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Hardware

• CPU: Intel Core i7 965 at 3.2 GHz (133x24)
• Motherboard:  MSI Eclipse (X58)
• Memory: 6 GB Mushkin HP3-12800 1600MHz DDR3 at 1333 MHz (9-9-9-24)
• Chassis: Thermaltake Armor
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W
• Hard Drive: 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA, w/16 MB cache
• CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U 12
• OS: Vista-64,SP1

Video cards used in the benchmarks include: XFX GTX 285 XXX (this is an overclocked model), a PowerColor Plus HD 4890, an Asus ENGTX 260 Matrix (in preset OC profile gaming mode), a Sapphire HD 4870 Vapor-X 1GB, a Gigabyte GTS 250 OC, and a pair of reference design ATI HD 4870 video cards running in CrossFire.

Software

For the drivers, all the ATI cards used the Catalyst 9.4 drivers, and all the Nvidia cards used Forceware 185.85 drivers.

Here is our current line-up of benchmarking programs:

3DMark06 and 3DMark Vantage: These popular synthetic benchmarking programs were used at a resolution of 1280x1024. Vantage was run in 'Performance' mode, and only the two GPU tests were used.

Bioshock: For this benchmark, all of the Detail settings were set to 'High'. All of the graphic option switches were set to 'On', with the exception of the following three settings: Vsync, Windowed mode, and Force Global Lighting. We used FRAPS to measure frame rate performance. The FRAPS run was 138 seconds, triggered from pulling the switch in the sub at game's beginning. The sub's dive involves many big models moving around, which should strain the GPUs and be a good measure of the game's engine.

Crysis: Warhead: Games don't get much more demanding than Crysis. We used the 'Gamer' pre-set level of details, which is the middle level setting out of 5 options. We ran the benchmark on the 'avalanche' map, using the FrameBuffer Crysis benchmarking tool, version 0.29, in DX10 mode.

Devil May Cry 4: This Capcom action game runs well on most systems; but at 'Super High' detail settings, even the fastest systems get taxed. This is built-in benchmark.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars: We use this id FPS benchmark to test out higher resolutions. We used the highest possible detail settings. We tested the resolutions at 4x AA as well as at 8x AA. 16x AF was also used.  

Far Cry 2: This open-world FPS is great looking game that really puts the strain on a gaming rig. We used the built-in benchmarking tool, and the overall 'Very High' quality setting was used.

Furmark: This intensive, synthetic benchmark models a ring of fur. We benched at 1680x1050.

H.A.W.X: Made by Ubisoft, this flight simulator is run with visual settings cranked: 2560x1600 resolution, 2xAA, all textures on 'High', view distance on 'High', HDR, engine heat and DOF 'On.' DirectX 10.1 features are not used for ATI cards.

World In Conflict: We used the built-in benchmark of the demo version of this game. We ran the benchmark in DX9 rendering mode, with a 'High' level of quality. For the AA testing, we used a setting of 4x, and a setting of 16x for AF.

Unreal Tournament 3: We tested the game using a fly-through of the vehicle capture-the-flag map 'Suspense.'ShangriLa (map) running for 90 seconds. Details were set to 'High', and a AF setting of 16x was used.

If you would like any further information about our benchmark settings, feel free to ask us in the forums.