OcUK Ultima Extreme HD 4870X2 Core2 Duo

[dr. sarf]

Part 1:

OcUK Ultima Extreme HD 4870X2 Core2 Duo


Overview

At OcUK we are breathing life back into the reviews area of the forum. Here we have the Ultima HD 4870X2 Core2 Duo - the first of many systems to undergo thorough objective testing and benchmarking on the forum. We'll be putting the systems through their paces so you can see just what they can do,
using the following applications, amongst others:


Prime95 - CPU stability
Super PI: CPU Performance
HD Tune - Hard Drive Performance
3DMark 06 - Graphics Benchmarking
3DMark Vantage - Graphics Benchmarking
Crysis Demo, COD4 Demo, Grid Retail Game- Real life gaming performance testing.


Here's a look at the OcUK Ultima Extreme HD 4870X2 Core2 Duo System:

Specification

Asus Maximus Formula X38 Motherboard
Intel E8500 Wolfdale 3.16Ghz CPU Clocked to 4Ghz Stable (taken from stock, not cherry picked, no engineering sample)
HIS 4870 X2 2GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
Western Digital 300GB Velociraptor
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) PC8500
Corsair TX 750w Power Supply
Antec Nine Hundred Gaming Case
LG x20 DVD Writer
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit (£58.99 + VAT)
Arctic Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler


COMING VERY SOON!!!


Overclocking & Setup

The system is built into an Antec Nine Hundred Gaming Case which allows for excellent case cooling with the use of two 120mm intake fans at the front of the case, one 120mm extraction fan at the rear of the case and finally one huge 200mm extraction fan at the top of the case. All case fans are set to low resulting in effective cooling whilst remaining quiet.

For benchmarking purposes, we have installed a fresh copy of Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit, since there's over 6GB of system memory in the PC, and we need to make effective use of it! Our Vista installation includes Service Pack one, and all available critical updates were downloaded and installed. The PC was hooked up to a 24" Dell Monitor with a native resolution of 1920x1200 and a standard keyboard and mouse.

This system is supplied with the Core2 Duo Wolfdale E8500 3.16Ghz which we overclock to an impressive 4Ghz stable, as you can see from the stability tests shown in the screenshots below. The CPU overclocks well and very easily on this motherboard, the only voltages in need of adjustment are the RAM and CPU voltage, helping keep system temperatures and running costs to a minimum.

Settings/Overview:
FSB: 421Mhz
Multiplier: x9.5
Core Speed: 4000Mhz
Overclock gain: 26.58% increase over stock speed
VID: 1.0500v
Memory: 1011Mhz
Latencies: 5,5,5,18 2T
CPU Temperature: 60'C after 8 hours of Prime95 (stable)
Case fans: All set to Low
Display Driver version: 8.520.0.0
Motherboard BIOS Version: 1201
Dell 24" Monitor 1920x1200 resolution
Standard Keyboard & Mouse

Part 2 Continues in Next Post....

 

[dr. sarf]

OcUK Ultima Extreme HD 4870X2 Core2 Duo - Pre-release Review Part2

Continued

BIOS Setup

We have set the Vcore to 1.4000v, with the voltage set anything below this level, the system fails prime after 70-80 minutes, though still remainS fully stable in games and applications. Raising the voltage to 1.4000v allowed the CPU to Prime all night without any errors. With the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro we were able to achieve very acceptable load temperatures - the highest recorded temperature was 63'C in a room without heating (approx 18'c ambient temperature).

Benchmarking

Each benchmark was run 5 times, the highest and lowest results were discarded and an average taken from the remaining 3 results.


HDTune

Performance Data for Western Digital Velociraptor 300MB 10,000RPM:

Super PI

1M Calculations: 11.249secs
8M Calculations: 2mins 33.207secs


3DMark 06

Performance Data for HIS HD 4870 X2 2GB GDDR5 Graphics Card:

3DMark Vantage

Performance Data for HIS HD 4870 X2 2GB GDDR5 Graphics Card:

Gaming Benchmarks

Each benchmark was run for a 5 minute period in a playable game environment and the framerate was recorded. Crysis and COD4 were benchmarked on their pre-release demos, Grid benchmarked on the full retail version.

As you can see, the system packs a punch, and for the first time you can see the stability tests of an OcUK system along with a great example of a finished build. We hope to bring you more reviews of our new systems - hopefully it's been an interesting read for you all.