System setup and notes
| Motherboard | XFX X58 XT | Foxconn Bloodrage X58 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Chipset | Intel X58 + ICH10R | |
| CPU | Intel Core i7 965 Engineering Sample @ 2.67GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 8MB L3, LGA1366 | |
| Actual CPU frequency | 2653.2MHz | 2660.1MHz |
| BIOS revision | v1.1 (09/01/2009) | G19 (22/01/2009) |
| Memory | 6GB (3 x 2GB) Crucial DDR3-1,066 CL7 | |
| Memory timings and speed | 7-7-7-20 1T @ DDR3-1,066 | |
| Graphics card | Force3D Radeon HD 4870 512MB | |
| Graphics driver | Catalyst 9.1 | |
| Chipset driver | Intel Inf 9.1.0.1007 + Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.6.0.1007 | |
| Disk drive(s) | Samsung Spinpoint 1TB | |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Business x64 SP1 | |
Tests
| Benchmarks |
ScienceMark 2.0 memory latency HD Tach 3.0.4.0 - SATA average read speed Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, v1.5 - 1,024x768 low-detail
settings and 1,680x1,050 high-detail Overclocked benchmarks for DivX, PiFast, and ET:QW |
|---|
Testing notes
With a slightly updated testing suite, there's a two-board face-off against our current favourite X58 board, the Foxconn Bloodrage. It's around £70 dearer, but for that you receive a bunch of extra features and particular attention towards overclocking, as it ships with a waterblock and dry-ice container as standard.The CPU is an Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition, downclocked to 2.4GHz core, 4.8GHz QPI, and 2.133GHz uncore - as you would find it if available in default 920 mode. There's no reason why we couldn't test with the shipping 3.2GHz clocks, but evaluating at lower speed offers better insight into the probable performance readers will receive if purchasing the base chip.
Lastly, the test board passed our basic stability test, which involves running Prime95 on all eight cores whilst playing the Enemy Territory benchmark, for a total of six hours.
Issues
Using the latest v1.1 BIOS, entering the system-health section would, from time to time, cause the board to hang, necessitating a system reset.
