Gaming and 3D performance

Far Cry 2

Featuring fantastic visuals courtesy of the Dunia Engine, this game also features one of the most impressive benchmark tools we have seen in a PC game. For single GPU results we set the performance feature set to Very High, graphics to High, and enable DX10 with 2xAA.

Gaming Performance - Far Cry 2 - i5 661 CPU @ Stock


Gaming Performance - Far Cry 2 - i5 661 CPU @ 4GHz



Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II

We are big fans of the Warhammer franchise, especially Dawn of War II. One of the latest RTS games in our library is also one of the more demanding titles on both the CPU and GPU. We crank all options to Ultra, enable AA, and then run the built-in performance benchmark for our result.

Gaming Performance - Dawn Of War II - i5 661 CPU @ Stock



Gaming Performance - Dawn Of War II - i5 661 CPU @ 4GHz


The DH57JG certainly keeps up with the pack in gaming performance.


AutoCAD 2010 x64—Cadalyst 2008

We utilize AutoCAD 2010 x64 and the Cadalyst Labs 5 benchmark.

Application Performance - AutoCAD 2010 x64 - i5 661 CPU @ Stock


The Cadalyst benchmark seems to be a great all round test of 3D performance mingled with fast hard drive access. We've seen a lot of variance in this benchmark from board to board using the same chipset - the DH57JG turns in a rather average score of 817.

Test Setup and Power System Benchmarks
Comments Locked

34 Comments

View All Comments

  • DanNeely - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link

    Aren't benchmark numbers for CPUs almost always lower than reported TDPs? Intel/etc have to design for peak theoretical power draws even if they're extremely unlikely in real life. The intel burntest utility will run your CPU hotter and draw more power than any "normal" CPU benchmarks because it's designed to run everything at the highest power load possible.
  • deruberhanyok - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link

    It would be great if you all could look into testing with less... beefy power supplies, though. I think a lot of people (myself included) would be interested to see the power draw in a more "realistic" setup.

    For example, Antec's ISK 300-65 with a 65W power supply, or 300-150 with a 150W power supply, are a much more likely configuration than a system with a 610W PSU (as used in the recent Zotac H55 ITX article) or a 950W PSU (as used in this article). And the difference in power supply could make for a noticeable difference in idle/load numbers.

    For low-power purposes, perhaps the boards could also be tested with low power memory modules (1.35v instead of 1.5v / 1.65v) and 2.5" hard drives (as many ITX enclosures may not have space for a 3.5" hard drive).

    Anyways, these are just a few suggestions that I thought would help make the information presented here more practical. Feel free to ignore them. :)

    Loving these articles on ITX boards, keep 'em coming!
  • FATCamaro - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - link

    Yeah 600W PSU is crazy. As well there is no mention of stability or quirks versus the other H55/57 boards tested.
    For those looking for virtualization intel has a Q57 board with VT-d support with an i5 or i7 processor.
  • Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - link

    Hi,

    Point taken on the PSU. For a rundown of stability and quirks of the other boards used check out these articles:

    http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3732">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3732

    http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3748">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3748


    later
    Raja
  • DanNeely - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link

    I'd like to second this request. PSU efficiency drops off at the low and high ends of their output ranges. Optimal levels are generally around 50% of max and while performance doesn't suffer much in the 20-80% load.


    If you're concerned about noise you generally want to avoid going above about 70% with normal desktop PSUs to keep the fan spinning at idle. I'm not sure if the fan noise thresholds are true of the low power models designed for mini-itx systems with onboard gfx or not.
  • JonnyDough - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link

    I concur with your post. Realistic PSU makes a huge difference.
  • Rajinder Gill - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link

    Thanks, we're working on it...
  • GeorgeH - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link

    DH57JG, DH57G, and a DH55JG; either you’re reviewing 3 different boards or breaking a NDA. Hopefully the latter, as I’d really like to see a cheaper H55 option. ;)
  • gtrgtgt - Sunday, March 7, 2010 - link


    http://www.ccshoper.com">http://www.ccshoper.com
  • Rajinder Gill - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link

    Sorry about that - fixed..

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now