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Case Studies

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Case Studies
2005 CPU Special Issue
Page(s) 43 in print issue

Overclock Shop
What Doesnt Kill Your System Makes It Faster
All motherboards are not equal. You can size up a boards
performance potential at stock settings by glancing at its specs or
reading a hardware review, but neither reviews nor spec sheets
offer a clue about how a mobo will perform when you turn up the
heat. Thats where we come in: Every issue, we push up our
sleeves and lug a massive collection of motherboards, CPUs,
test systems, and caffeinated beverages into the labs.
Most CPUs are compatible with multiple chipsets, so we hunt
down the best combos by alternately matching each of our
processors with one of three chipsets. We test each combo at stock settings and then
OC them until they collapse. The result: You can pick out your favorite overclocking duo
and get to work on your new benchmark-killing rig. We, on the other hand, are still
waiting for the caffeine to wear off.
The Lineup
Two major chipset makers supply mainstream, AMD-based mobos: NVIDIA and VIA.
They compete fiercely while SiS and ATI offer less popular chipsets. SiS hadnt released
its latest chipsets when we started testing, so were sticking with ATIs Radeon Xpress
200 and SB400. Our CPUs include the 64-bit AMD Athlon 64 series and its highpowered cousin, the Athlon 64 FX, both of which sport 939 pins.
In Intels corner we faced mostly Intel chipsets: the 925X, 925XE, and 955X. We also
snagged NVIDIAs nForce4 SLI chipset, which supports a 1,066MHz bus. We matched
the chipsets with some of Intels newest, fastest processors in the P4 and P4 Extreme
Edition lines.
Mobos and CPUs aside, our test systems are nearly identical. Each rig boasts a single
128MB Chaintech 6600GT SE6600G, which plugs into the new x16 PCI Express slot.
(None of our motherboards sport the old 8X AGP graphics slot.) Each test PC also
includes a 160GB, 7,200rpm Maxtor 6Y160M0 drive and a 550W Antec TruePower II
PSU. All of our test systems run Windows XP Pro SP2.
Of course, we couldnt always stick to identical parts. We stocked our AMD-based test
PCs with 1GB of PC3200 Corsair XMS RAM (two 512MB DIMMs), but we couldnt add
them to our Intel-based systems, as those motherboards require DDR2 memory. To that
end, we snagged a pair of 512MB, PC2 6400 Corsair XMS2 DIMMs. We also cooled our
CPUs with different heatsinks. However, all of the heatsinks have copper bases and fins,
which provide better cooling than stock heatsinks.

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Testing & Overclocking

We started our testing marathon by benchmarking the systems at stock settings. Instead
of using an out-of-the-box approach, we ditched the driver CDs, which generally have
outdated drivers by the time they reach consumers, and instead downloaded the latest
drivers from manufacturer Web sites. We also downloaded the latest BIOS versions for
all our boards and flashed each BIOS before we began benchmarking. As a result the
stock settings scores reflect the systems at their nonoverclocked best.
After getting these baseline scores, we turned up the heat. We entered the BIOS,
punched up the clock speed a few notches, and then ran the benchmarks again. In
addition to gauging system performance increases, this procedure tested each
configurations stability. If your overclocked rig crashes out of 3DMark, youve probably
pushed it too far, and it wont be able to handle your games, either. We pushed our
systems until they crashed and then backed down to the best, most stable settings;
these are our overclocked scores.
Although many users overclock their systems to see better performance in video games,
nongamers also push their systems to the limits. Overclocking affects both games and
standard office tasks, so we used benchmarks that analyze both categories. Our office
benchmark is Futuremark PCMark04, which provides an overall rating and individual
ratings for the rigs hard drive, memory, processor, and video card.
Our video game tests include 3D-Mark05, Futuremarks latest 3D benchmark. The
software runs several demos and then provides an overall score. Although the video
card weighs heavily in the benchmarks analysis, faster CPU speeds also affect the
score. Finally, we ran two real-world tests: Doom 3s built-in demo and a few minutes of
Half-Life 2 gameplay we recorded to gauge the systems average fps (frames per
second) performance.
The Winners & The Losers
Finally, we unloaded our data into two charts for each article. One chart shows the
overclocking information, including any voltage or other settings we changed; the
Overclock Comparison chart lets you assess the three motherboard/CPU combos
3DMark05 performance at a glance.
by Joshua Gulick

Copyright 2006 Sandhills Publishing Company U.S.A. All rights reserved.

http://www.computerpoweruser.com/editorial/prntArticle.asp?prnt=1&article=articles%2F... 4/14/2006