Test System:
XFX Geforce 8800 GTX 768Mb
XFX Geforce 8800 GTS 640Mb
ATI Radeon X1950XT Crossfire (2x512Mb)
Nvidia Geforce 7950 GX2 1Gb
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (2.66Ghz)
Intel D975XBX2
Asetek Vapochill LS

2x 1Gb OCZ PC2-8800 @ DDR2-800 4-4-4-12
WD Raptor 74Gb
Samsung 160Gb Sata2 Drive
Samsung 80Gb Sata Drive
Sony DWD710a DVD Writer
Enermax Noisetaker 600w PSU

Windows XP Pro SP2
DirectX 9.0c
.Net Framework 2.0
Intel reference drivers (WHQL)
Forceware 91.47 (GX2)
Forceware 96.94 (8800 Series)
Catalyst 6.10
Sonic/Roxio MyDVD v9
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
Oblivion
Dark Messiah: Might and Magic
PREY
Flight Simulator X
Need for Speed: Carbon
Company Of Heroes
Power DVD 7.0

The test system was built from scratch, a format of the hard drive was performed (NTFS) and then Windows XP was installed (SP2). Following the completion of the installation, the Nvidia/Intel/ATI drivers were installed. All updates were applied, including .NET Framework 2.0(latest service pack) and the latest Media Player version and Patches. Next, the latest builds of the benchmarking tools were installed and finally, the hard drive was de-fragmented. For each test, the Nvidia/ATI drivers were set to default quality/optimizations (unless otherwise stated).

Good Benchmarking Practice:
Where possible, each benchmark was performed 3 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.