For this outing and to maintain complete continuity of recent outings, as after all the target market place is studios and the high end SoHo the single socket Intel Xeon. This is now becoming the vogue choice of platform for many studio’s therefore we maintained with running with Supermicro’s X8SAX Rev 2 mainboard that supports Intel’s X5677 (3.46GHz) Xeon CPU for these types of workstation mainboards
System Set-Up
Component | Test System |
Mainboard | |
CPU | 1 X 3.46GHz Intel® Xeon® X5677 Nehalem EP®, 12MB Shared Cache, 6.4GB/s QPI |
HSF Cooler | Corsair H50-1 Hydro Series High-performance CPU Watercooler |
Memory | 6 X 2GB Crucial DDR3 (12GB Total) 1333MHz |
Hard Drive | 1 X 600GB WD 10000RPM VelociRaptor |
PCI Ex Video Card | ATI® FirePro™ V5800 |
Main Hardware Suppliers for the Review
Intel EU for the supply of the 3.46GHz Intel® Xeon® X5677 Nehalem EP® CPU
Supermicro for the supply of the X8SAX Rev 2 Mainboard shown within the Test System
Crucial Memory the DDR3 1333MHz Unbuffered ECC Memory.
ATI® for the supply of the FirePro™ V5800 professional graphic card
Western Digital for the supply of the 600GB VelociRaptor
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. One main e-tailer that can supply the EU reader readily all the parts listed you should pop over to SCAN and see what todays best bottom dollar deal is on the main parts listed.
Benchmarks and Software Used 64-bit Mode
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
SiSoftware Sandra 2011 (Latest Build)
Cinebench 11.5 64-bit
Bentley MicroStation
Redway Turbine Benchmark
SPECapc SM for 3ds Max 9 TM
SPECapcSM for Maya 2009
SPECapc for SolidWorks 2007™
SPECviewperf® 11.0 64-bit.
Each set of tests has been applied on the clean system hard drive 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.
Page 1 – Introduction
Page 2 – V5800 Pictures
Page 3 – System Build and Software Used
Page 4 – SiSoftware Sandra 2011 Video Card Tests
Page 5 – Cinebench 11.5 64-bit, Bentley MicroStation and Redway Turbine Benchmarks
Page 6 – SPECviewperf® 11.0 64-bit, SPECapc for SolidWorks 2007™, SPECapcSM for Maya 2009 and SPECapc SM for 3ds Max 9 TM
Page 7 – Conclusions and Award