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Today we are using our most powerful system, a Core i7 970 based configuration – liquid cooled at 4.33ghz, with a Corsair AX1200 power supply – all built into a sexy Thermaltake Level 10 chassis.
System validation available over here.
Processor: Core i7 970 @ 4.33ghz
Cooling: Coolit Vantage
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65 (MS-7522)
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10
Power Supply: Corsair Ax1200
Memory: 6GB GSkill Performance Gaming ram @ 902.9 MHz (2:10) @ 7-8-7-24
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB Gen 2 SSD (Storage) / Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (OS boot)
Monitors: Hazro Ultra Sharp HZ230Wi, Dell Ultrasharp U2410 Rev A00, Iiyama Prolite E2472HDD x2
Other graphics cards for comparisons:
nVidia GTX580
nVidia GTX460 OC (715/900)
AMD HD6950
AMD HD6870
AMD HD6850
AMD HD5870
AMD HD5850
Software:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
Catalyst 8.79.6.2RC2_Dec7
Forceware 263.09 WHQL
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark
TessMark
ShaderToy
HQV 2.0 Software
Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Keithley Integra unit
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter
Games:
Resident Evil 5
Colin McRae Dirt 2
Lost Planet 2
Far Cry 2
Alien V Predator
Mafia 2
Tom Clancy HAWX 2
F1 2010
Metro 2033
Left4Dead 2
All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests all games across five closely matched runs and average out the results to get an accurate median figure.
I think these are good boards, even though a lot of people will be disappointed with the fact the 580 is still leading the single card attack
@Sam: Not quite. The 5970 is still the fastest card. The GTX580 is definitely the fastest single chip.
The price is the biggest selling point. I dont think they are the performance killers we expected, but the 280 price for the 6970 means its actually only 30 more than the 5850 was at launch. thats quite a good figure for them to achieve. I think they are doing what they do against intel in the CPU sector. drop pricing as low as poss.
CFx is very good with these cards. the drivers must be much better than I last remember
@Faith – thats what I meant, ill be sure to make sure I analyse the text perfectly before posting next time 😉
these arent too shabby. good job from AMD. they hit the sweet spot on the pricing