Test notes
In order to gauge the impact of memory type on performance and power use, we've tested the Phenom II X4 810 both with DDR2 memory on a Socket AM2+ board and with DDR3 memory on a Socket AM3 board. You'll find the results in the following pages, labeled appropriately.
The Core 2 Quad Q8300 processor we used for testing came to us courtesy of the good folks at NCIX and NCIXUS. Thanks to them for making this comparison possible. We've underclocked our Q8300 to simulate a Q8200 for this review. I'm sure we'll get around to testing the Q8300 at its stock speed, as well, eventually.
We've simulated several other speed grades via underclocking, too. Specifically, the Phenom II X4 920 is an underclocked 940, and the Core 2 Quad Q9550 is an underclocked Core 2 Extreme QX9650. We expect the performance of these "simulated" speed grades to be identical to the real things, but we generally omit these processors from our power consumption testing because we do anticipate power use would vary slightly from the actual products.
Our testing methods
As ever, we did our best to deliver clean benchmark numbers. Tests were run at least three times, and the results were averaged.
Our test systems were configured like so:
| Processor | Core
2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz |
Core
2 Duo E8400 3.00 GHz Core 2 Duo E8600 3.33 GHz Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33 GHz Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5 GHz Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66 GHz Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83 GHz |
Core 2 Extreme QX9770 3.2 GHz | Dual Core 2 Extreme QX9775 3.2 GHz | Core
i7-940 2.66 GHz Core i7-940 2.93 GHz |
Core
i7-965 Extreme 3.2 GHz |
Athlon
64 X2 6400+ 3.2 GHz |
Phenom
X3 8750 2.4 GHz |
Phenom II X4 920 2.8 GHz Phenom II X4 940 3.0 GHz |
Phenom
II X4 810 2.6 GHz |
|
Phenom X4 9950 Black 2.6 GHz |
Phenom
II X3 720 2.8 GHz Phenom II X4 810 2.6 GHz |
Phenom
II X4 955 3.2 GHz |
||||||||
| System bus | 1066
MT/s (266 MHz) |
1333
MT/s (333 MHz) |
1600
MT/s (400 MHz) |
1600
MT/s (400 MHz) |
QPI
4.8 GT/s (2.4 GHz) |
QPI
6.4 GT/s (3.2 GHz) |
HT
2.0 GT/s (1.0 GHz) |
HT 3.6 GT/s (1.8 GHz) | HT 3.6 GT/s (1.8 GHz) | HT 4.0 GT/s (2.0 GHz) |
| HT 4.0 GT/s (2.0 GHz) | HT 4.0 GT/s (2.0 GHz) | |||||||||
| Motherboard | Asus P5E3 Premium | Asus P5E3 Premium | Asus P5E3 Premium | Intel D5400XS | Intel DX58SO | Intel DX58SO | Asus M3A79-T Deluxe | Asus M3A79-T Deluxe | MSI DKA790GX Platinum | Asus M4A79T Deluxe |
| BIOS revision | 0605 | 0605 | 0605 | XS54010J.86A.1149. 2008.0825.2339 |
SOX5810J.86A.2260. 2008.0918.1758 |
SOX5810J.86A.2260. 2008.0918.1758 |
0403 | 0403 | 11/25/08 | 0703 |
| 1.6 (1/21/09) | 0902 | |||||||||
| North bridge | X48 Express MCH | X48 Express MCH | X48 Express MCH | 5400 MCH | X58 IOH | X58 IOH | 790FX | 790FX | 790GX | 790FX |
| South bridge | ICH9R | ICH9R | ICH9R | 6321ESB ICH | ICH10R | ICH10R | SB750 | SB750 | SB750 | SB750 |
| Chipset drivers | INF
Update 9.0.0.1008 Matrix Storage Manager 8.5.0.1032 |
INF
Update 9.0.0.1008 Matrix Storage Manager 8.5.0.1032 |
INF
Update 9.0.0.1008 Matrix Storage Manager 8.5.0.1032 |
INF Update
9.0.0.1008 Matrix Storage Manager 8.5.0.1032 |
INF
update 9.1.0.1007 Matrix Storage Manager 8.5.0.1032 |
INF
update 9.1.0.1007 Matrix Storage Manager 8.5.0.1032 |
AHCI controller 3.1.1540.61 | AHCI controller 3.1.1540.61 | AHCI controller 3.1.1540.61 | AHCI controller 3.1.1540.61 |
