We have now on several outings shown the mighty Supermicro X8SAX ATX workstation mainboard as our platform of choice as this is an extremely vogue set-up by many tier 1 and system integrators. Therefore in maintaining continuity of our “in house” test platforms that have currently tested the previous professional graphics cards we head out once more with the system that has had you all aghast with awe. What it also demonstrates is complete continuity in the launch platforms so that you the reader will understand from all the previous articles jus how fast each of the professional graphic cards have performed. Both Supermicro and Intel certainly pulled out the stops with these excellent parts which in turn means we can now demonstrate with the newer peripherals coming online the best possible results. This in turn will demonstrate to you the end user just what to fully expect when you purchase systems of the like we have here in situ. This is a very reliable and sound workstation platform which have an abundance of scope for upgrading, which we have voiced on many occasion.
Many requests from the community has requested to see results from our ever faithful Western Digital VelociRaptor. Therefore we looked at this carefully and decided that it would be a good option to show all just how well the VelociRaptor interacted with this system and, just how much the professional graphics cards of today worked on their own without the full aid of the system I/O in certain applications and operations of course.
Component | Test System |
Mainboard | Supermicro X8SAX Workstation Board Rev 2 |
CPU | 1 X 3.46GHz Intel® Xeon® X5677 Nehalem EP®, 12MB Shared Cache, 6.4GB/s QPI |
HSF Coolers | Corsair H50-1 Hydro Series High-performance CPU Watercooler |
Memory | 6 X 2GB Crucial DDR3 (12GB Total) 1333MHz |
Hard Drive | 600GB Western Digital 10000RPM VelociRaptor |
PCI Ex Video Card | ATI FirePro® V9800 |
PCI Ex Video Card Driver | ATI 8.76.5 |
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Professional |
Benchmarks and Software Used 64-bit Mode
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
SiSoftware Sandra 2010 (Latest Build)
Cinebench 11.5 64-bit
Bentley MicroStation
POVRAY 3.7 beta 38 (64-bit)
Redway Turbine Benchmark
SPECapc SM for 3ds Max 9 TM
SPECapcSM for Maya 2009
SPECapc for SolidWorks 2007™
SPECviewperf® 11.0 64-bit. Tests ran at 1920 X 1080 Resolution
Each set of tests has been applied on the clean system hard drives shown above to ensure that no residue drivers were left installed with all updates/patches applied. A test/render has been completed many times over different periods of the system uptime. Whilst maintaining the fair play rules of SPEC® HyperThreading and Turbo Boost have been enabled, with the memory being left in its default status of Auto. Tests have been conducted in accordance with the resolutions detailed above @ 59Hz / 60Hz in 32 bit colour. Results that have been shown within this article are from the application/benchmarks first run in accordance with the SPECviewperf® and SPECapc™ fair play rules. Not an average of 3 runs as some seem prudent to think that this is correct.
Page 1 – ATI FirePro V9800 Introduction
Page 2 – ATI FirePro V9800 Professional Graphic Card Pictures
Page 3 – Introducing “Machine Gun Joe”
Page 4 – System Set-Up and Software Used
Page 5 – SiSoftware Sandra 2010 Tests on System
Page 6 – SiSoftware Sandra 2010 Tests on the ATI FirePro V9800
Page 7 – Bentley MicroStation and POVRAY 3.7 beta 38 (64-bit)Benchmark
Page 8 – Redway Turbine Benchmark and Cinebench 11.5
Page 9 – SPECapc SM for 3ds Max 9 TM and SPECapc for SolidWorks 2007™
Page 10 – SPECapcSM for Maya 2009
Page 11 – SPECviewperf® 11.0 64-bit
Page 12 – Conclusions and Award