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Video 1280 X 720 => CPU 23% 1440 X 1080 => CPU 22% Battery Duration 6Cell battery, Battery Eater Pro (turn off wifi and bluetooth) Full Speed - 1:21:19 Standby - 3:47:28 Acer Aspire 5741G Performance ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Components ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ Specification ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Outlook ★★★★★★★★★☆ C/P Value ★★★★★★★★★☆ (If Using HDD 500GB & ATI HD 5450) Finally, I attach the Spyder2 color correction file for all 5741Gusers. Thanks for reading this Acer Aspire 5741G review. windwithme Acer Aspire 5741G This review also post in my blog WIND'S 3C Welcome 3C lovers to visit and advise.

ATTO DISK Benchmark over 128k benchmark result is max read 283.7 Mb/s and write 261.8 MB/s EVEREST File Benchmark over 1024k benchmark result also above 250 MB/s. CrystalDiskMark 4K QD32 Read - 105.3 MB/s Write - 62.26 MB/s AS SSD Benchmark Seq Read - 192.96 MB/s Write - 52.90 MB/s 4K-64Thrd Read - 105.67 MB/s Write - 47.51 MB/s 3D - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650, 1024MB GDDR3 3DMARK2006 - 7235 DEVIL MAY CRY4 DX10 1280 X 720 => 69.13/64.87/93.97/51.07 fps StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1280 X 720 => 85.50FPS Biohazard5 Benchmark 1280 X 720 => 19.5fps DRAM performance DDR3 1064.2 CL7 7-7-20 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 7354MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 9063MB/s CPU Temperature Standby - 39~45℃ CPU full speed - 74~80℃

Acer Aspire 5741G uses Intel latest Calpella structure. CPU is Intel Core i3-330M. The clock is 133 X 16 => 2.13GHz, L3 3MB, dual core and supports HT technology. The chipset is HM55. Comparing to GM45, I believe the performance will be much better. Performance test OS is Windows7 Ultimate 64Bit Hardware info in Device Manager Windows7 system performance CPU performance test Super PI 32M => 33m 49.943s CPUMARK99 => 327 Nuclearus Multi Core => 8243 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 8.06/3869 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 128764 CINEBENCH 11.5 OpenGL 12.16fps CPU (Single Core) 0.69pts MP Ratio 2.54x PCMark Vantage => 8607 Using high performance MLC SSD-CORSAIR F60 to test Size is 2.5” and ID is F60. The highest performance is 285/275 MB/s. Random 4K writing performance can reach 50000 IOPS which improve the 4K writing issue in past SSD.

Acer Aspire 5741G Lower right side is monitor lock and SD memory card slot SD / MMC / / MS / MS Pro 15.6” matte monitor, the resolution is 1366X768. The open degree is 140~150. Right Side 2 X USB 2.0\8X Super Multi DL DVD\anti-thief lock Left side Power in, thermal holes, D-SUB, RJ45 LAN, HDMI, USB, Mic in, Line out 6 Cell battery => 2524g

PCMark Vantage => 17668 When OC Core i5-760 from 2.8GHz to 4.2GHz, it can pass most benchmark software. Also, due to every software has different CPU utilization and demand, the performance increases 25~50%. If the heat dissipation well, 4~4.2GHz is allowed clock for long time usage. CPU voltage needs 1.42V to OC to 4.2GHz. If you just OC to 4GHz, you need around 1.32V. The voltage set up will be different by every CPU quality. It’s just for your reference only. Power Consumption Test Standby - 158W CPU Full Speed - 285W When OC to 4.2GHz, the CPU performance increase a lot, but the temperature and power consumption is also pulling higher. Also, I disable C1E power saving feature, the power consumption all pull to very high. Intel new revision Core i5-760 OC capability is very good. If you enhance the CPU thermal solution, 4.2GHz is not a hard thing. For the default clock power consumption, it’s almost same as Micro ATX platform. It’s 4 Cores CPU and combo with Radeon HD5830, the system performance is much higher than small form factor PC. If for normal application without OC, this Intel platform is good for performance and power saving. LGA 1156 has been launching for 1.5 years, the mature and wide selections. 32nm built-in GPU, Core i3/i5 CPU. They are all 2C4T structure and support H55/H57 chipset. 45nm Core i5/i7 are 4C4T or 4C8T structure. P55 is mainly supported chipset. P55 spec and OC ability is higher. Even though, LAG 1155 will be launched in next Jan to combo with 32nm 4Cores CPU and P67 chipset, for the market revolution, LGA 1155 MB price will be higher than LGA 1156 a lot. Short term, for the users would like to buy Intel platform, P55 and i5-760 is still the higher C/P Intel 4 Cores CPU platform. I also happy to see the LAG 1156 price can move lower after new platform launched. The users can pay less and get more performance products. Last sharing was Canon IXUS 200IS using guide. I just got a FUJIFILM FinePix F80EXR recently. I will find some time to write a experience sharing review. This article is also in my bolg.WIND'S 3C Welcome all friends to visit.

