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HDD Test With Intel’s value SSD, X25-V 40GB The texture of the back casing would be much better if it were polished. HD Tune Pro 4.01 Benchmark Average 195.2 MB/s, Access Time 0.1ms CrystalDiskMark read at 190.3 Mb/s, write at 43.47 MB/s When the ATTO DISK Benchmark is tested at 128k and above, a highest read of 196 MB/s and write of 43 MB/s can be achieved. EVEREST Read Test Suite Randon Read 281.3 MB/s FDEBENCH Test achieved read at 187.2 Mb/s, write at 42.8 MB/s X25-V official specs are 170/35 MB/s; During the tests of the H55 chipset, most reached a standard of 190/40 MB/s or above. The greatest advantage of the Value model X25-V SSD is that the RAID 0 performance seems to have doubled, while the price remains about the same as buying a single X25-M 80GB. Overclock Efficiency Test CPU 180.5 X 21 => 3790.4MHz DDR3 1444 CL7 7-7-21 1T IGP 533MHz Hyper 2 X PI 32M=> 11m 11.456s CPUMARK 99=> 585 Nuclearus Multi Core => 13572 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 10.79/5179 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 134258 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 2.40 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.23 pts After overclocking, the CPU performance test was improved by about 20-30%, while only 1.212V were used. For the original heat sink, Dual Core with a 32nm CPU has a high overclocking ability. External viewing of 180MHZ or more requires an external VGA. Other H55 motherboards, used previously, had an internal IGP which could not be turned on if overclocking was set at 170-175MHz or more. The overclocking ability of the ECS H55H-1 is quite good. Heat Test System Wait Time - 37/41 Intel Burn Test v2.4 - 70/72 Stress Level Maximum When overclocking at 3790MHz with the original heat sink at full speed, it reached a temperature of around 72 degrees. Standby and full speed temperatures are around 5-10 degrees higher than if overclocking was not used.

CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 1.76 pts CPU(Single Core) => 0.91 pts PCMark Vantage => 7268 This performance is, of course, much more powerful than the commonly-seen LGA 775 Atom framework. Although the Intel G6950 is the most rudimentary of its kind, its new framework enjoys a high clock rate and L3 enhancement. In terms of CPU performance, it is also a little better than the Core 2 Duo platform used by most mid-tier ITXs. 3D Effects 3DMARK2006 => 1751 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 800 X 600 => 20.41FPS The G6950’s GPU clock rate is 533MHz, which is a little lower than the 733MHz of other 32nm Clarkdales. However, the G6950’s 3D performance is superior to the previous generation G4X series. Heat Test System Wait Time - 31/36 Intel Burn Test v2.4 - 57/59 Stress Level Maximum The bare machine reached nearly 60 degrees at full speed in a room temperature environment of 25 degrees. This temperature is considered reasonable. Power Consumption Test System Wait Time - 38W OCCT full speed - 73W Intel Burn Test v2.4, Stress Level Maximum Power consumption is a proud feature of the 32nm CPU. It only uses 73W when the CPU is at full speed. Hopefully we will see Intel using 32nm CPUs in its 4 cores soon. DRAM Bandwidth Performance DDR3 1064 CL6 6-6-18 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 9097MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 7614MB/s DDR3 1444 CL7 7-7-21 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 12742MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 10210MB/s The DDR3 performance of the Clarkdale platform was not as high as that of top-tier i5/i7 CPUs, because of the Clarkdale’s internal IGP. In terms of DRAM bandwidth, the Clarkdale performed slightly better than the same-brand LGA 775 and the competitor’s AM3. The voltage performance of the new framework is better than past platforms, with DDR3 voltage usually only needing around 1.5-1.7V.

