Processor Testing Methodology

The Intel Cougar Point P67 Express chipset and Sandy Bridge processors will eventually replace the older P55 chipset. However, Intel promises much greater levels of performance from their new platform. For this test I had access to three P67 Express-based motherboards for the Core i7-2600K CPU: an Intel DB67BG, an ASUS P8P67, and an ASUS P8P67 EVO. For comparison platforms, I used an AMD 890FX-based system with an AMD 1100T six-core CPU and an X58-based system with an Intel Core i7-950 processor (whose price is a rough match for the Core i7-2600K CPU used on the P67 systems). At $269, the AMD 1100T Black Edition is cheaper, but it's the most expensive consumer processor AMD makes.

Intel released a new BIOS for the DP67BG motherboard as I was partway through testing, but despite numerous attempts I was unable to flash the board to the new BIOS- the Windows-based update utility would report "Success" every time without actually updating the BIOS, and attempting to use the flash utility in the existing BIOS merely rebooted the motherboard, then shut it down after a few seconds.

For each P67 motherboard, I tested at both stock settings as well as the highest overclock I could achieve. Overclocking a Cougar Point/Sandy Bridge system is different from what you're used to, as I'll detail in the "Overclocking" section after the test results. I tried for the maximum overclock I could achieve with all four processor cores running under load; the results for each P67 motherboard are summarized in this chart.

The labeling of the results in the charts may be slightly confusing: the first two columns are the 890FX/AMD 1100T and the X58/Intel Core i7-950 platforms; the next six columns are all the Intel Core i7-2600K processor, at stock and overclocked speeds in the Intel DP67BG, ASUS P8P67, and ASUS P8P67 EVO motherboards, respectively.

Intel P67 Test Platforms

• Motherboard: Intel DP67BG with BIOS 1596
• Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 with BIOS 0905
• Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 EVO with BIOS 0905
• Processor: 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Intel Core i7-2600K (MSRP $317.00)
• System Memory: Corsair TRX3X6G1600C8D (4GB 1333MHz CL8-8-8-24)
• Primary Drive: Seagate Barracuda ST3500418AS 500G 7200RPM
• Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GTX280 (Forceware 260.99)
• CPU cooler: Cooler Master V6 GT

Intel X58 Test Platform

• Motherboard: ASUS Rampage III Extreme (Intel X58/ICH10R) with BIOS 1802 ($359.99)
• Processor: 3.06GHz Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield/Nehalem BX80601950 ($289.99)
• System Memory: Corsair TRX3X6G1600C8D (6GB 1333MHz CL8-8-8-24)
• Primary Drive: Seagate Barracuda ST3500418AS 500G 7200RPM
• Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GTX280 (Forceware 260.99)

AMD 890FX Test Platform

• Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula ROG (AMD 890FX/SB850/JMB363) with BIOS 1102
• Processor: 3.3GHZ AMD Phenom II X6 1100T HDE00ZFBR ($269.99)
• System Memory: Corsair TRX3X6G1600C8D (4GB 1333MHz CL8-8-8-24)
• Primary Drive: Seagate Barracuda ST3500418AS 500G 7200RPM
• Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GTX280 (Forceware 260.99)

Benchmark Applications

• Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
• AIDA64 Extreme Edition v1.1
• Futuremark PCMark Vantage v1.0.2.0 64-Bit
  • TV and Movies
  • Gaming
  • Music
• Maxon CINEBENCH R11.5 64-Bit
• Street Fighter IV benchmark
• PassMark PerformanceTest 7.0b1019
• x264Bench HD 3.0
• SPECviewperf-11:
  • Lightwave 9.6
  • Autodesk Maya 2009
  • Siemens Teamcenter Visualization Mockup
• SPECapc LightWave 3D v9.6
• Handbrake 0.94 video transcoding

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