System setup and notes
| System name | Dell Studio XPS Core i7 | Chillblast Fusion Gemini | PC Specialist Apollo Q260GTX | HEXUS E6700 GTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz, quad-core | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 3.485GHz, 12MB L2 cache, 1,600MHz, quad-core | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 (2.67GHz, 12MB L2 cache, 1,333MHz, quad-core) | Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.67GHz, 4MB L2 cache, 1,066MHz, dual-core) |
| Motherboard | Dell mATX X58 (X48) | ASUS Rampage Formula (X48) | ASUS P5N-D (nForce 750i SLI) | Intel Bad Axe 2 (i975X) |
| Memory | 6GB (6x 1GB) Samsung DDR3-8500 | 4GB (2x 2GB) Corsair XMS28500 | 4GB (2x 2GB) Corsair XMS2-6400 | |
| Memory timings and speed | N/A | 5-5-5-15-2T @ 1,092MHz | 5-5-5-15-2T @ 800MHz | |
| Graphics card(s) | NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB | ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 2,048MB | ASUS GeForce GTX 260 192-core 896MB | NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB |
| Disk drive(s) | 2x Hitachi 500GB, 7,200rpm, 16MB cache | Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F1, 7,200rpm, 32MB cache | Western Digital 750GB Caviar SE, 7,200rpm 16MB cache | 2x Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200.10, 7,200rpm, 8MB cache |
| Optical drive(s) | None as supplied | LG H20L combo drive | LG H20L combo drive | Pioneer 110D DVD ReWriter |
| Graphics driver | ForceWare 177.79 | ForceWare 177.41 | ||
| Operating System | Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit, SP1 | Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit, SP1 | Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit, SP1 | Windows XP Pro, SP3 |
| Base unit price (estimated) | £899 | £1,400 | ~£1,050 | ~£700 |
| Benchmarks | HEXUS.boot - cold-boot time from power-on to Gadwin PrintScreen pop-up HEXUS.power - idle and 3D load measurements from the mains HEXUS.transcode - 200MB, 1080p clip to iPhone (480x272, medium quality) HEXUS.photofix - 152MB photos auto-fixed - 25 images HEXUS.squeeze - 205MB photos compressed into one file using WinRAR 3.71 HEXUS.pro - CINEBENCH R10 multi-CPU render HEXUS.usb - 4GB (180 files) transfer from USB drive to primary drive HEXUS.gaming - Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - 1,920x1,200 4xAA 16xAF, VHQ |
|---|
Notes
The Dell Studio XPS is the only Core i7-equipped machine in our line-up, and it's the cheapest of the system integrator-built trio.
The control (comparison) machines are Chillblast and PC Specialist rigs that we reviewed recently and a cheaper HEXUS machine that's seen a few days. The specification of the latter is indicative of a mid-range PC from early last year, so it will be interesting to see how it compares against something a little newer and vastly more powerful, with Core i7 at the helm.
We expect the Dell to win the CPU-related benchmarks but the trio of machines to beat it in gaming tests - it's not really promoted as a gaming PC and we fully understand that.
Core i7's Turbo Boost function is set such that the CPU run at 2.8GHz (21x 133MHz reference clock) when placed under either single- or multithreaded load, so beat that in mind when comparing results. Further, Dell effectively locks out any user-tweaking in the BIOS: you cannot adjust any meaningful performance parameters yourself.
All benchmarks are run three times and the scores averaged. If the benchmarks show a larger-than three per cent difference between slowest and fastest runs we keep running until the standard deviation is reduced.
