iBUYPOWER: 4.0GHz QX9650 and 3-way SLI 8800 Ultras
by Matt Campbell on April 10, 2008 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
General Performance
First of all, if you have not read our other articles on multi-GPU performance, they're a great reference point.
CINEBENCH R10
CINEBENCH places a heavy load on the CPU during 3D rendering tests, and can utilize a single CPU or multiple cores. The video subsystem has no bearing on the CPU rendering portion of this benchmark. Results are included here from the Uberclok Ion (Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz) and the Shuttle SG33G5 (Core 2 Quad 2.66GHz).
Both competitors get annihilated here - not much can compete with the raw computing power of a 4.0GHz QX9650.
PCMark 2005
PCMark 2005 uses a number of applications to simulate real-world system usage and provide a performance measurement. Some of these tests focus solely on the CPU (file compression and decompression, encryption, etc.), while others utilize the video subsystem (e.g. 3D Fill Rate, Pixel Shader) and hard drives.
Once again, the SwordM system shows a healthy advantage, but as expected since we're looking at overall performance, the difference is not as large as in CINEBENCH.
Encoding
We used DVD Shrink 3.2 at default settings to test general encoding performance. We ripped the test file (The Matrix) to the hard drive, with the 2.1 audio tracks removed to improve video quality. We then run two tests: One both reading from and writing to the supplemental drive, the other to/from the Windows system drive.
Here we see some interesting results. When operating from the main drive (which is two Raptors striped in RAID 0 for performance), we get a result of almost 5 minutes. However, using the storage drive that is virtually empty, we see a much better (and expected) result of 3 minutes 11 seconds. The four cores of the QX6600 in the Shuttle allow it to place respectably here, but the dual-core Ion is outgunned.
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m2super - Thursday, April 10, 2008 - link
I bet if you pull 2gb of ram from the system with all the cards in you wont get this error message!Do a google search of this annoying issue quite a few people with vista 64, 4gb of ram and an sli config. The fact nvidia/ms havent done anything to resolve it is bs imo.
kuraegomon - Thursday, April 10, 2008 - link
I run SLI-ed GTX's, with RAID and overclocked Q6600. The only reason for a setup like this is to game at 1920x1200 or above. I have a 30' monitor, and like to game at 2560x1600 whenever possible. I believe that triple-SLI only makes sense with 2560x1600 resolutions, and you'll need the extra GPU-to-GPU bandwidth/lower latency that the 790i will provide, to really examine this. Sorry to say for anyone who bought one, but the 780i is already obsolete. (Of course, my 680i Striker Extreme is even moreso).Matt Campbell - Thursday, April 10, 2008 - link
Higher resolutions are in the queue for our next high end rig.Maffer - Thursday, April 10, 2008 - link
You just run into very annoying problem which has been with 780i quite quite a long time now. Please see this thread:http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=256404&mpa...">http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=256404&mpa...
You can find lots of people with the same problems right there. Nvidia is doing nothing to solve this crap. Some folks have switched to 790i system and problems vanished. This cannot be the solution though. Please Anandtech, if you have any powers to do something about this...at least poke nVidia around with a large trout or something :/
67STANG - Thursday, April 10, 2008 - link
I think people that build these "uber" machines forget their target audience: "the enthusiast". What enthusiast buys a machine like this rather than building it themself?I don't know about anyone else, but part of the fun of a high end computer is building it (at least for me). I wouldn't want to spend $5k+ on a system that I probably could have built myself for much less...
Granted it gets very high scores on benchmarks, but it would be hard not to with what is in it... I believe something could be built that could beat this for hundreds less. Pass.
abhaxus - Sunday, April 13, 2008 - link
There are most definitely people out there that buy the fastest computer available but have no clue how they are built.To use a car analogy... you are arguing that everyone who buys an Impreza WRX is stupid because you could buy the RS and put a turbo on it and go just as fast. The WRX is pre-tuned, has a warranty, and has a badge that says it's fast. These are the same people that buy a Dell XPS or Alienware rig.
To a semi-knowledgeable but not guru-level person, saying "i have an alienware pc" is a lot easier than "I have an overclocked 3.2ghz quad core pc with 2 8800GTS's in SLI"
Noya - Thursday, April 10, 2008 - link
Exactly...you don't buy a review article on a hardware tech site.HOOfan 1 - Thursday, April 10, 2008 - link
If these are the problems that are going to crop up and you will have to troubleshoot them yourself (which seems the case from reading the reviews on resellerrating.com) then you may as well just build it yourself and save even more money.