After setting the DDR3 clock, the more important is the detail parameters. Starting from CL9, then move to CL8 or higher/lower frequency. Voltage Page Load-Line Calibration CPU Vcore 0.50000~1.90000V QPI/Vtt Voltage 1.050~1.990V PCH Core 0.950~2.000V CPU PLL 1.600~2.540V DRAM Voltage 1.300~2.600V CPU and DRAM quality is varied; you need to adjust the CPU Vcore and DRAM Voltage. If you want to pull CPU frequency to 200/2000 ratio, the key item is QPI/Vtt Voltage. For my experience, when OC to CPU/DRAM 200/2000 performance, QPI/Vtt Voltage is around 1.21~1.25V. PC Health Status There are many P55 products, and every brand has different OC capability. But the set up is similar; you just need to take time for fine tune. Through the steps, every user all can get better CPU/DRMA performance in air cooling condition. Comparing DDR3 Performance before and after OC DDR3 1328.4 CL5 5-5-15 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 16762 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 15656 MB/s DDR3 2000 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 23670 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 17941 MB/s DDR3 2060 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 24301 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 18395 MB/s After OC DDR3 1328 to DDR3 2000 performance, EVEREST increases about 15%. Sandra Memory Bandwidth increases more, it’s about 41%. OC DDR3 is really improving the system performance. It can be better with OC CPU together. CPU 200 X 21 => 4199.9MHz DDR3 2000 CL8 8-8-24 1T Hyper PI 32M X4 => 9m 52.146s CPUMARK 99=> 651 Nuclearus Multi Core => 25908 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 25.53/12254 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 5.60 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.42 pts CrystalMark 2004R3 => 318038

System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-760 MB: GIGABYTE P55A-UD3P DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG4GX3M2A2000C8 VGA: ATI Radeon HD 5830 HD: CORSAIR CSSD-F40GB2 Raid0 POWER: be quiet! Straight Power E7 600W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit Default Performance CPU 133.2 X 21 => 2797.2MHz DDR3 1331.8 CL5 5-5-15 1T Hyper PI 32M X4 => 13m 31.888s CPUMARK 99=> 515 Nuclearus Multi Core => 16677 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 17.81/8549 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 244848 PCMark Vantage => 14057 Due to Turboost auto OC technology, the clock are not exactly the same in CPU-Z pictures. Basic clock is 2.8GHz, it will floating between 2.8GHz to 3.4GHz by cores and CPU utilized ratio. The performance is higher than Core i5-750 2.66GHz. For the general users, i5-760 performance can handle most software. Power Consumption Test Standby - 67W CPU Full Speed - 135W i5-760 power consumption is impressive without OC, it should be related to enable C1E power saving feature. Also the clock is only 2.8GHz and don’t support HT, the power consumption is pretty low. Especially, even using ATI Radeon HD5830 VGA, the CPU full speed is only 135W. OC Performance First of all, referring to my BIOS set up for 200/2000. BIOS Main Page Set CPU clock to 200MHz and DRAM set up by quality. The ratio in pic shows the DDR3 at 2000MHz. CPU Feature Normally when you are OC, you should disable the C1E features to avoid the voltage and clock floating. Turbo Boost also needs to disable to find the CPU stabilized clock. DDR3 Set Up Page

Currently, you can see most Intel CPU, price over 300USD, supports HT technology. For example, LGA 1366 Core i7-930/950 or LGA 1156 Core i7-870/875K. These 4 CPUs are all 4C8T and within the price range. There was a Core i5-7500 in LGA 1156 platform. It’s pure 4C4T structure without HT. The price was 6000NTD, around 200USD. Recently, Intel launched one new code, 760. No matter i5-750 or i5-760, it’s the highest C/P value Intel quad core CPU so far. Since beginning, I was considering the parity quad core CPU for long time. I also consider to change to entry quad core CPU. For Intel product line, Core i5-760 exactly is the entry and parity quad core CPU. Combo with P55 MB, the whole platform is middle range in the PC market. CPU clock is 2.8GHz, supports Turbo Boost and can reach 3.46GHz. Physical 4 Cores CPU is 4 threading, called 4C/4T. 45nm, L3 Cache is 8MB, the internet data shows the Max TDP is 95W. The back mostly can recognize the revision and spec. This Core i5-760 is Stepping 5/Revision B1 Intel 4 Cores processor coolers use copper bottom which is better heat dissipation performance. P55 chipset is the best combo for this CPU, although H55 is also the other choice. But H55 main design is for built-in GPU Core i3/i5 CPU, and it doesn’t support RAID. If you really have budget concern, H55 is also a good solution. This guide uses GIGABYTE P55A-UD3P, the price is higher than other entry P55 boards. The spec and components are good level. The price is around 172USD. 3X USB Power, On/Off Charge USB connector supports On/Off Charge feature. UD3P equips GIGABYTE main new features. Lower-Left Corner 2 X PCI-E X16, ATI CrossFireX and the bandwidth is X16+X4. 2 X PCI-E X1 Realtek RTL8111E LAN Chip Realtek ALC889 supports 7.1 channel and High Definition Audio/Dolby Home Theater Technology Design in Taipei Lower-Right Corner 6 X Blue SATAII, provide by P55, SATA2 supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 2 X White SATAIII, provide by Marvell 9128, SATA3, supports RAID 0, RAID 1 1 X IDE, provide by iTE IT8213 Dual BIOS, dual protection Upper-Right Corner 4 X DIMM DDR3 supports 800/1066/1333/1600/2200(OC). The max capacity is DDR3 16GB. Next is 24-PIN power connector Upper-Left Corner LGA 1156 CPU socket, CPU metal cover is electroplated. UD3P uses 12 phases PWM, the upper part is 8PIN power connector. IO 8 X USB 2.0 2 X USB 3.0(Blue) 1 X RJ-45 LAN 2 X eSATA(Yellow) 1 X S/PDIF Fiber/Coaxial output 1 X 1394a

