Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit + SP1
Forceware Release 180.48
Catalyst 8.12
DirectX 9.0c/DirectX 10
SiSoft Sandra Pro Business SP1
Photoshop CS4
Cinebench R10
Adobe Media Encoder
Fritz 11
Easy CD-DA
Lost Planet Colonies
World In Conflict
Counter Strike Source
Crysis: Warhead
CCCP (Codec Pack)
PowerDVD 8.0
Everest Ultimate
The test system was built from scratch, a format of the hard drive was performed (NTFS) and then Windows Vista was installed. Following the completion of the installation, the video drivers were installed. All windows updates were then installed as were the latest builds of the benchmarking tools. Finally, the hard drive was de-fragmented. For each test, the video drivers were set to default quality/optimizations (unless otherwise stated).
Good Benchmarking Practice
Where possible, each benchmark was performed three times and the median result for each resolution/setting is shown in the tables that will follow. All applications had their latest patches applied and all hardware features the latest BIOS/Firmware.
Driver Heaven does not use benchmark scripts. We play the games for long periods of time on various levels and report any unusual findings we see. Then we record with FRAPS across several in game levels recording the averages. This is real world testing and is just how you guys will experience the game. Occasionally we might throw in a time demo as a further comparison, but we will note it.
