I'm quite happy with both results. Both are above my previous system and show that this machine is capable of some heavy-duty computing. I thought that the dual-core Athlon 64 X2 would have had more of an impact on the scores, but even still these are synthetic benchmarks and not really an indication of real world performance.
SISOFT SANDRA 2007 MEMORY BANDWIDTH
SiSoft Sandra also provides performance comparisons against a range of systems. Regardless of how true to life their stock results are, it is still informative to find out how one's system compares other set ups. I ran the memory bandwidth test and compared results to a couple of nForce 570/FX-62 and Intel 975X/P4 Extreme Edition systems.
SiSoft Sandra 2007 Memory Bandwidth
Click Image to Enlarge - 873x239 (36KB)
Not surprisingly, the results are between the Athlon FX-62 processor with DDR2/533MHz and DDR2/1066MHz memory. Sadly, without the ability to overclock the memory at all, there is no way to see how the system would have fared with DDR2/1066 (assuming the RAM could have reached those speeds or speeds anywhere near there stably).
GAME BENCHMARKS
Rather than repost ALL of the game benchmarks again, I will post FEAR results from running the game at maximum settings and Oblivion scores with HDR enabled. To see more benchmarks of both those games as well as Serious Sam 2 and Prey, along with detailed descriptions of the in-game settings used for each of the benchmarks, please refer to my full review of the MSI NX7900GT-VT2D256E-HD video card.
First up is FEAR. The CPU and Graphics settings were set on "Maximum" and the resolution was adjusted for each of the tests. The in-game timedemo was used for scoring purposes. Additional FEAR benchmark results can be found here.
FEAR Benchmarks
Oblivion was benchmarked by taking my character out to the nearest active Oblivion gate and engage in combat with whatever hellspawn was hanging around the area while running around the outdoors. The game's weather system kicked in a rain storm to REALLY give the computer a full load to deal with. To test such a high-end system, ALL of the game graphical details were jacked as high as they could go, leaving only self-shadows and grass shadows off; HDR was used for the first round of benchmarks.
Oblivion Benchmarks
Oblivion was none too kind to my system, but I asked a lot of it and was very happy with the results I was given. The game felt incredibly smooth for as low as those scores are, which is a testament to the amazing coding behind Oblivion and the power this system is packing. Again, for more results, please consult the MSI NX7900GT-VT2D256E-HD video card review.