CPU Full Speed - 130W No matter OC to 4G or 4.6G, the standby power consumption is lower than 70W. The full speed gap is bigger, but the highest is around 130W. It’s very green platform. If CPU works at default 3.2GHz, the power consumption will be much lower. Finally, pull CPU voltage to 1.488V, 655K air cooling can OC to 5GHz. CPUZ Certify Intel Core i5 655K OC 5G / windwithme Early Jan, I OC Core i5-660/661 CPU to 5GHz and now 655K also can OC to 5GHz. And using 655K 5GHz to enter OS, the voltage is lower to 1.488V. You can see Intel CPU yield rate is improved. Since Intel launched LGA 1156 in early 2010, 2 Cores CPU started to built-in GPU. It becomes a new choice of ITX market, price and performance. CPU combination is more vary. There are Core i3-530/540, Core i5-650/660/661/670/655K. The price is also more flexible for different budget. For MB, early this year DFI launched LANPARTY MI P55-T36, and few months later ECS announced H55H-I and GIGABYTE GA-H55N-USB3. These 3 models all break the old barrier and image for this kind of products. They all emphasize OC and rich BIOS items. The performance is almost same as Micro ATX or ATX MB. No matter NooteBook or Desktop PC all go for smaller form factor. Like PC, the normal size is ATX and smaller goes for Micro ATX. Now, MB starts to move to ITX, and more MB brands provide the products. Also Intel pushes new series Core i3/i5 CPU, 32nm manufacture and built-in GPU technology. This year, ITX visibility is higher. I hope ITX products can be more popular and more brands to join this competition. The customers can enjoy smaller PC which saves home space and good PC performance. This article is also posted in my blog: WIND'S 3C Welcome 3C fans to drop by.

CrystalMark 2004R3 => 217668 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 3.83 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.55 pts PCMark Vantage => 15924 After changing to high end CPU cooler, OC to 4.6GHz and pass the benchmark are not big deal. It pull high the performance 10~15%. Due to 655K is 2 Cores, the OC range is higher than 4 or 6 Cores CPU. The perivous review of 660/661 also can achieve 4.6GHz. Of course, you can see the strength of 32nm manufacture. It really help to lower the temperature, power consumption and pull the CPU clock. DRAM bandwidth test - DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-24 1T CPU OC 4GHz Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 15180 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 12050 MB/s CPU OC 4.6GHz Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 15232 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 12125 MB/s You can see the difference between 655K and Core 2 Duo structure by the test result. In the past, in LGA 775 platform, the higher CPU clock means higher DRAM bandwidth. LGA 1156 built-in Memory Controller in CPU, so the CPU clock doesn’t impact DRAM performance much. However this design make LGA 1156 basic DRAM bandwidth is 20~30% higher than LGA 775. This is why even yopu pull LGA 775 CPU clock to extremely high, the bandwidth still cannot catch up LGA 1156. Temperature System standby - 40~41 CPU Full Speed - 71~73 Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level Maximum The standby temperature is not high and full speed at 73 is also acceptable. If you use this cooler, CPU temperature will be higher inside the chassis. But it still can long time use under acceptable temperature condition. Power Consumption CPU 4GHz System Standby - 62W CPU Full Speed - 100W CPU 4.6GHz System Standby - 68W

ATTO DISK Benchmark over 16k benchmark result is max read 286.1 Mb/s and write 266.8 MB/s EVEREST File Benchmark over 512k benchmark result also above 250 MB/s. EVEREST Linear Read Average 235.1 MB/s AS SSD Benchmark Seq Read - 200.00 MB/s Write - 44.00 MB/s 4K-64Thrd Read - 102.03 MB/s Write - 56.93 MB/s Recently, SSD price is dropping a little and performance is better due to controller chip improvement. Some hi-end SSD almost reach the SATA2 300 MB/s bandwidth. I believe the market will be even booming after SATA3 being more popular. ITX platform uses CORSAIR F60 can shorten the system boot, open application and access files time. Now, I use open air to test the higher OC performance. System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-655K MB: GIGABYTE GA-H55N-USB3 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR CMD8GX3M4A1600C8 VGA: Intel Clarkdale 733MHz HD: CORSAIR Force SSD 60GB POWER: ANTEC Neo ECO 400C Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit BIOS OC setup Tuning CPU ratio, frequency and DRAM multiplier page. When pull the high clock, QPI Clock Ratio set at X44 is the best. The performance is also good. CPU related technology items C1E is for power saving. When CPU utilization rate is low, the CPU will lower the frequency and voltage. Turbo Boost is opposite with C1E. When CPU loading is low, you still can pull to higher speed. DRAM setup page supports X.M.P. auto OC technology. DDR3 parameters setup page Voltage page Load-Line Calibration CPU Vcore 0.50000~1.90000V QPI/Vtt Voltage 1.050~1.990V GraphicsCore 0.200~1.800V PCH Core 0.950~1.500V CPU PLL 1.000~2.580V DRAM Voltage 1.300~2.600V You can see GIGABYTE Micro ATX H55 BIOS items are rich and vary. The overall OC ability is also good. I can pull 655K to 200MHz stable easily and don’t need high Vtt. Above setup is for 200/1600 stable OC ratio. You may need to minor tuning due to the different components character. You can refer to this setup as your need. Performance Test CPU 200 X 23 => 4600.4MHz 1.376V DRAM DDR3 4GB 1600.2 CL8 8-8-24 1T GPU 733MHz 64MB Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 13m 46.692s CPUMARK 99 => 718 Nuclearus Multi Core => 18083 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 17.136/8333

