Test System Setup

Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (Supplied by Intel)

Motherboard: Gigabyte P965-DQ6 (Supplied by Gigabyte)

Memory: 2x 1GB DDR2-1066 Corsair (Supplied by Corsair)

Hard Disk: 500GB Seagate 7200.9 SATA (Supplied by Seagate)

Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 7800GT

Cooling: Gigabyte Neon775 (Supplied by Gigabyte)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2

Drivers: Intel INF 8.1.1.1002, nVidia ForceWare 91.31 and DX9c

Our test system setup comprised of the new Intel Core 2 Extreme CPU. This processor allows us to freely adjust the CPU multiplier to any division we want which allows us to have a much better control of the CPU core clock than the Core 2 Duo series.

First we ran the memory at DDR2-667 speeds with SPD timings and then we tightened the timings up to lower CAS latencies to give the memory a more aggressive profile. We then set the memory to DDR2-800 speeds and returned the CAS timings to SPD to allow them to slacken off and recorded the difference in speed that the system reported. At all times the CPU clock speed was at 2.93GHz - we only changed the memory clock speeds and SPD. SPD was 5-5-5-15 and tight timings were 4-4-4-12.

The aim of our testing here today is to find out if you need more bandwidth (higher clock speeds) or if reducing the latency with slower memory will do the same job. What does the new Conroe processors like? Let's take a look!

SiSoft Sandra

Version and / or Patch Used: 2007

Developer Homepage: http://www.sisoftware.co.uk

Product Homepage: http://sisoftware.jaggedonline.com/index.php?location=home&a=TTA&lang=en

Buy It Here

SiSoft Sandra (System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is a synthetic Windows benchmark that features different tests used to evaluate different PC subsystems.

The amount of bandwidth increases when switching from DDR-2 667 to 800. When running lower timings at 667 there is little difference between the 667 results.