Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Forceware 195.62
DirectX 9.0c/DirectX (10 August 2009)
Photoshop CS4 64-bit
Cinebench R10 64-bit
SiSoft Sandra Business Pro
Black Magic Disk Speed Test
Windows Media Player
CPUz
Everest Ultimate
GPUz
Fraps
After receiving the system, a clean build of Windows 7 was put in place. 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.
HardwareHeaven 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. These results give the reader balanced and directly comparable set of figures for comparing cards.
