Test Setup & Methodologies
Test Setup & Methodologies
| Test Platform: | | Motherboard: | EVGA X58 SLI Micro | | Processor: | Intel Xeon W3540 (3845B010)
Intel i7 975 ES (3843A687) | | Processor Cooling: | Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme CU
2 x Scythe Ultra Kaze 120MM 2000RPM 87.6CFM (DFS123812L-2000) | | Thermal Paste: | Arctic Cooling MX-2 | | North Bridge Cooling: | Stock | | South Bridge Cooling: | Stock | | PWM Cooling: | Stock | | Memory: | Mushkin Redline Ascent 3x2GB PC3-12800 6-7-6-18 (998692)
OCZ Blade 3x2GB PC3-16000 7-8-7-20 (OCZ3B2000LV6GK) | | Power Supply: | Ultra XPro 750W | | Video Cards: | 2 x MSI R4890 Cyclone OC (Catalyst 9.8 WHQL) | | Additional Fan: | Scythe Ultra Kaze 120MM 2000RPM 87.6CFM (DFS123812L-2000) | | Hard Drives: | Seagate 7200.9 80GB SATAII 8MB cache | | OS: | Windows Vista SP1 (with all updates) |
We have gone with a pretty high end setup for testing this little monster. We will be testing two sets of memory to see if there are any issues with DDR3-1600 memory at tight 6-7-6 timings or DDR3-2000 at 7-8-7 timings. We wanted to add a third, the Corsair Dominator-GT running DDR3-1866 at 7-8-7 timings but they decided not to be working any more after sitting for a couple weeks. Instead, we will run the OCZ Blade kit at the same settings as the Dominator-GT XMP profile. We don't anticipate any issues with the W3540 as the memory controller is very capable on it, but the motherboard can still play a role in how easy a kit of memory can get clocking. Going with a pair of strong HD4890's from MSI, it should be interesting to see what kind of performance we can get with this setup as it is primed and ready for some solid overclocks. Stability Overclocking MethodologyWe have not made any changes to our stability testing methodology that has been used with great success in past motherboard and memory reviews. Because of this, we will simply cut and paste our previous explanation of our stability testing methodology.
"Testing for true system stability is an arduous task and one that is hotly debated in open forums all the time. We have many years of experience watching these debates and have tried to put together a strong collection of stability tests to accommodate all schools of thought on the subject. Our stability testing methodology has also been a great success in finding a number of 24/7 overclocks on all kinds of systems. A lot of us here at HWC, myself included, use this same type of testing when setting up our own daily use machines and those that we setup for friends and family. This methodology is sound and shouldn't be taken lightly. We are definitely not like other sites that post a CPU-Z screen shot and then say the system passed all of our benchmarks. Our results should be considered a realistic sample of what one can expect from this motherboard for 24/7 operation."  "Our virtual recipe of stability testing may not be considered true 24/7 stability testing but due to time constraints of a review, complete stability testing at so many different overclocks is virtually impossible. For that reason, we have designed the following list of programs to provide a very accurate portrait of complete system stability: That is how we do it, and if you have a problem with it, don't hesitate to let us know. Stop by the forums and let us know what you think. We believe our stability testing is among the better available that you will find in a review, especially for overclocks. We will now look at the last of our methodologies, how we run our benchmarks. Benchmark MethodologyFor the majority of the benchmarks we will look at our standard two result set. The 3D/Gaming benchmarks we threw a bit of a wrench in the equation though since we are using the two MSI R4890 Cyclone OC's.  With the opportunity to do a quick CrossFireX comparison, we figured why not...it is not like overclocking the system has shown any benefits in the gaming benchmarks up to this point with i7.
Our first set of results depicted in blue will represent the stock settings of our Xeon W3540 (i7 950 equivalent) paired with the Mushkin Redline Ascent memory. We simply enabled the XMP profiles of the memory and left everything as is. This means Turbo is enabled and will give us the 23X CPU multiplier leaving us with an operating frequency of 3060MHz. The memory is running at DDR3-1600 6-7-6 as outlined by the Mushkin XMP profile.
Our overclocked setup will be portrayed by the red bars in the charts. This overclock will be what we are about to look at shortly in the Stability & Overclocking Results. We won't go into discussing this overclock here as it will be discussed at length in the next section, but it is quite a substantial overclock. Despite the heavy overclock, voltages have remained low and the system is completely 24/7 stable for whatever we want to throw at it. This overclock would be our representation of what we would do with this system for everyday use should this have been a build for a friend or ourselves.
The last item on our list of methodologies outlines how our OS is setup for the benchmarking section in order to keep the results fair.
- Windows Vista x64 w/SP1 is installed using a full format
- Intel Chipset drivers and accessory hardware drivers (audio, network, GPU) are installed followed by a defragment and a reboot
- At time of benchmarks the latest drivers were downloaded from their official web sites as the latest drivers, most notable, ATI Catalyst 9.8 WHQL
- Programs and games are then installed followed by another defragment
- Windows updates are then completed installing all available updates followed by a defragment
- Benchmarks are each ran three times after a clean reboot for every iteration of the benchmark unless otherwise stated, the results are then averaged
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