| Memory size | 4GB (2 DIMMs) | 4GB (2 DIMMs) | 4GB (2 DIMMs) | 4GB (2 DIMMs) | 6GB (3 DIMMs) | 6GB (3 DIMMs) | 4GB (2 DIMMs) | 4GB (2 DIMMs) | 4GB (2 DIMMs) | 4GB (2 DIMMs) |
| Memory type | Corsair
TW3X4G1800C8DF DDR3 SDRAM |
Corsair
TW3X4G1800C8DF DDR3 SDRAM |
Corsair
TW3X4G1800C8DF DDR3 SDRAM |
Micron
ECC DDR2-800 FB-DIMM |
Corsair
TR3X6G1600C8D DDR3 SDRAM |
Corsair
TR3X6G1600C8D DDR3 SDRAM |
Corsair
TWIN4X4096-8500C5DF DDR2 SDRAM |
Corsair
TWIN4X4096-8500C5DF DDR2 SDRAM |
Corsair
TWIN4X4096-8500C5DF DDR2 SDRAM |
Corsair
TW3X4G1600C9DHXNV DDR3 SDRAM |
| Memory speed (Effective) | 1066 MHz | 1333 MHz | 1600 MHz | 800 MHz | 1066 MHz | 1600 MHz | 800 MHz | 1066 MHz | 1066 MHz | 1333 MHz |
| CAS latency (CL) | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
| RAS to CAS delay (tRCD) | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
| RAS precharge (tRP) | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
| Cycle time (tRAS) | 20 | 20 | 24 | 18 | 20 | 24 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 20 |
| Command rate | 2T | 2T | 2T | 2T | 2T | 1T | 2T | 2T | 2T | 2T |
| Audio | Integrated
ICH9R/AD1988B with SoundMAX 6.10.2.6480 drivers |
Integrated
ICH9R/AD1988B with SoundMAX 6.10.2.6480 drivers |
Integrated
ICH9R/AD1988B with SoundMAX 6.10.2.6480 drivers |
Integrated
6321ESB/STAC9274D5 with SigmaTel 6.10.5713.7 drivers |
Integrated
ICH10R/ALC889 with Realtek 6.0.1.5704 drivers |
Integrated
ICH10R/ALC889 with Realtek 6.0.1.5704 drivers |
Integrated
SB750/AD2000B with SoundMAX 6.10.2.6480 drivers |
Integrated
SB750/AD2000B with SoundMAX 6.10.2.6480 drivers |
Integrated SB750/ALC888 with Realtek 6.0.1.5704 drivers |
Integrated SB750/ALC1200 with Realtek 6.0.1.5704 drivers |
| Hard drive | WD Caviar SE16 320GB SATA | |||||||||
| Graphics | Radeon HD 4870 512MB PCIe with Catalyst 8.55.4-081009a-070794E-ATI drivers | |||||||||
| OS | Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Edition | |||||||||
| OS updates | Service Pack 1, DirectX redist update August 2008 | |||||||||
Thanks to Corsair for providing us with memory for our testing. Their products and support are far and away superior to generic, no-name memory.
Our single-socket test systems were powered by OCZ GameXStream 700W power supply units. The dual-socket system was powered by a PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR power supply. Thanks to OCZ for providing these units for our use in testing.
Also, the folks at NCIXUS.com hooked us up with a nice deal on the WD Caviar SE16 drives used in our test rigs. NCIX now sells to U.S. customers, so check them out.
The test systems' Windows desktops were set at 1600x1200 in 32-bit color at an 85Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled.
We used the following versions of our test applications:
- SiSoft Sandra 2009.1.15.42
- CPU-Z 1.48
- WorldBench 6 beta 2
- Half-Life 2: Episode Two
- Crysis Warhead
- Far Cry 2
- Unreal Tournament 3 1.3
- Valve VRAD map build benchmark
- Valve Source Engine particle simulation benchmark
- Cinebench R10 64-bit Edition
- POV-Ray for Windows 3.7 beta 29 64-bit
- CASE Lab Euler3d CFD benchmark multithreaded edition
- MyriMatch proteomics benchmark
- notfred's Folding benchmark CD 9/28/08 revision
- picCOLOR 4.0 build 627 64-bit
- The Panorama Factory 5.2 x64 Edition
- Windows Media Encoder 9 x64 Edition
- x264 HD benchmark 2.0 with x264 version 0.59.819
- LAME MT 3.97a 64-bit
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.
