DFI X48 LT T2R: Floats like a Butterfly…

Test Setup

With such a vast array of overclocking BIOS functions at our disposal, a decision was made to stick with a single operating system environment. We feel Vista 64-bit has approached a level of maturity that eliminates the possibilities of OS-level conflicts, allowing us to spend time pushing the motherboard without fear of not being able to diagnose issues.

A majority of the benchmarks were run using an E8500 processor; our QX9650 gave up the ghost during testing. However, we still mustered enough experience with the QX9650 to find its sensible limits and provide users with our BIOS setup experience using this processor.

Both high-resolution 1920x1200 and 1280x1024 resolution game benchmark tests were run to find performance benefits for gamers, should such advancements through BIOS tweaking exist. We utilize new drive images on each board in order to minimize any potential driver conflicts. Our 3DMark results are generated utilizing the standard benchmark resolution for each program. We run each benchmark five times, throw out the two low and high scores, and report the remaining score.

Recent reviews of 780i, 790i, and X48 boards have allowed us to compile benchmark results in comparison to scores using the ASUS Striker II Extreme and ASUS P5E3 Premium and ASUS Striker II Formula. This gives us the chance to look at single card results from three different chipsets running either DDR3 or DDR2 memory. It's no surprise that things will be close, as most of us already know that memory bandwidth and speed typically only makes a 1-3% difference between DDR2 and DDR3 boards.