Testbed and Methods
We ended up having a few platforms with different processors participating in our test session. We considered the main objective of this test session to compare the performance of all contemporary processors that could be purchased for the same price as that of Core 2 Quad Q9300. It means that the list of our testing participants included not only the quad-core Kentsfield processor – Core 2 Quad Q6600, but also top dual-core Core 2 Duo E8500 and Core 2 Duo E6850, priced officially at the same $266. Of course, we also couldn’t leave out AMD Phenom 9600, which price is also very close.
As a result, the complete list of hardware components used to assemble our testbeds looked as follows:
- CPUs:
- AMD Phenom 9600 (Socket AM2+, 2.3GHz, 4 x 512KB L2, 2MB L3, Agena);
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 (LGA775, 2.5GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 2 x 3MB L2, Yorkfield);
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (LGA775, 2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 2 x 4MB L2, Kentsfield);
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (LGA775, 3.16GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB L2, Wolfdale);
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (LGA775, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB L2, Conroe).
- Mainboards:
- ASUS P5E3 Deluxe (LGA775, Intel X38, DDR3 SDRAM);
- DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R (Socket AM2+, AMD 790FX).
- Memory:
- 2GB DDR2-1067 SDRAM with 5-5-5-15 timings (Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF);
- 2GB DDR3-1333 SDRAM with 7-7-7-20 timings (Cell Shock DDR3-1800).
- Graphics card: OCZ GeForce 8800GTX (PCI-E x16).
- HDD: Western Digital WD1500AHFD (SATA150).
- OS: Microsoft Windows Vista x86.
Notes:
- AMD Phenom 9600 processor was tested with disabled TLB-patch;
- When we tested Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor at 266MHz FSB frequency, the memory worked as DDR3-1066 with 6-6-6-15 timings, because contemporary chipsets do not support higher memory frequency dividers.
