Best Core 2 Series Desktops-Results and Specs

[mykhal c]

That's some pretty impressive stuff there Mykhal, especially without touching any voltages.

Is that memory score for read, write or copy?

blade, that was for 'read' if i remember correctly. when i get to the studio i'll re-run the 2 SANDRA tests and email results to ya. gettin' your eyes on them will probably help me find a tweak that i might be missin'!!

also, i've got my cpu voltage set to 1.15v which is low (specs say 1.22v). but i did it to keep temps down. all that to say, the CORSAIR 520W PSU must really be doin' the job!! 'cause i'm surprised that i 'really' didn't have to touch the voltages either!!!

[mykhal c]

now start adding AUX trax w/dverbs

[FlowDenny]

Finally getting to post my Dverb results as well as my system components! Been very with construction at another studio. 1st I'd like to recomend the AC7 cooler for anyone looking for an efficient, quiet, CHEAP cooler!

This is my 3rd try at a CPU cooler and I wish I would've just bought this from the start. The stock Intel cooler was quiet but didn't do a very good job of cooling. I discovered that after I took the cooler off to replace it with my Zalmann, that the thermal paste hadn't "cured" or spread properly. Which is why my temps were too high. I would've just put thermal paste on, but I already went through a lot of trouble to take my Zalmann out of the other machine, and I didn't want to take a chance with the Intel cooler.

Zalmann CNPS 9500...I think. Loudest fan in the whole machine! Terrible! I was running at about 32-34C idle at about 1400-1500 RPM. AC7 is about 35C while running at 1000 RPM. CPU Vcore is at 1.15V Oh and the machine is OC'd to 2.74. Before I turned on the fan control in the BIOS my cpu was running at 23C with the fan at full speed!!!! And the fan was bearly audible!!! So there is my cooling story.

Dverb test results....


PTLE 7.3 CS6-----2.4 Ghz 1066FSB = 282 Dverbs-----2.71 Ghz FSB 1200 = 320 Dverbs


PTLE 7.4 CS5-----2.4 Ghz 1066FSB = 252 Dverbs-----2.71 Ghz FSB 1200 = 285 Dverbs


So not too shabby!! All of my plugins were left in. and my PF was set to 1024/1024. That made a big difference. My 1st time around in 7.3 I was getting 263 Dverbs. I encourage everyone to double check there settings.
Now that I have a great cooler on the cpu maybe I'll break the 3.0 ghz mark, and try running my FSB @ 1600 with a 1:1 ratio for my RAM. I'd still like to see how high I have to OC to break 300 in 7.4. But honestly that's almost overkill! We need to be able to access more RAM!!!!!! That would be cool. Then we'll see what can be done about this whole HD6 nonsense. (Although I should mention that I worked on an HD3 rig running on Leopard 10.5.1 all weekend. Solid as a rock!!)

My parts are as follows

Gigabyte EP35C-DS3R -Running BIOS F3g. DPC latency Fixed. Also able to adjust CPU Vcore Temps.

Intel Q6600-G0 Stepping

4 X 1GB Mushkin DDR2 800Mhz RAM 4-4-4-12 @1.9V

EVGA 7600GS w/ 256MB RAM

Seagate SATA II 80GB 16MB Cache @ 7200.10 RPM -C Drive
Seagate SATA II 320GB 16MB Cache @ 7200.10 RPM -Audio Drive
Seagate SATA II 500GB 32MB Cache @ 7200.10 RPM -Sample Storage

Lite-On 20x DVD RW-IDE

Corsair 620HX 620W Modular PSU

Adaptec FireConnect 8300


Go ahead Mykhal, Post Em'!!!!!!!!!!!

-Dennis

[EGS]

...We need to be able to access more RAM!!!!!...

Hey, are you Quad experts doing THIS 3GB ram switch? Do you guys recommend doing this? Thanx.

[mykhal c]

Hey, are you Quad experts doing THIS 3GB ram switch? Do you guys recommend doing this? Thanx.

yes i am and i do recommend it especially if you are usin' lotsa VI's!! and from your sig i'd say 'maybe' you are!!!

after makin' PTLE 3gb 'aware' i did not go back and compare benchmarks. what i can tell you is that as i OC'ed my rig and loaded up more DVERBS i was gettin' closer to the normal 1.3g-1.6g program limit. i think i maxed out at about 1.1g when i got 311 dverbs. so i'm pretty sure as i continue to test for the maximum 'sweet spot' on my box i will get to the point where the 3gb limit helps out in even the testin'!! but short answer is yes...you'll luv REASON and IVORY that much more!!!

btw...no expert but i did stay at a HI express!!

[guitardom]

Finally getting to post my Dverb results as well as my system components! Been very with construction at another studio. 1st I'd like to recomend the AC7 cooler for anyone looking for an efficient, quiet, CHEAP cooler!

This is my 3rd try at a CPU cooler and I wish I would've just bought this from the start. The stock Intel cooler was quiet but didn't do a very good job of cooling. I discovered that after I took the cooler off to replace it with my Zalmann, that the thermal paste hadn't "cured" or spread properly. Which is why my temps were too high. I would've just put thermal paste on, but I already went through a lot of trouble to take my Zalmann out of the other machine, and I didn't want to take a chance with the Intel cooler.

Zalmann CNPS 9500...I think. Loudest fan in the whole machine! Terrible! I was running at about 32-34C idle at about 1400-1500 RPM. AC7 is about 35C while running at 1000 RPM. CPU Vcore is at 1.15V Oh and the machine is OC'd to 2.74. Before I turned on the fan control in the BIOS my cpu was running at 23C with the fan at full speed!!!! And the fan was bearly audible!!! So there is my cooling story.