BIOS Main Interface M.I.B II mainly serves as a page for adjusting the clock rate and voltage functions CPU.CPU VTT.DRAM Maximum added voltage of 0.63V DRAM options 800/1066/1333/1600 Since i3/i5CPU support is different, only DDR3 1066 or 1333 can be used. PC Health Status For an ITX motherboard, the BIOS options available on this ECS product are quite plentiful. All appropriate overclocking settings are available so that the user can adjust them at will. The overclocking ability won’t be weaker than a normal ATX/MATX H55. With the internal IGP, the CPU can still overclock to 180MHz and remain stable. Testing Platform CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core G6950 MB: ECS H55H-I DRAM: CORSAIR CMD8GX3M4A1600C8 VGA: Intel Clarkdale 533MHz HD: Intel X25-V 40GB POWER: be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER DELUXE 400W Cooler: Intel Cooler OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit CPU used Intel Pentium Dual Core G6950, the current most rudimentary 32nm CPU. Core is Clarkdale, clock rate is 2.80GHz, L2 2 x 256KB and L3 3MB Default Value Test CPU 133 X 21 => 2893.3MHz DDR3 1064 CL6 6-6-18 1T IGP 533MHz Hyper 2 X PI 32M=> 15m 02.414s CPUMARK 99=> 430 Nuclearus Multi Core => 10050 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 8.00/3840 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 108881

As a result of power-efficient, internet-capable motherboards, such as Atom and ION, coming onto the scene over the last one or two years, the computer market has changed so that internet PCs that save energy and conserve power are now quite common. Prices are also lower than the average PC, and are approaching those of notebooks. Numerous brands are releasing ITX motherboard products this year, which is driving the evolution of this technology. In the past, consumers who wished to purchase an ITX motherboard almost always needed to buy a brand-name PC with ITX specs. In addition, ITX motherboards are comparatively smaller. Most of the products are similar to notebooks in that there are no changeable settings in the BIOS. It seems that many motherboard manufacturers became more interested in the ITX market after DFI introduced the ITX P55. After I published the article on the ITX P55, certain consumers are more interested in the internal IGP H55 series. The main player this time is the mini-ITX H55 chipset product, the H55H-I released by ECS. It seems to me that I have bought several ECS products before, but that was many years ago during the K7 motherboard era. My friends and I bought and used their products because they were cheaper than other brands. Later it seemed ECS left Taiwan for a period of time, but you could still find news online that said that ECS was one of the top three motherboard manufacturers based on their product shipments. In the past year, ECS has wanted to re-enter the Taiwanese market. It is my hope that they will bring cheap but good-quality products to the market. First we looked at the product packaging. Since it is a product with mini-ITX specs, the packaging is more compact. It is blue and black in color and the design and feel of the package are not bad. Enclosed Accessories Product manual, quick installation guide, motherboard driver disc, IO partition plate and cables. ECS H55H-I The major part of the product uses solid state capacitors while other parts use electrolytic capacitors. Green PCB is not commonly seen in the consumer market. If it was changed to black PCB, I believe it would have a better feel. 1 X PCI-E X16, allows VGA installation to enhance 3D performance. Realtek ALC892 audio chip, which supports 8 channels and High Definition Audio technology 4 X orange SATAII, Intel H55 chipset, no RAID functions 24PIN power source input, red is Clear CMOS Jump 2 X DIMM DDR3, which supports 1066/1333, DDR3 capacity that can support up to 8GB IO 6 X USB 2.0 1 X eSATA 1 X S/PDIF Fiber optic / coaxial output 1 X RJ-45 LAN port 1 X D-SUB 1 X DVI 1 X HDMI LGA 1156 CPU installation base, three CPU power supplies Below the black heat sink is the H55 chip. The 4-PIN power source input port is to the top-left.

Relatively to more cores CPU products output, it is good news to the users who have more requirements for PC. In the initial stage of Hexa-Core CPU, Intel only launched Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, There’s no big different from Intel i7 965/975 Extreme on the pricing segment, all of them quoted at USD999. Frankly speaking, it will be a loading to users who want to upgrade their PC system but the budget is limited. On the other hand, dynastic changes faster is good for us, as we can pay few and get the best quality goods in the short time. It’s better to launch new Core i7-980X Extreme Edition at par, one way to get more competitive in the market, the other way can promote Hexa-Core CPU to be popular more and soon. Recently I just bought the introduction to Canon which is the best edition of ABC DSLR-550D last week Hopefully to introduce the best buy of Kiss X3 (500D) and the popular edition of ABC of machine 550D these two cameras to all of you soon.

