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Supermicro – X7DAE Mainboard |
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System
Configuration and Benchmarks |
Just so the you reader can truly
understand just how much work has gone
into this review we have listed below
the 12 different systems which made it
up. You will now understand
why this has taken so long as each
system required a complete low level
format of the hard discs and a full
reinstall of its operating system to
properly complete the tests and
benchmarks listed.
For the SoHo and High-End enthusiast, we
stated above the memory configuration on
this mainboard is critical and you have
to follow the laid down formats or you
will find yourself in great difficultly
trying to figure out what has gone
wrong. Mix and Match
does not work and it is strongly
recommended that you follow the current
recommended laid down list of approved
memory modules for the mainboard on
Supermicro’s Website. |
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|
Test System 1 |
Test System 2 |
Test System 3 |
|
Chassis and PSU |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
|
Mainboard |
Supermicro X7DAE |
Supermicro X7DAE |
Supermicro X7DAE |
|
CPU's Used |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Dempsey 3.8GHz |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Dempsey 3.8GHz |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Dempsey 3.8GHz |
|
Memory Used |
2 X 1GB Hynix
533 DDR2 ECC |
2 X 1GB Hynix
533 DDR2 ECC |
4 X 1GB Hynix
533 DDR2 ECC |
|
Hard Discs |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
|
Graphic Card |
NVIDIA Quadro
FX 3500 |
ATI FireGL V7200 |
NVIDIA Quadro
FX 3500 |
|
Operating System |
Windows XP
Professional SP2
32 Bit |
Windows XP
Professional SP2
32 Bit |
Windows XP
Professional SP1
64 Bit |
|
|
Test System 4 |
Test System 5 |
Test System 6 |
|
Chassis and PSU |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
|
Mainboard |
Supermicro X7DAE |
Supermicro X7DAE |
Supermicro X7DAE |
|
CPU's Used |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Dempsey 3.8GHz |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Woodcrest 2.67GHz |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Woodcrest 2.67GHz |
|
Memory Used |
4 X 1GB Hynix
533 DDR2 ECC |
2 X 1GB Hynix
533 DDR2 ECC |
2 X 1GB Hynix
533 DDR2 ECC |
|
Hard Discs |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
|
Graphic Card |
ATI FireGL V7200 |
NVIDIA Quadro
FX 3500 |
ATI FireGL V7200 |
|
Operating System |
Windows XP
Professional SP1
64 Bit |
Windows XP
Professional SP2
32 Bit |
Windows XP
Professional SP2
32 Bit |
|
|
Test System 7 |
Test System 8 |
Test System 9 |
|
Chassis and PSU |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
|
Mainboard |
Supermicro X7DAE |
Supermicro X7DAE |
Supermicro X7DAE |
|
CPU's Used |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Woodcrest 2.67GHz |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Woodcrest 2.67GHz |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Woodcrest 2.67GHz |
|
Memory Used |
4 X 1GB Hynix
533 DDR2 ECC |
4 X 1GB Hynix
533 DDR2 ECC |
2 X 1GB ATP
667 DDR2 ECC |
|
Hard Discs |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
|
Graphic Card |
NVIDIA Quadro
FX 3500 |
ATI FireGL V7200 |
NVIDIA Quadro
FX 3500 |
|
Operating System |
Windows XP
Professional SP1
64 Bit |
Windows XP
Professional SP1
64 Bit |
Windows XP
Professional SP2
32 Bit |
|
|
Test System 10 |
Test System 11 |
Test System 12 |
|
Chassis and PSU |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
Supermicro
SuperServer 7045A |
|
Mainboard |
Supermicro X7DAE |
Supermicro X7DAE |
Supermicro X7DAE |
|
CPU's Used |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Woodcrest 2.67GHz |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Woodcrest 2.67GHz |
2 X Intel (Xeon)
Woodcrest 2.67GHz |
|
Memory Used |
2 X 1GB ATP
667 DDR2 ECC |
4 X 1GB ATP
667 DDR2 ECC |
4 X 1GB ATP
667 DDR2 ECC |
|
Hard Discs |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
2 X Western Digital
150GB Raptors
Configured Raid 0 |
|
Graphic Card |
ATI FireGL V7200 |
NVIDIA Quadro
FX 3500 |
ATI FireGL V7200 |
|
Operating System |
Windows XP
Professional SP2
32 Bit |
Windows XP
Professional SP1
64 Bit |
Windows XP
Professional SP1
64 Bit |
Hardware Suppliers
for the Review
The bulk of the system Chassis, PSU,
Mainboard CPU’s etc were supplied by
Boston and Supermicro. Really without
their support this monstrous review
could not have been undertaken. The
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500 & ATI FireGL V7200
both came courtesy of NVIDIA & ATI and
may also be purchased from Man and
Machine UK. Akasa UK for the supply of
their Pro Grade 5022 CPU paste. ATP, for
the supply of their new 667 DDR2 ECC
memory. Finally but by no means least;
Western Digital for the Supply of the
new 150GB 10K Raptor which allowed us to
look at system performance in Raid 0
with the new drives. Our thanks to all
involved in making this an interesting
but exciting review
Systems Integrators, OEM’s and VAR’s
should contact all companies directly
for pricing and availability of all
components. Members of the public should
contact their respective suppliers
requesting the parts directly from
Boston and Man and Machine.
