Mainboards:

You already know our boards we are testing with, because we have reviewed them all some time ago:
Intel DX58SO, Gigabyte EP45-UD3P and MSI DKA790GX.








CPUs:

We used AMD X2 4850e, X2 7750, Phenom II 720/810 and 940, Intel i7 920, 940 as well as E7200, E8400, Q9450, Q9650 and an overclocked Q9650 @ Q9770. You have to keep in mind that power consumption on our emulated Q9770 is a bit higher due to overvoltaging.


Memory:

Qimonda 3GB Kit PC3-8500U (provided by Qimonda)
Sadly this company will be gone soon if they don't find any investor, but their memory kit worked very well. This was used for all i7 benches. The kit run at 1067MHz at CL7-7-7-20 with 1.50V.

Kingston 3GB Kit PC3-16000U KHX16000D33K/3GX (provided by Kingston)
Only two modules were used for AMD AM3 platform, running at 1333MHz, CL7-7-7-20 with 1.60V

Kingston 2GB Kit PC2-9600U KHX1200D2K2/2G (provided by Kingston)
Running at 1067MHz CL5-5-5-15 CR2T at 1.90V on all Core2 and AMD DDR2 platforms.


CPU-Cooler: Scythe Andy Samurai Master and Thermalright Ultra 120 eXterme:

As usual our reference cooler Scythe Andy was used for all AMD and Core 2 testing. This model will be replaced by the new "Kabuto" which we will review soon.  Because the Andy cooler has not been made for the i7 series, we used the Thermaltight Ultra 120 eXtreme, i7s get very hot.




Harddrive: Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB:

Samsung's F1 is one of the fastest drives out and with prices under €75,- there is no reason not to go for a big drive nowadays.


The rest of our setup has not been touched.


DVD-Burner: Samsung SH-203D

Case fans:
SilenX iXtrema Pro 14dB(A) (provided by PC-Cooling.at)


Case:
Cooler Master Stacker 831 Lite (provided by Cooler Master)


OS:
Because we don't like the broken OS all tests are performed with XP SP3. While 64bit software is still not very common, we also stick with the 32bit version.