USB 3.0 chip is NEC D720200F1 As per the components and spec, the user price is around 4000NTD, about 127USD. Although there are only 3 ITX MB in the market, after comparing, H55N-USB3 C/P value is quite good. System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-655K MB: GIGABYTE GA-H55N-USB3 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR CMD8GX3M4A1600C8 VGA: Intel Clarkdale 733MHz HD: CORSAIR Force SSD 60GB POWER: Thermaltake ElementQ 220W Cooler: Intel Cooler OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit Case uses Thermaltake ElementQ for OC real test. The product dimension is 130 x 220 x 330 mm Left side is built-in 220W SFX PSU and also can install 2x 3.5” devices and 1x 5.25” device. ElementQ design is for mute. However if you have system fan, it will be great help for internal heat flow. As H55N-USB3 design layout, it causes ElementQ Power/Reset cables are not long enough. Although MB and CASE are good C/P products, but you should know such detail before buying. Real installation test, it should close the chassis and test how long can run normally under OC condition. Performance Test CPU 200 X 20 => 4000.4MHz 1.216V DRAM DDR3 4GB 1600 CL8 8-8-24 1T GPU 733MHz 64MB Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 15m 11.167s CPUMARK 99 => 626 Nuclearus Multi Core => 15752 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 15.19/7293 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 198722 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 3.36 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.35 pts PCMark Vantage => 14672 655K OC to 4GHz is stable. The full speed temperature is around 70 degree C. The temperature control is also acceptable. If the chassis is opened, using the original cooler can OC to 4.3GHz. The full speed temperature is around 90 degree C. I personally hope to test OC in chassis to find the balance between stable, temperature and performance. After many OC combo test, 4GHz is the most stable condition inside complete close for long time usage. Currently, the best tool to enhance the system performance is SSD. With CORSAIR FORCE SERIES F40, I hope it can have better performance in this ITX system. Size is 2.5” and ID is F60. The highest performance is 285/275 MB/s. Random 4K writing performance can reach 50000 IOPS which improve the 4K writing issue in past SSD.

The normal image of ITX platform for users is hard to find in the market, price is high and old generation chipset. Even it’s the NoteBook CPU socket or SO-DIMM design to make ITX platform price go even higher. Intel launched 32nm Core i3/i5 CPU early this year and also launched H55/H57 chipset at the same time. Also, many MB manufacturers launched LGA 1156 ITX MB. The price is lower than past ITX MB. New spec ITX MB uses PC spec CPU and DDR3 that makes ITX product be more easy to use and cheaper. This review is to introduce the high performance ITX platform with latest products. First of all, the CPU is Intel latest unlocked version, K series, Core i5 655K. Left side is product manual and right side is 655K CPU. The special thing is 655K and 875K don’t bundle original cooler. Intel suppose the unlocked version CPU users will choose better performance cooler. The clock is 3.2GHz supports Turbo Boost technology. The max speed is 3.46GHz. Physical 2 Cores with Hyper-Threading can achieve 4 threads, called 2C/4T. 32nm manufacturing, L3 Cache is 4MB. CPU back design can see the version and different design. The built-in GPU clock is 733Mhz. MB uses GIGABYTE H55N-USB3 2oz cooper PCB, USB 3.0, 3X USB Power, and On/Off Charge are advantage features. 2 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333/1600(OC), and maximum capacity is 8GB. 1 X PCI-E X16 for user to install Low Profile VGA card. Realtek ALC892 supports 7.1 channel and High Definition Audio technology. 24 + 4-PIN power connector. 4X blue SATAII support by H55. It’s SATA2 and no RAID function. IO 1 X DVI-D 1 X HDMI 1 X D-SUB 2 X USB 2.0(Yellow) 2 X USB 3.0(Blue) 1 X eSATA/USB 2.0 combo (Yellow) 1 X S/PDIF fiber output