Diskeeper can be purchased from most
leading Distributors and software retail
outlets. Or those of you wishing a try
before buy, a 30 day trial version maybe
downloaded direct from www.diskeeper.com
This review was hampered by very tight
time constraints as this equipment is in
extremely high demand. However, we have
managed to squeeze in as much as
possible from the system showing off as
the relevant tests and benchmarks. This
though will give the reader an
indication at what to expect actually
expect.
Benchmarking
The plethora of benchmarks available in
this arena; one could spend all day in
producing results, paralysis by
analysis! Sadly the lacking in 64 Bit
benchmarks allows us only to provide a
limited but effective set of results
which you can deduce which Operating
System to utilise. Thank fully now many
software applications run smoothly on
Windows 64 bit with the inclusion of
whow technology built in. Hopefully soon
more benchmarks will appear to match
those in 64 bit mode. By no stretch of
the imagination is this instance is this
review no different - get yourself a
very large cup of coffee and a few juicy
doughnuts as there are plenty here to
keep you going. If you cannot fully make
out the charts and visuals which we have
shown below, please e-mail – reviews at
3d professor dot com and we shall send
over in priority of receipt the picture
you are looking for.
To complete all of the above tests on
the system has taken some considerable
time. Maintaining the fair play rules
each SPEC® benchmark result has been in
accordance with the fair play rules and
regulations.
To further improve and maintain optimal
hard disk performance throughout we
utilised before each Benchmark /
Software application was run the system
had all the temporary folders and logs
dumped with the drives completely
defragged using the latest version
(Build 593) of Diskeeper 10 Professional
Premier Edition which incorporates its
new I-FAAST technology. Each of the have
benchmarks have been ran several times
over to ensure that no anomalies or
discrepancies were to be seen. All tests
have been conducted at 1280 X 1024 @
70Hz in 32 bit colour.
Software Used 32 Bit Mode
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2
with full Updates
Diskeeper 10 Premier Edition
PCMark 2005 Advanced with patch 1.1.0
Cinebench 9.5 (New)
SPECapc for 3ds max™ 7
SPECviewperf® 8.1
SPECviewperf® 9
Software Used 64 Bit Mode
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1 64
Bit
Diskeeper 10 Premier Edition
PCMark 2005 Advanced with patch 1.1.0
Cinebench 9.5 (New)
SPECviewperf® 9
This review has covered so many variable
platform differences we have split the
benchmarks into result segments
therefore allowing the reader to truly
understand the performance uptake at
each level with the addition of new
memory, CPU’s and the final additional
of Windows XP in 64 Bit mode. A picture
paints a thousand word goes the old
saying, and, to somewhat shorten this
massive review we have spared you a
dialogue after each set of tests, as
this will only take up much more space.
The results themselves speak volumes
enough without having to go into depth.
With this complete we move onwards to
the actual results obtained. |
Page 1 -
Introduction and Mainboard
Page 2 - System
Configuration and Benchmarks
Page 3 -
PCMark 2005
Advanced
Page 4 -
Cinebench 9.5 (32
Bit and 64 Bit Results)
Page 5 - SPECapc
for 3ds max™ 7 & SPECviewperf® 8.1
Page 6 -
SPECviewperf® 9 - Windows 32 Bit Results
Page 7 -
SPECviewperf® 9 - Windows 64 Bit Results
Page 8 -
Conclusions |
