X-bit labs

Quad-Core from AMD: Quad FX Platform Review (page 6)

Category: CPU

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 11/29/2006 | 09:01 PM ]

Testbed and Methods

The main goal of our test session was to check whether AMD Quad FX platform can be regarded as an opponent to Intel quad-core processors for the performance prospective. For our tests we put together a few platforms using the following hardware components:

• CPUs:
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 (Socket 1207, 3.0GHz, 2x1024KB L2);
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-72 (Socket 1207, 2.8GHz, 2x1024KB L2);
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-70 (Socket 1207, 2.6GHz, 2x1024KB L2);
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 (Socket AM2, 2.8GHz, 2x1024KB L2);
• Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (LGA775, 2.93GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 4MB L2);
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (LGA775, 2.66GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 2x4MB L2);
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (LGA775, 2.66GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 4MB L2);
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (LGA775, 2.4GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 2x4MB L2).
• Mainboards:
• ASUS L1N64-SLI WS (Dual Socket 1207, NVIDIA nForce 680a SLI);
• ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe (Socket AM2, NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI);
• ASUS P5B Deluxe (LGA775, Intel P965 Express).
• Memory:
• 2048MB DDR2-800 SDRAM (Mushkin XP2-6400PRO, 2 x 1024MB, DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12);
• 2048MB DDR2-800 SDRAM (Mushkin XP2-6400PRO, 4 x 512MB, DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12).
• Graphics card: PowerColor X1900 XTX 512MB;
• HDD: Western Digital WD1500AHFD.
• OS: Microsoft Windows XP SP2 with DirectX 9.0c.

We tested with the mainboard BIOS settings adjusted for maximum performance.

Also note that following the manufacturers recommendations we used four 512MB memory modules in the Quad FX system, while all other testbeds were equipped with two 1GB DDR2 SDRAM modules.