Another desktop PC test is in AMD platform. Using GIGABYTE 890FXA-UD5, the SB is SB850, the most hi-end AMD Chipset so far. It also supports SATA3. Supports ATI CrossFireX, On/Off Charge, USB 3.0 with 3X USB Power Test Configuration CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition MB: GIGABYTE 890FXA-UD5 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GTX3 DDR3-2400 VGA: ATI Radeon HD 5830 CrossFire HD: CORSAIR CSSD-F40GB2 Raid0 POWER: ANTEC HCG 620W Cooler: Thermaltake V1AX OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit ATTO DISK Benchmark 64k above test can achieve reading at 446.3 Mb/s and writing at 445.2 MB/s. EVEREST File Benchmark64k above test can achieve over 400 MB/s. EVEREST Linear Read Average 422.3 MB/s CrystalDiskMark reading at 240.9 Mb/s and writing at 106.6 MB/s. AMD Raid0 has no “Write-back cache” item, so the performance is lower. I hope AMD can add in this feature in Raid tool to enhance own chipset performance. Of course, if we also disable “Write back” in Intel platform, the performance will be similar. I also have some friends use SSD as NoteBook system drive and use 2.5” external HDD as data drive. For desktop users can have higher performance with SSD as building Raid0 by 2 pieces 40GB SSD. The performance will be much higher than single 80GB. However, the previous SSD version has lower performance issue after using for long time. The most new versions SSD all support TRIM to solve this issue, but it’s only for single drive now. Due to Matrix Storage Manager doesn’t support Raid0 TRIM instruction, the performance dropping issue is still exiting. The solution is clear SSD Raid0 mode and all data. Then re-build the Raid0 to recover the original performance. For Raid0 not support TRIM issue has none solution now. We only can expect Intel launches new Matrix Storage Manager to support it. Just can let Intel chipset with SSD Raid0 users to really enjoy Raid0 performance and worry free for performance dropping issue. Intel SSD product has very high level standard. The 4K writing performance is almost the best. CORSAIR F40 uses Intel 29F32G08AAMDB and new controller, SandForce SF-1222TA3-SBH. Except the high 4K writing performance, it also improves the overall performance of Intel NAND FLASH IC. Force series can be the new generation high performance SSD spec. It’s also the key factor to ramp up the SSD market share. CORSAIR Force series has 40/60/80/120/160/240GB. The users can buy by budget. More SSD capacity provides more flexibility. Force 40GB price is around 125US. Comparing to the other brands, the price is not too high. There are more and more controllers in the market. It also improves the performance. At least the different chipset has different strength. In the future, the price and capacity still impact the SSD coverage. I do want to see it happens soon. Recently, I got a DC - Canon IXUS 200IS, official from Taiwan disti. If I have time, I will make a preview. The content has outlook and experience sharing. Thanks for your time to read this SSD review by windwithme. It also post in my blog.WIND'S 3C Welcome you to come and comment.

HD Tune Pro 4.60 Benchmark Read - Average 520.0 MB/s Access Time 0.085ms Write - Average 488.6 MB/s Access Time 0.017ms Random Access Extra tests Sequential middle Read - 522.673 MB/s Write - 528.175 MB/s Random seek 4KB 62779 IOPS File Benchmark ATTO DISK Benchmark 8k above transfer rate is 563.1 Mb/s at reading and 531.5 MB/s at writing. CORSAIR F40 in HD Tune Pro test also has very high performance. Both read/write are all over 500 MB/s which are very impressive transfer rate. The seek time is below 0.1ms and even achieve 0.017ms. This is also very outstanding. ATTO DISK Benchmark can also achieve over 560/530 MB/s, read/write performance. It really shortens the PC access time. EVEREST Read Test Suite - Linear Read(Middle) 527.0 MB/s. FDEBENCH gets the reading at 247.6 Mb/s and writing at 136.5 MB/s. CrystalDiskMark gets the reading at 308.0 Mb/s and writing at 89.52 MB/s. EVEREST Linear Read Average 526.2 MB/s AS SSD Benchmark Seq Read - 296.41 MB/s Write - 92.24 MB/s 4K-64Thrd Read - 198.54 MB/s Write - 86.68 MB/s EVEREST Random Read 515.5 MB/s AS SSD Benchmark 4K-64Thrd Read - 51293 iops Write - 20921 iops CrystalMark Sequential Read 521.37 MB/s Sequential Write 495.65 MB/s SiSoftware Sandra 481.72 MB/s EVERSET many items are over 500 MB/s. The others like CrystalMark、SiSoftware Sandra are also similar. The most surprise is some items of AS SSD Benchmark and FDEBENCH didn’t reach the highest performance. After repeating test and check the internet, I found it is caused by controller chip. SandForce SF-1222 in other SSD products is also having this issue. CrystalDiskMark 50/100/500/1000MB comparing test According to the different file size, you can see the improvement of CrystalDiskMar Seq performance. F40 high light point is having better transfer rate in smaller file. This is normal for high performance 4K file type SSD. IOMETER 2008 4KB test - 100% Write 100%/Random 4KB Total I/Os per Second 68653.32 4KB file IOPS writing performance is COSRAIR F40 strength. The test is not achieve double performance as Raid0. It’s also possible the limitation of SB. However, the benchmark is still over 68600. I will test with RAID card to compare this in the future.

SSD full name is Solid-State Drive. It’s new booming hardware within 2 years. It really enhances the PC/NB transfer performance. The main reason is SSD using NAND Flash instead of diskette design. SSD normal capacity are 32/40/64/80/128GB. Recently, SSD market price is dropping a little bit. The main reasons for users to buy are transfer performance; seek speed, anti-shock ability and MTBF. Especially for NoteBook users, SSD is also lower power consumption and lighter. However, SSD price and capacity are still the key factors to impact the selling ramping speed. Related to SSD products, USA brand, CORSAIR, also put lots of efforts. They have 6 SSD product lines. Per performance, it divides into Force/Nova/Reactor/Performance/Extreme/Legacy series. This review is CSSD-F40GB2, belongs to Force series. It has 3 years warranty. CORSAIR F40 SSD position is similar to Intel X25-V 40GB. This review will focus on RAID0 in PC. First to check the packing, CORSAIR FORCE SERIES F40 Product size is 2.5”, code is F40, and the highest performance is 280/270 MB/s. Random 4K writing performance is 50000 IOPS. 4K writing performance is the weakness of most SSD. Black metal shell and brushed finish surface look great. Official weight is 80g which is lighter than 2.5” HDD. The website showed the controller IC is SandForce SF-1222TA3-SBH. MLC NAND FLASH is Intel 29F32G08AAMDB, total 10 pieces 4 GB chip. The sticker above is warranty notice. The warranty will be invalid if it’s broken. SATA supports SATAII which is for PC or NB. This review uses desktop with different SB chipset to test RAID0 performance. I believe this combination is very popular now and using SSD for booting drive. And use big capacity 3.5” 7200rpm HDD for data drive. Desktop uses Intel platform, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5. SB is ICH10R, the most high end Intel chipset currently. I use it to test performance. Built-in USB 3.0 and SATA3, 2 latest MB technologies. Test Configuration CPU: Intel Core i7-930 MB: GIGABYTE X58A-UD5 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GTX3 DDR3-2400 VGA: ATI Radeon HD 5830 CrossFire HD: CORSAIR CSSD-F40GB2 Raid0 POWER: ANTEC HCG 620W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit

