System Setup

System Setup

AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 (2.2GHz)
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (2.2GHz)
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz (Hyper-Threading Enabled)
Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz (Hyper-Threading Enabled)

ASUS SK8N nForce3 Professional 150
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe nForce2 400 Ultra
ABIT IC7-MAX3 875P

1GB Registered DDR400 (Athlon 64 FX)
1GB Corsair DDR3500 CAS2 (Athlon XP, Pentium 4)

NVIDIA Reference GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256MB
Detonator Driver 45.23

2x Western Digital Raptor 36GB 10,000RPM SATA HDD (RAID 0)

Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional 64-bit Edition

DirectX 9.0b

Benchmarks

SiSoft Sandra MAX3
3D Mark03 v330
Comanche 4 Benchmark Demo
PC Magazine Business Winstone 2002
Quake III: Arena version 1.32 ‘fscrusher’ demo
SPECviewperf 7.1
Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo

Lab Notes

Desktop resolution 1024x768, 32-bit color, 75Hz refresh

All tests run with power saving options disabled in Windows XP, as are the Automatic Update and System Restore services. Graphics options under the ‘Performance’ are disabled for maximum performance.

All three platforms were run with the most aggressive memory settings possible without sacrificing stability. The Athlon 64 FX-51 was set at CAS2.5-3-3-7, so perhaps higher quality modules would expose additional performance.

On the SK8N, Serial ATA RAID is configured on the onboard Promise controller. On the A7N8X Deluxe, a Silicon Image controller is substituted. The 875P platform employs the ICH5’s native RAID support.

Finally, it is interesting to note that both the Athlon XP and Pentium 4 platforms are noisier than the Athlon 64 FX. The reference heatsink/fan combination used by AMD is significantly quieter.