Our testing methods
Before we can free-run to the pretty pictures and performance graphs, there's a bit of housekeeping to take care of first. As always, we did our best to deliver clean benchmark numbers. Tests were run at least three times, and the results were averaged.
Our test system was configured like so:
| Processor | AMD Phenom 9900 Engineering Sample 2.6GHz (TLB patch disabled) |
| System bus | HyperTransport 4.0 GT/s (2.0 GHz) |
| Motherboard | Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe |
| BIOS revision | 1406 |
| North bridge | 790FX |
| South bridge | SB600 |
| Chipset drivers | Microsoft 6.0.6001.18000 |
| Memory size | 4GB (4 DIMMs) |
| Memory type | 2x 2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 SDRAM |
| CAS latency (CL) | 5 |
| RAS to CAS delay (tRCD) | 5 |
| RAS precharge (tRP) | 5 |
| Cycle time (tRAS) | 18 |
| Command rate | 2T |
| Audio | Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum |
| Graphics |
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX GPU: 625MHz, Shaders: 1465MHz, Memory: 975MHz with ForceWare 181.22 WHQL drivers |
| Hard drive | Western Digital Raptor 74GB SATA |
| OS | Windows Vista Ultimate x64 |
| OS updates | Service Pack 1, latest updates at time of writing |
The test system's Windows desktop was set at 1920x1200 in 32-bit color at a 60Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled.
We used the following versions of our test applications:
- Mirror's Edge 1.01
- NVIDIA PhysX System Software 9.09.0121
- FRAPS 2.9.8
The tests and methods we employ are usually publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.