ECS Black Series P55H-AK Advantages 1. High-level P55 motherboard products are rare in the market, and the external appearance and packaging are both well-done 2. Internal NVIDIA NF200 chip, 3D expanded to 3-way NVIDIA SLI / ATi CrossfireX 3. Uses newest USB 3.0 and SATA3 chips, improving the highest bandwidth for motherboard transmission interfaces 4. Added PLX PEX 8608 chip, increasing PCI-E overall bandwidth 5. DDR3 bandwidth performs better, excellent CPU external clock overclock range Disadvantages 1. CPU voltage values are at default during standby mode 2. DDR3 2000+ stability has room for improvement 3. USB 3.0 performance sometimes drops Efficiency ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Materials ★★★★★★★★★☆ Specs ★★★★★★★★★☆ Appearance ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Price ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ The ideal CPU to match the LGA 1156’s P55 chipset would be the i5 750/760 or i7 860/870/875K. After Intel lowers the price of CPUs, this platform’s C/P numbers will exceed that of the highest level X58. In addition, every motherboard manufacturer is releasing quite a few P55 motherboard products, giving consumers many options. Prices range from around NT$3500 (around US$110) to around NT$10,500 (US$330). I suggest that before buying the LGA 1156 you look at your budget, and then buy a P55 motherboard product that suits your needs. In terms of design and components, the P55H-AK meets the standards of major three-channel motherboard products, which is something that is definitely worth noting. Motherboards being sold for around NT$9500 (US$298) now are high-level P55 motherboards. If the prices can be pushed down a little, I believe it will increase C/P values, and could become more acceptable to more consumers. Since ECS has not entered the field of high-level overclocking products for very long, there are a few details that could be done better. For example, increase BIOS options, or strengthen BIOS stability during extreme overclocking; this would increase the level of performance. ECS is a major global motherboard manufacturer; if they can establish themselves in high-level overclocking products; this would greatly improve their brand image. When purchasing a motherboard, many consumers look for an option outside the major three manufacturers, and ECS is certainly worth consideration. I hope that for future high-level products, like the modified X58 or the yet-to-be-released P67 chipset, ECS will be able to produce even better products.  This article is also posted in my blog: WIND'S 3C Welcome 3C fans to drop by.

PCMark Vantage => 16381 P55H-AK takes the CPU overclocking to 4.2GHz after passing numerous kinds of software stability testing, while the power requirements are about the same as other P55 products. In conjunction with the i7 875Kexternal clock, 210MHz can be achieved stably, which is a pretty good performance for the P55 level. In terms of CPU voltage, we can only get statistics for default voltage during standby mode, and can only achieve the voltage values of user-set BIOS settings at full speed. During relatively larger overclocking, some negative effects was still seen; I hope ECS can improve this in the future. DRAM Efficiency Testing DDR3 1680 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 21889 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 20980 MB/s DDR3 2000 CL9 9-9-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 25067 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 21868 MB/s DDR3 bandwidth testing showed better results than other P55 motherboard products, perhaps because the default parameters were tighter, or perhaps because the OEM fine-tuned it better. The P55H-AK DDR3 bandwidth performed about as well as the LGA 1366 three-channel bandwidth tested. 3D effects Testing Three GTX 260 were used for testing, P55H-AK is one of the few that support NVIDIA 3-way SLI P55 products 3DMark Vantage => P28536 CPU SCORE => 52795 GPU SCORE => 24746 Street Fighter IV Benchmark 1920 X 1200 8XAA => 132.97FPS Devil May Cry 4 DX10 1600 X 1200 8XAA => 109.63/97.68/108.19/125.07 fps Final Fantasy XIV 1920 X 1080 => 4008 Star Craft II: Wings of Liberty Settings at High - 62 Lost Planet 2 DX9 1920 X 1200 TEST A - 44.9 fps DX9 1920 X 1200 TEST A - 40.1 fps 3DMark Vantage and Final Fantasy XIV both support 3-way SLI, so the numbers are much higher than the single-chip GTX260. However, the testing of other games, which did not support SLI, showed that they were unable to take advantage of its functions. For many games, not only is there the problem of GPU SLI/CF support, but there is also a great deal of room for improvement for supporting four-core (or more) CPUs.

