System setup and notes
Hardware and Software
Test Platforms
| System | SCAN FX-62 AM2 System | Evesham FX-62 AM2 system | HEXUS FX-60 S939 system | HEXUS Intel Presler 965 system |
| Processor(s) | AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 AM2 (2.8GHz, 2MB L2 cache, dual-core) | AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 AM2 (2.8GHz, 2MB L2 cache, dual-core) | AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 (2.6GHz, 2MB L2 cache, dual-core) | Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 (3.73GHz, 4MB L2 cache, dual-core) |
| Mainboard | Foxconn C51XEM2AA nForce 590 SLI | Foxconn C51XEM2AA nForce 590 SLI | ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe | ASUS P5WD2E-Premium |
| BIOS revision | 12/05/2006 - (612W1P18) | 12/05/2006 - (612W1P18) | 1103 | 17/04/2006 - 0501 |
| Chipset driver | ForceWare 9.32 | ForceWare 9.32 | ForceWare 9.32 | Intel INF Update Utility 7.2.2.1006 |
| Memory | 2GBytes (2x1024MByte) Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5 EPP DDR2 | 2GBytes (2x1024MByte) Crucial PC6400 | 1GByte (2x512MByte)Corsair XMS 3200PRO DDR | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS2-5400UL DDR2 |
| Memory speed and timings | 5-5-5-15 2T @ 936MHz | 5-4-4-12 2T @ 800MHz | 2-2-2-5 1T @ 400MHz (DDR) | 3-2-2-8 2T @ 667MHz |
| Graphics Card(s) | NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 1GB | 2 x NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB SLI | GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB | GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB |
| Graphics Card Driver | NVIDIA ForceWare 91.29 | NVIDIA ForceWare 91.27 | NVIDIA ForceWare 91.27 | NVIDIA ForceWare 91.27 |
| Disk drive(s) | WD 150GB Raptors (WD150ADFD)
10,000RPM, 16MB cache 2x Seagate 7200.10 750GB SATA2 |
Western Digital 500GB 500KS 16MB cache SATA | Seagate ST3160812AS 160GB SATA | Maxtor 300GB SATA (6V300F0) |
| Monitor (tested with) | Dell 3007WFP Widescreen (2560x1600) | Dell 3007WFP Widescreen (2560x1600) | Dell 2405FPW Widescreen (1920x1200) | Dell 3007WFP Widescreen (2560x1600) |
| Operating system | Windows XP Pro SP2 | Windows XP MCE 2005 | Windows XP Pro SP2 | Windows XP Pro SP2 |
Benchmark Software
ScienceMark 2.0 (21st March 2005)HEXUS Pifast Benchmark
HEXUS.in-house MP3 Encoding Benchmark using LAME 3.97a (Intel HT compiler) - 701MB WAV
HEXUS.in-house DivX encode using DivX 6.01 and VirtualDub on 416MB DV file
CINEBENCH 2003 multi-CPU render
KribiBench v1.1
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory v1.05 - HEXUS custom benchmark
Quake 4 v1.04 HEXUS Custom Benchmark
Far Cry v1.33 - HEXUS custom benchmark
Notes
We took a look at Evesham's FX-62-based system a couple of weeks' ago and were impressed by the level of componentry offered for an all-inclusive £3,000. It's important to note that its asking price includes a 20.1in widescreen TFT, speakers, and input devices, so the comparison against the SCAN base unit is for performance reference only. We've further added in an AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 (S939) and Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 systems that we use in our labs.
All hail the fastest single card on the planet? Our benchmarks will tell all but don't forget also to check out Rys's take.
A spec. to die for?
