How we configured our test systems:
How we configured our test systems: When configuring our test systems for this article, we first entered their respective system BIOSes and activated AHCI. Memory timings, voltages, and CPU speeds were set to Auto; the RAM was run at 1333MHz, with default timings enabled. Windows 7 64-bit was installed and fully patched on both systems.
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| HotHardware's Test System |
| Intel Inside |
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Motherboards:
MSI Big Bang XPower
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
EVGA X58 SLI Classified
Processor:
Intel Core i7-920
(2.66GHz - Quad-Core, HT Enabled)
RAM:
Corsair Dominator 6GB (3x2GB)
DDR3-1600 CAS 9-9-9-24
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Graphics Card:
ATI Radeon 5970
Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar Black (1TB)
Software:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel Chipset 8.9.0.1023 (5/4/2010)
ATI Catalyst 10.5
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SiSoft Sandra 2010 SP1
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Synthetic Benchmark Performance
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We began testing with SiSoftware's SANDRA, which stands for System ANalyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant. We examine a CPU's multimedia and arithmetic performance using Sandra, as well as the motherboard's peak memory bandwidth. The difference between the two platforms should be minor given their identical configurations.
Nothing surprising here--not that there should be. Benchmarks should be identical across all three boards, and Sandra shows everything on track.
