235 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H (790GX + SB750) £120 | ASUS M4A79T Deluxe (790FX + SB750) £160 | Foxconn P45A-S (Intel P45 + ICH10R) £100 | Gigabyte EX58UD5 (£210) |
| BIOS revision | F3 (13/01/2009) | 0037 beta (04/02/2009) | P05 (27/08/2008) | F5d |
| Memory | 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair DOMINATOR 8500 DDR2 (£49) | 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair XMS3 DHX PC-10,666 DDR3 (£69) | 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair DOMINATOR 8500 DDR2 (£49) | 6GB (3 x 2GB) Crucial DDR3-1,333 CL9 DDR3 (£65) |
| Memory timings and speed | 5-5-5-15-2T @ 1,069MHz | 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,337.6MHz | 5-5-5-15-2T @ 1,066.6MHz | 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,333MHz |
| Graphics card(s) | Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB | |||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 500GB SATAII (ST3500320AS) | |||
| Optical drive(s) | Sony DW-Q30A | |||
| Mainboard software | Standard Vista SP1 drivers + AHCI 3.1.1540.64 | Standard Vista SP1 drivers + AHCI 3.1.1540.64 | Intel Inf 9.1.0.1008 | Intel Inf 9.1.0.1008 |
| Graphics driver | ATI Catalyst 8.12 | |||
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business, SP1 64-bit | |||
| PSU | Corsair HX1000W | |||
| Monitor | Dell 2405FPW | |||
Software
| Benchmarks | ScienceMark memory latency Sandra 2009 SP2 (15.72), float buffered HEXUS.PiFast calculation to 10m places HEXUS DivX 6.8.3 + Lame encoding enhanced multithreading on + SSE4 search off CINEBENCH R10 multi-CPU render 64-bit POV-Ray 3.7.0 beta 25a 64-bit Company of Heroes: OF v2.103, DX9, 1,024x768 - low and high quality ET: QW, v1.5, 1,024x768 and 1,680x1,050 - high-detail settings. DivX 6.8.3 + Lame + QuickTime 7.5.5 (multitasking) DivX 6.8.3 + Lame + ET: QW, v1.5, 1,680x1,050 smp off (multitasking) Power-draw at idle and load, as a platform |
|---|
Notes
With the large assumption that the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition will retail in PIB (processor in box) form for around £200, the closest competitor from Intel is the Core 2 Quad Q9550 - 2.80GHz, 12MB L2 - currently shipping for around £210. Core i7 goodness comes in at around £30 more, but it's not as simple as that, due to platform considerations.
