Testbed and Methods
Before we pass over to the detailed description of any nForce4 SLI (Intel Edition) chipset subsystems, let me introduce to you our test platforms, which we used for practical performance analysis of the new solution this time.
For the tests of this chipset NVIDIA provided us with a reference mainboard uses as a basis for our testbed:
We compared this system against similar platforms based on i925XE and i955X. The first chipset was represented by one of the fastest mainboards on it, ASUS P5AD2-E Deluxe. The second one, i955X, was represented by an Intel Desktop D955XBK board. As a result, our testbeds were assembled with the following components:
- CPU:
- Intel Pentium 4 660 (LGA775, 2048KB L2, 3.6 GHz, FSB 800 MHz);
- Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz (LGA775, 2048KB L2, FSB 1066MHz).
- Mainboards:
- ASUS P5AD2-E Deluxe (LGA775, i925XE Express);
- Intel Desktop Board D955XBK (LGA775, i955X Express);
- NVIDIA C19 CRB Demo Board (LGA775, nForce4 SLI (Intel Edition)).
- Memory: 2 x 512MB Corsair CM2X512A-5400UL (DDR2-667: 3-3-3-7, DDR2-533: 3-3-3-7).
- Graphics card: PowerColor RADEON X800 XT (PCI-E x16).
- Storage subsystem: Maxtor MaXLine III 250GB (SATA150).
All tests were run in Windows XP SP2.
