Paradigm SHIFT: MainGear's Unique Gaming Rig Tested
We began testing with SiSoftware's SANDRA, which stands for System ANalyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant. These are synthetic tests where we expect to see the Shift make the most of its extra cores and higher clockspeed.
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Origin Genesis: Core i7 920 @ 3.8GHz, Maingear Shift: Core i7 980X @ 4.2GHz
The Shift's basic arithmetic performance is a further testament to the strength of Intel's Core i7 architecture. Intel's 32nm Gulftown processor doesn't contain any architectural special sauce that boost its efficiency over the Origin's 45nm chip, but an extra two cores and 400MHz are a potent combination.
Origin Genesis: Core i7 920 @ 3.8GHz, Maingear Shift: Core i7 980X @ 4.2GHz
Origin Genesis: Core i7 920 @ 3.8GHz, Maingear Shift: Core i7 980X @ 4.2GHz
Finally, we've got Sandra's memory bandwidth analysis. The gap here is a bit over ten percent, which is less significant than it seems. Consumer applications and games are typically more latency-sensitive, than bandwidth-sensitive. The Core i7's integrated memory controller and three channels of DDR3 deliver amply in both categories.
