Test
System:
Intel
Core 2 Extreme QX6700
EVGA Nforce 680i
2x1Gb DDR2-1000 4-4-4-12 (GEIL)
2x1Gb DDR2-1000 4-5-4-15 (SuperTalent)
Geforce 7950GX2 1Gb
74Gb WD Raptor
Enermax 600w Noisetaker CPU
Sony 710A DVD writer
160gb Samsung Sata2 Drive
80Gb Samsung Sata Drive
Vapochill LS
Windows
XP Pro +SP2
Nforce 9.53
Forceware 93.71
PCmark 2005
Sisoft Sandra XI
Sonic/Roxio MyDVD v9
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
Oblivion
Photoshop CS2
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. Following the completion of
the installation, the Nvidia drivers were installed.
The only updates applied were SP2 and .NET Framework
1.1(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 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.
Testing
Notes
We have tested the modules at their advertised
specifications initially. These are:
Super
Talent:
1000Mhz with 4-5-4-15 @ 2.2v. EPP Enabled with
no OC.
Geil:
1000Mhz with 4-4-4-12 @ 2.4v. No EPP
Later on in the article we have looked at the
potential each product has for overclocking whilst
remaining within the warranty voltage (2.2v ST/
2.4v Geil).