Test system

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 @ 2.66Ghz
Motherboard: Asus P5N-E SLI
Audio: Onboard audio chip – Realtek High Definition Audio
Memory: 2 x 1 GB OCZ Gold 800Mhz DDR2 memory
Graphics cards: Gainward 8600 Goes like hell edition, Gainward 8600 1024Mb
Drivers: nVidia forceware 161.11
Operating system used: Windows Vista Ultimate, fully updated
Bioshock
Oblivion
Supreme Commander
Tomb Raider Anniversary
F.E.A.R: Extraction Point
Counter Strike: Source
Call of Juarez
Lost Planet

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 installations, the Nvidia 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 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.