Performance Testing Methodology

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.5Ghz (B3)
Memory: 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 @ 1600Mhz (Thanks to Corsair)
Motherboard: Asus Blitz Extreme
Graphics Cards: 2X Gigabyte HD2900XT 512MB
Disk Drive: Pioneer DVD Writer
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 320GB SATAII
Fans: 5X Yate Loon 120mm @ 1200RPM
Monitor: LG Flatron L2000CN-BF (1600X1200)

For our complete power supply testing methodology, please go here: Hardware Canucks Power Supply Testing Methodology


Introducing the 1Kw+ Test Platform

Even the setup we have for sub-1000W PSU testing does not put sufficient load on a high-end power supply so we decided to take things a step further. In addition to the standard Q6600 and dual HD2900XT setup, the GPUs are overclocked to 842Mhz on the core and 1776Mhz on the memory. This platform then ran the standard Full System Stress test as detailed in our PSU Testing Methodology.

In addition to this, a second system was added with the Zeus’ additional PCI-E and EPS12V connectors powering the CPU and GPU from the following setup:

AMD X2 3800+ @ 2.6Ghz
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64Pro
2GB Corsair XMS @ 520Mhz
DFI Lanparty SLI-DR Expert
8800GTX @ 625Mhz / 1970Mhz
Samsung Spinpoint 250GB

Startup was staggered between the two systems with the primary Q6600 test bench being started first while it started benching first as well. 10 seconds were counted on a stopwatch before starting the benching suite on the secondary test bench so we can normalize test conditions once we test more high-powered units.

To load the second system we ran the Orthos CPU test on the processor while the ATItool spinning box was allowed to spin in order to keep constant load on the graphics card.

This test was conducted for 30 minutes with both systems running full-tilt for the whole time. This test is called the Extreme Load Test in all of the charts.

Here is what our Frankenstein setup looks like when everything is said and done.


It should also be noted that for all tests the ZM1200 was set to Single Rail Mode since there was next to no difference in the results when set to multi-rail mode.