System setup and notes
| Graphics cards | BFG GeForce 295 H2O 1,792MB |
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 295 1,792MB | Inno3D
GeForce GTX 285 OVERCLOCK 1,024MB |
Sapphire
Radeon HD 4870 X2 2,048MB ATOMIC |
Sapphire
Radeon HD 4850 X2 2,048MB |
Sapphire
Radeon HD 4870 1,024MB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current pricing, including VAT | £599
(estimated) |
£389.99 | £340 (estimated) | £620 |
£266.99 | £179.57 |
| Shader model | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| Stream processors | 480 | 480 | 240 | 1,600 | 1,600 | 800 |
| GPU clock speed (MHz) | 576 | 576 | 700 | 800 | 625 | 750 |
| Shader clock speed (MHz) | 1,242 | 1,242 | 1,476 | 800 | 625 | 750 |
| Memory clock speed (MHz) | 1,998 | 1,998 | 2,560 | 4,000 | 1,986 | 3,600 |
| Memory bus width (Bits) | 896 | 896 | 512 | 512 (2 x 256) | 512 (2 x 256) | 256 |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 LGA775 (3.0GHz, 12MB L2 cache, quad-core) | |||||
| Motherboard | EVGA CK132 -NF79 (nForce 790i Ultra SLI) | MSI X48 Platinum (X48+ICH9R) | ||||
| Motherboard BIOS | P06 | v2.3 | ||||
| Mainboard software | NVIDIA device driver 15.17 | Intel Inf 9.0.0.1008 | ||||
| Memory | 4GB Corsair XMS3 DHX (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1,333 | |||||
| Memory timings and speed | 9-9-9-24 1T @ DDR3-1,333 | |||||
| PSU | Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1,000W | |||||
| Monitor | Dell 30in 3007WFP - 2,560x1,600px | |||||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (3Gb/s mode) | |||||
| Graphics driver | ForceWare 182.06 | ForceWare 181.20 | ForceWare 181.20 | Catalyst 8.12 | Catalyst 8.12 | Catalyst 9.1 beta |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business SP1, 64-bit | |||||
Software
| 3D Benchmarks | Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts v2.103: DX10 - very
high quality Far Cry 2 v1.01 - very high quality Enemy Territory: Quake Wars v1.5, HEXUS custom-recorded benchmark. OpenGL - very high quality Race Driver: GRID v1.2, HEXUS custom-recorded benchmark - ultra quality Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare v1.7, HEXUS custom-recorded benchmark: DX9 - very high quality |
|---|
Notes
Having a completely custom-designed product means that it's not going to be cheap. A vanilla GeForce GTX 295, such as the comparison ZOTAC, weighs in at just under £400, delivered. You'll pay an extra £200 for the Danger Den block and grounds-up design, but that's actually a better deal than the Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 ATOMIC, which, whilst overclocked, costs nearly £300 more than a basic 4870 X2. However, it ships with an all-in-one solution, and that needs to be factored into the price.Look at the specs and you'll note that the BFG H2O ships with identical speeds to the ZOTAC, but we've tested the former on the newest WHQL driver, v182.06, so any benchmark differences you'll see are accounted by the change in software. Further, we've run select games at the highest stable frequency we attained with the card.
This is the last outing for the Intel Core 2 Quad CPUs, by the way, as our labs' guys are busying churning through a lot of numbers on a Core i7 platform, by the way.
