System Setup
05
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H | Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H | Intel DG45ID |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £110.45 | £56.15 | £79.49 |
| Chipset | AMD 790GX + SB750 | AMD 780G + SB700 | Intel G45 + ICH10 |
| CPU | AMD Phenom X4 9850 (2.5GHz, 512KiB L2 cache per core, 2MiB L3, 2,000MHz HTT, Socket AM2) | Intel Core2 E8500 (3.16GHz, 6MB L2 cache, 1,333MHz FSB, LGA775) | |
| BIOS revision | F1b (08/06/2008) | F5 (06/18/2008) | 0405 |
| Mainboard software | Standard Vista drivers + AHCI 3.1.1540.64 | Intel Inf 9.0.0.1008 | |
| Memory | 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair PC8500-C5D XMS2 EPP | ||
| Memory timings and speed | 4-4-4-12@DDR2-801.6 | 4-4-4-12@DDR2-801.6 | 5-5-5-15 2T @ DDR2-800.0 |
| Integrated graphics | ATI Radeon HD 3300 @ 700MHz | ATI Radeon HD 3200 @ 500MHz | Intel GMA X4500 HD @ 533MHz |
| Integrated Graphics driver | CATALYST 8.8 | 790GX press driver (8.51-080810a-066060C-MSI) | 15.9.8.64.1518 |
| Discrete graphics | ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB | ||
| Discrete Graphics driver | 790GX press driver (8.51-080610a-066060C-MSI) | ||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 500GB SATAII (ST3500320AS) | ||
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business x64 SP1 | ||
Tests
| Benchmarks |
SiSoft SANDRA memory bandwidth HDTach - SATA average read speed Company of Heroes: OF v2.301, DX9 - 1,024x768 |
|---|
Testing notes
As comparisons we've got both the 790GX's predecessor, the 780G, in the form of Gigabyte's GA-MA78GM-S2H, and as an Intel platform alternative, the Intel G45-based Intel DG45ID.
You can look here for our previous evaluation of the Gigabyte 780G board.
We've tried to balance the AMD and Intel setups as much as possible in terms of price and feature-set, The Intel DG45ID's failed to function correctly with a Core 2 Quad Q6600 - a problem we're still getting to grips with - and we substituted that processor for a dual-core Core 2 Duo E8500 chip.
As such whilst the two setups directly compete in terms of price, we are ultimately comparing a higher-clocked dual-core Intel system to a quad-core AMD system - and both setups are likely to shine in different tests.
2D benchmark performance will be determined largely by the ability of the processor, storage performance will fall on the southbridge, and gaming is the domain of the IGP or graphics card, unless bottlenecked by other system components.
On we go.