Settings include two user profiles so that users can save their overclocking settings. CPU-related Technology Options C1E is a power-saving, frequency reduction function; when CPU usage is not high, it will automatically lower frequency and power PC Health Status The power supply functions and number of options in the P55H-AK’s BIOS isn’t bad, though if they added some power supply options it would be even better. The above was my personal opinion, as I am using the CPU/DDR3 set at 210/1682; those consumers with good constitutions or similar hardware sets could consider using these settings. I hope this helps those of you who need to overclock. Testing Configuration CPU: Intel Core i7-875K MB: ECS Black Series P55H-AK DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG4GX3M2A2000C8 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX260 OC 3-way SLI HD: Intel X25-V 40GB RAID 0 POWER: CORSAIR TX950W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64-bit eBLU is a kind of BIOS that can update online, and is a relatively common addition to motherboards nowadays. eOC is an overclocking software that allows you to set up power options and the external clock within the OS, providing faster overclock functions. This software also allows you to see the motherboard’s current status CPU with Intel Core i7-875K Clocking at 2.93GHz, supports Turbo Boost, and can reach 3.6GHz Four physical cores and Hyper-Threading technology can achieve eight simultaneous executions, called 4C/8T 45nm manufacturing with a L3 Cache that possesses 8MB; the above is currently the LGA 1156 platform’s best CPU specs Overclocking Settings CPU 210 X 21 => 4200MHz 1.308V DDR3 1680 CL8 8-8-24 1T Hyper PI 32M X8=> 14m 35.068s CPUMARK 99=> 652 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 285653 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 7.13 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.43 pts

USB 3.0 chipset uses NEC D720200F1 Second USB 3.0 chipset, designed as a front USB Port The motherboard’s southbridge is an Intel P55 chipset, a single chip design that combines Intel Southbridge and Northbridge. The silver heat sink below is a PLX PEX 8608, with an additional PCI-E bandwidth, allowing SATA3 and USB 3.0 to gain increased bandwidth. The motherboard’s northbridge is an NVIDIA nForce200, whose major function is improving PCI-E bandwidth and supporting 2~3-way SLI technology. The Black Series is ECS’ high-level motherboard, with Qooltech III design dual heat conductors. Startup Screen BIOS Main Page M.I.B X functions to adjust timing, parameters and power supply In this page you can adjust the CPU multiple frequency, CPU/DRAM frequency divider and DRAM parameters More detailed DRAM parameters, CPU external clock adjustment and other overclocking functions Voltage Page CPU Core Voltage -0.900~+0.945V CPU VTT Voltage -0.800~+0.630V DRAM Voltage -0.800~+0.630V PCH Voltage -0.800~+0.630V

Several newcomers have entered the motherboard market in recent years, and thinking back on it, I actually miss the old days of intense competition between all the various motherboard manufacturers. Nowadays consumers see fewer and fewer choices, many of which belong to the three major motherboard manufacturers. At the same time, it seems that motherboard prices are getting higher and higher; if there were a greater variety of manufacturers vying for customers within the market, consumers would be the true winners. ECS has returned to the Taiwan market this year, and has put a lot of effort into giving its new motherboard products some exposure. ECS seems to be on-par in terms of pricing, while ECS’ current OEM line of products are making strides in the high efficiency and overclocking realms, resulting in an additional choice for high-level motherboards. Intel has consistently set the LGA 1156-spec P55 chipset at the mid- to high-range portion of the consumer market. Compared to the LGA 1366, the P55 lacks SLI support, multiple tasks PCI-E bandwidth support, and DDR3 technology support. However, some high-level P55 products are able to connect external chipsets to strengthen the areas that are lacking. The ECS P55H-AK I obtained is one of the few P55 products with high-level specs, which I will discuss more below. First, looking at the exterior appearance of the P55H-AK, you notice that they use the less common colors of black, gray and gray-blue. The product looks different from other motherboards since the colors used are very similar to one another, resulting in a stately, solemn feel without seeming to overbearing. Included Accessories English manual, installation guide, driver CD, and a front panel USB 3.0 port SATA cable, 2~3-way SLI Bridge Lower left corner of motherboard 3 X PCI-E Gen 2.0 X16, supports 3-way CrossFireX and SLI technologies, bandwidth of X16+X8+X8 2 X PCI-E X1 1 X PCI Realtek RTL8111E dual LAN chipset, supports Teaming Lower right corner of motherboard 6 X white SATAII, P55 provides SATA2 specs, supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 2 X gray SATAIII, Marvell 9128 chipset provides, SATA3 specs, supports RAID 0, RAID 1 In the upper left is an external USB 3.0 Port interface, Power and Reset buttons and an internal Debug LED Upper right corner of motherboard 4 X DIMM DDR3, supports 1066/1333/1600/1800(OC)/2000(OC)/2200(OC)/2400(OC), and DDR3 up to 16GB. DDR3 1800 and above specs require overclocking to achieve; to the side is the 24-PIN power input. Upper left corner of motherboard LGA 1156 CPU installation area The CPU pins are protected by a 15μ gold coating, providing 3x the durability and anti-oxidation and anti-scratch protection. P55H-AK adopts a 12+2 power supply, which is a P55 power supply design that is among the top in the market. IO clr CMOS button 8 X USB 2.0(red/black) 2 X USB 3.0(blue) 2 X eSATA/USB 2.0 dual-usage red) 2 X RJ-45 internet port 1 X S/PDIF

