Testing Methodoloy
Comparison Processor Configurations |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel |
AMD |
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Core i7-3770K |
Core i5-3570K |
Core i7-2700K |
Core i5-2500K |
Core i7-3960X |
Core i7-3820 |
FX-8150 |
A8-3870K |
|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Z77-D3H |
ASRock X79 Extreme 4 |
ASUS CrossHair V |
ASUS F1A75-V PRO |
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| BIOS | F10 |
1.80 |
1301 |
2201 |
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| Chipset Driver | Intel Inf 9.3.0.1020 and IMEI 7/8 |
Intel Inf 9.3.0.1020 and IMEI 7/8 |
AMD chipset drivers |
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| DDR3 Memory | G.Skill 8GB (2 x 4GB) |
G.Skill 16GB (4 x 4GB) |
G.Skill 8GB (2 x 4GB) |
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| Memory Timings | 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,600MHz |
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| Integrated Graphics | HD 4000 |
HD 4000 |
HD 3000 |
HD 3000 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
HD 6550D |
| Discrete Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB (ForceWare 301.10) |
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| Disk Drive | Corsair V128 SSD |
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| Optical Drive | Sony AD-7263S |
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| Chassis | Corsair Graphite 600T |
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| Power Supply | Corsair AX750 |
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| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit |
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CPU and Memory Benchmarks |
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| HEXUS.PiFast |
Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places | |||||||
| CineBench | Using CineBench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses all cores | |||||||
| wPrime | Another number-crunching benchmark that stresses all available CPU cores/threads | |||||||
| AIDA64 |
Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency | |||||||
| MediaEspresso |
Encodes 720p episode (55m) into BlackBerry Bold-friendly 480x360 version in mp4 | |||||||
| PCMark 7 |
An all-encompassing test to evaluate system performance | |||||||
GPU Benchmarks |
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| 3DMark Vantage | DX10, run at the default performance preset | |||||||
| 3DMark 11 | DX11, run with the performance preset | |||||||
| Just Cause 2 | DX10, 1,280x720 low/medium and 1,920x1,080 high settings | |||||||
| Batman: Arkham City | DX11, 1,920x1,080 with very high quality settings | |||||||
Miscellaneous Benchmarks |
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| Power Consumption | While idling and when running wPrime and 3DMark Vantage | |||||||
Notes
Our Core i5-3570K chip is an engineering-sample model provided by Intel. Its performance may not be completely indicative of that found on a retail chip, though we can make meaningful comparisons against other Intel chips in this line-up because they are also Intel-provided 'ES' chips.
Look out for the 3570K vs. 2500K numbers; both chips will co-exist for a while at a £160 price point.
