System setup and notes
Hardware and Software
Test Platforms
| System | HEXUS Midrange ATI Platform | HEXUS Midrange NVIDIA Platform |
| Processor(s) | AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ S939 (2.0GHz, 2 x 512KiB L2 cache, dual-core) | AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ S939 (2.0GHz, 2 x 512KiB L2 cache, dual-core) |
| Mainboard | ASUS A8R32-MVP. ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 | ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe, nForce4 SLI X16 |
| Chipset driver | ATI Catalyst 6.3 | NVIDIA 9.32 |
| BIOS revision | 0404 | 1103 |
| Memory | 1GByte (2 x 512MByte) OCZ4001024V25DC-K PC3200 | 1GByte (2 x 512MByte) OCZ4001024V25DC-K PC3200 | Memory speed and timings | 2.5-4-4-8 2T @ 400MHz | 2.5-4-4-8 2T @ 400MHz |
| Graphics card | Sapphire Radeon X1600 XT Ultimate Edition 256MB (semi-passive) | P.O.V GeForce 7600 GS Silent 256MB (completely passive) | Graphics card driver | ATI CCC 6.3 | NVIDIA ForceWare 84.21 | Disk drive | Seagate 160GB SATA | Seagate 160GB SATA | Monitor (tested with) | Dell 2405FPW Widescreen 24in TFT | Dell 2405FPW Widescreen 24in TFT | Operating system | Windows XP Pro SP2 | Windows XP Pro SP2 |
Benchmark Software
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory v1.05 - HEXUS custom benchmarkQuake 4 v1.04 HEXUS custom benchmark
Far Cry v1.33 - HEXUS custom benchmark
Notes
We'll be comparing the Sapphire card's performance against a P.O.V (Point Of View) card based on NVIDIA's GeForce 7600 GS GPU. It's a completely passive design that retails for around £20 less than the Sapphire card, and it runs at 400MHz core and 800MHz (effective) memory, so please, please bear that in mind when comparing the performance results on the following pages.We've run our gaming benchmarks with medium detail and at 1280x1024 and 1600x1200. The lower resolution is tested with 4x antialiasing and 8x anisotropic filtering. At 1600x1200 we run with no AA but with the same 8x AF.