The VGA card is always the one of the most popular market of the PC components, lots of the customers are all targeted on gaming purpose. Moreover, the largest part of the VGA users is focused on the models under US$100, which is also the basic market. But there are still some entry level models under US$ 60, the models are suitable for the users who can not be satisfied with the built-in on board GPU and would like to have independent VGA card. But at the point of my view, except the budget issue, if users would like to choose an entry level VGA for the PC in order to get better 3D performance, I think the best solution for the better C/P rates is to choose the VGA between US&60-US$100. ATI provides multiple solutions in entry level and middle-end VGA cards, there are 3 different models with good performance for the price under US$100, the highest on is the previous generation Radeon HD 4850, the cheapest one is the Radeon HD 4670. The weakness of the “4850” is its higher power consumption and the dimensions are also larger. And the 3D technology of “4670” is not as new as “5570” supports, and the dimensions are not available for the smaller PC. For these 2 models listed, ATI 4850/4670 VGA both belong to the promotional models with higher C/P rates during the gap of the 2 different generations. The price of ATI Radeon HD 5570 is between these two models, and which is designed with newer technology and using advanced process, but I think the major advantage of ATI Radeon HD 5570 will be to use for the smaller PC mainframes. In the recent years, no mater PC or NB, the designs of the outside dimensions are getting smaller and smaller. At the PC end, Micro ATX has been popular for many years, but there are many kinds of Mini-ITX models came into the market this year. So it’s quite important to have high performance & low power consumption for the model with Low Profile dimensions in the new developing market. It was hard to find one Low Profile VGA with good 3D performance on the market before ATI Radeon HD 5570 released. But after then, ATI Radeon HD 5570 has increased the strong power of competition for ATI. It has better 3D performance than “4670” and it might be very possible to become the king of performance and efficiency in the field of Low Profile size. And we also hope that ATI is able to release more Low Profile size VGA cards to have more choices for the users who love smaller PC mainframes. This article is also posted in my blog: WIND'S 3C Welcome 3C fans to drop by.

GPU OC 745MHz/1133MHz System Standby - 102W GPU Full speed - 169W The default & over clocking settings all have no additional power consumption in standby, the entire PC keeps at around 102W. When GPU full speed , the over clocking might increase around 18W power consumption, but the efficiency also increases around 20% more, so the range increased of the power consumption when over clocked is also quite reasonable & acceptable. Thermal Testing GPU Default 650MHz/900MHz System Standby - 50.5 GPU Full speed - 61.0 GPU OC 745MHz/1133MHz System Standby - 51.5 GPU Full speed - 64.0 The ambient temperature is at 33 degree, no mater with over clocking or with default settings, the standby temperature shows stable, and it just increases 3 degree when over clocked. So it should have some help a lot by using 40nm process chipsets to control the thermal for “5570” The last, it is the one of the hottest 3D games at the moment - StarCraft II : Wings of Liberty Setting page GPU Default 650MHz/900MHz Default - 49 High level settings - 40 GPU OC 745MHz/1133MHz Default - 62 High level settings - 47 Even we keep the StarCraft II resolution at 1920 X 1200, there is still 30/fps smooth performance, we recommended not to adjust the 3D effects too high, otherwise it might cause a little bit lag during the game. But in the high resolution with StarCrafe II, which can still be qualified with the high loading of StarCraft II, that means the 3D performance of “5570” is still higher than standard.

3DMARK2006 => 10007 3DMark Vantage => P5363 CPU SCORE => 13456 GPU SCORE => 4467 The performance of “5570” shows quite good in the stable over clocking range, the over clocking efficiency increases a lot compare with normal. With 3DMARK2006 & 3DMARK VANTAGE testing programs, the efficiency increase 20% up by 3D games. GPU Default 650MHz/900MHz StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1280 X 720 => 110.18FPS DEVIL MAY CRY4 1280 X 1024 => 94.33/81.35/120.46/67.27 fps FINAL FANTASY XIV 1920 X 1080 => 2051 GPU OC 745MHz/1133MHz StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1280 X 720 => 131.18FPS DEVIL MAY CRY4 1280 X 1024 => 113.98/99.90/145.02/79.52 fps FINAL FANTASY XIV 1920 X 1080 => 2420 The Radeon HD 5570 has good testing results with the games above, which operates very smoothly even if using the 1920 X 1200 screen resolution. But if users adjust the 3D effects too high, that might cause a little bit lag in some games, by this situation, users might need some higher grade VGA cards to work it out. For the lower-cost level VGA Card, the performance of “5570” is quite well among the 3D effects. Power Consumption GPU Default 650MHz/900MHz System Standby - 102W GPU Full speed - 151W

The main board I am using for testing is ASROCK 890GX Extreme3, the mean feature is the “True 333 function”, USB3.0 / SATA 3.0 & E-SATA 3 can be performed at x16 full speed. In the early stage, the ASROCK 890GX main board is one of the few models which can break out from the limitation of supporting multi-core CPU of the AMD SB850. South bridge chipset is AMD latest model SB850, which supports 6 x SATA3 devices, including RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 & RAID 5. The North Bridge chipset is AMD 890GX chipset, which is integrated with AMD Radeon HD 4290 VGA chipset. CPU is designed with V8 + 2 Phase, supports the highest 140W CPU which makes the stability of the entire system much better. Testing Platform CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition MB: ASROCK 890GX Extreme3 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMD4GX3M2B1600C7 VGA: ATI Radeon HD 5570 HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-128GBG2D POWER: be quiet! power4 DELUXE 530W Cooler: Thermaltake BigTyp14Pro OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit CPU: 222 X 18 => 3996MHz DRAM: 1776 CL8 8-8-24 1T GPU Default 650MHz/900MHz CINEBENCH R11.5 OpenGL => 36.95 fps CPU => 4.61 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.14 pts 3DMARK2006 => 8481 3DMark Vantage => P4453 CPU SCORE => 13443 GPU SCORE => 3641 GPU OC 745MHz/1133MHz CINEBENCH R11.5 OpenGL => 44.52 fps CPU => 4.59 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.15 pts