Test Systems

Intel Core2 X6800

Abit AW9D

2x1Gb DDR2-1111 (4-4-4-12) (Corsair)
2x1Gb DDR2-110 (5-6-6-15) (OCZ)

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
Intel reference drivers (WHQL)
Forceware 91.47
PCmark 2005
Sisoft Sandra 2007
Sonic MyDVD v6.1
F.E.A.R.
PREY
Photoshop CS2
ATI Avivo Converter
Windows Media Player 10

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.

Additional Setup Notes:

The only settings changed for this review where the major items that end users would normally change and those are:

CAS# - RAS# to CAS# - RAS# Precharge – Tras .

There are other minor timing differences (such as Trc) between the modules however it would not be normal for end users to change those and therefore we have left as is.

To summarise, the Corsair stock settings at the recommended 11xxmhz are:

4-4-4-12 – 2T

The OCZ stock settings are:

5-6-6-15 – 2T

Testing was performed at DDR2-800 with identical timings, DDR2-1066 at recommended timings and overclocked at recommended timings. Finally, the Dominator Airflow was used for all Corsair testing.