Dverb test results....


PTLE 7.3 CS6-----2.4 Ghz 1066FSB = 282 Dverbs-----2.71 Ghz FSB 1200 = 320 Dverbs


PTLE 7.4 CS5-----2.4 Ghz 1066FSB = 252 Dverbs-----2.71 Ghz FSB 1200 = 285 Dverbs


So not too shabby!! All of my plugins were left in. and my PF was set to 1024/1024. That made a big difference. My 1st time around in 7.3 I was getting 263 Dverbs. I encourage everyone to double check there settings.
Now that I have a great cooler on the cpu maybe I'll break the 3.0 ghz mark, and try running my FSB @ 1600 with a 1:1 ratio for my RAM. I'd still like to see how high I have to OC to break 300 in 7.4. But honestly that's almost overkill! We need to be able to access more RAM!!!!!! That would be cool. Then we'll see what can be done about this whole HD6 nonsense. (Although I should mention that I worked on an HD3 rig running on Leopard 10.5.1 all weekend. Solid as a rock!!)

My parts are as follows

Gigabyte EP35C-DS3R -Running BIOS F3g. DPC latency Fixed. Also able to adjust CPU Vcore Temps.

Intel Q6600-G0 Stepping

4 X 1GB Mushkin DDR2 800Mhz RAM 4-4-4-12 @1.9V

EVGA 7600GS w/ 256MB RAM

Seagate SATA II 80GB 16MB Cache @ 7200.10 RPM -C Drive
Seagate SATA II 320GB 16MB Cache @ 7200.10 RPM -Audio Drive
Seagate SATA II 500GB 32MB Cache @ 7200.10 RPM -Sample Storage

Lite-On 20x DVD RW-IDE

Corsair 620HX 620W Modular PSU

Adaptec FireConnect 8300


Go ahead Mykhal, Post Em'!!!!!!!!!!!

-Dennis

i am running the same gigabyte board (thanks dennis!) VERY good results!! will post more details and results soon

[mykhal c]

dennis, excellent results man!!! thanks for postin' em. i'll post your specs and results

also, what bios are you runnin' on your GIGA mobo?? that info will be most helpful for all those that have had to deal with the GIGA latency issue. thanks again

EDIT: my bad. i see you already posted your bios. thanks

[JPS]

Q6600
P5N-D with intel stock cooling fan
2GB DDR2 800


Only getting 75 on Dverb test.

beyond,

Do you still have the P5N-D with the nVida chipset, or did you return your setup and get the Asus mobo with the intel chipset? Why don't you post a summary of your current setup and how your D-verb tests are going.

[guitardom]

Hey, are you Quad experts doing THIS 3GB ram switch? Do you guys recommend doing this? Thanx.

i have my gigabyte machine running this and got flowdenny setup and running it on his system as well. i see you have ivory......ask flowdenny about his ivory results with the switch! i thought he was gonna go out and shout it on the roof tops!! very impressive results. i loaded up 2.2gb of ram usage in a bfd 2 kit and is just kicking butt, no probs! just take your time and ask questions if something is not clear. can be kinda confusing.

[mykhal c]

ok...for all you power hungry junkies out there, i have discovered a sweet enough sweet spot to put my testin' on-hold for at least......a minute!!!

can you say wicked crisp 2.0??!! after continuin' to tune the bios settings, came up with the followin'...

cpu speed 3.15ghz (rated FSB 1800 )
FSB strap 333
FSB freq 450
cpu multiplier 7
DRAM freq 1081 (OC'ed from 1066)
command rate 2t
timings 5-5-5-15
tRFC 42
'Ai Transction booster'** ENABLED
Boost level 3 (gives me a tRD of 6)
**also known as tRD or performance level, depends on mobo
results provided from SANDRA tests...
memory latency 66ns
memory bandwidth 8383mb
**MEMSET 3.4 is a great tool when tryin' to tune things!!!

i did have to bump up my voltage from 1.1375v when runnin' at 2.8ghz to 1.1750v when at 3.15ghz. but again, well within the limits of my 1.22v rated Q6600. and when booted CPU-Z showed me runnin' at 1.144v. so i actually could have selected 1.1575v in my bios.

my memory OC'ed to 1081 from 1066 with my FSB selections. and i did not have to touch dram voltage either...or my primary timings!!! i'm runnin' it at 1.95v whereas my ram is rated to run at 2.3v. SANDRA showed 66ns dram latency and 8383 bandwidth. both of the scores are the best so far!!!

the SSAV benchmark test finished in 3m:04secs. the best score to date.

so from a PTLE perspective, this delivered 340 DVERBS!!! and that was with headroom remainin'!!! probably could've gotten 342 or 343 outta it. i tried 345 which ran for almost 3 mins before erroring out. then i just deleted the entire track. just felt like workin' on 1 track boundaries tonite...lazy my temps did rise of course. CORETEMP showed 54 55 47 49 at full-load!! still well within the specs of the Q6600 idle temps are 39 42 35 37...mobo temp is 34

well we can all say this much, there is a lot under the hood of the Q6600!!! so for all you cats that are runnin' huge sessions, just know that there is a lot more there if needed. i'm gonna drop my hood for a bit now that i know what's there!! at least i think i am!!! then again i know these things can run at 3.4ghz...gives me a project to look forward to!!!!

**reminder that these settings won't necessarily work on each setup. but at least gives us a guide on how to approach the bios when moderately OC'g the Q6600. so you gotta be prepared to go WTF when it doesn't boot the first time!!!