3DMark Vantage CPU SCORE =>66464 To upgrade 980X EE to achieve 4.2GHz under 1.364 voltage, normally speaking, based on each CPU’s quality adjusts its voltage to make sure CPU running stable to compare OC with preserving frequency, it’s easy to upgrade 15~25% of the CPU performance. DRAM width frequency DDR3 1857.4 CL7 7-6-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 29607MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 18535MB/s DDR3 2005.2 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 32040MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 19790MB/s DDR3 2005 CL7 7-6-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 32771MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 20140MB/s Though the P55 of chip frame is same as X58, all are memory controller build inside in CPU, but dual channel performance of P55 is still hard to catch up triple channel performance of X58. Temperature behaves 39~49 under the system of stand-by OCCT full speed operation 75~88 Intel Burn Test v2.4, Stress Level Maximum Intel Burn Test is a kind of extreme burning software, the CPU loading is relatively high, there are 10 degrees different from select Stress Level High/Maximum these two styles, 980X EE is 6C/12T, what temperature displays as 4C/8T is pretty much the same, if CPU temperature can be reduced a little more, it will be more ideal state The power consumption testing The system of stand-by 319W CPU full speed operation 516W CPU FSB 220MHz Certainly the limit FSB of 980X EE is not only 200MHz, there are some space to upgrade its FSB, it can achieve better record if we add VTT voltage or no require to pass Hyper 12 X PI 32M. Actually 980X EE of FSB ability can beat i7 Quad-Core Due to the Hexa-Core i7-980X EE is made with 32nm processing, compares with the products of i7 920~975 Quad-Core 45nm processing. The performance of i7-980X EE is much better than expectation no matter on temperature, power consumption and efficiency of OC program.

NOVA SSD series with the graceful black tone to be its surface ATTO DISK Benchmark exceeds above 128k and can be played to read 266 MB/s at most while testing, writes into 200 MB/s CrystalDiskMark reads 248.4 Mb/s, writes into 168.4 MB/s In Intel low stage chip frame, almost north and south bridge unified into one, but X58 still follow old frame to divide north and south bridge, that’s why I highlight the wide frequently of 1CH10R when I do SSD full speed operation The OC efficiency frequently BIOS main page CPU Feature Voltage The focal point frequently lies in CPU VTT Voltage to draw high outside CPU DDR3 parameter is set up CPU 200.5 X 21 =>4210.7MHz DDR3 2005 CL8 8-8-24 1T Hyper 12 X PI 32M=> 13m 59.173s CPUMARK 99 =>660 CrystalMark 2004R3 =>320922 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU =>10.75 pts CPU(Single Core) =>1.47 pts PCMark Vantage =>20957

Preserve efficiency CPU 132.7 X 26 =>3449.6MHz DDR3 1857.4 CL7 7-6-24 1T Hyper 12 X PI 32M=> 16m 23.847s CPUMARK 99 =>541 CrystalMark 2004R3 =>275225 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU =>8.81 pts CPU(Single Core) =>1.21 pts PCMark Vantage =>18709 3DMark Vantage CPU SCORE =>58967 980X EE efficiency was mainly high to compared with CPU of past 4 Cores, thus, it’s easy to get high mark on above common test software. Especially Hyper-Threading turns into 6C/12T and Turbo Boost automatically upgrade its frequently, both of them are useful to improve the efficiency of CPU Temperature 30~37 under the system of stand-by OCCT full speed operation 52~62 Intel Burn Test v2.4, Stress Level Maximum Normally the temperature of each CPU Core is different and its OC performance is easy affected 980X EE only have 30 degree under stand-by status, 60 degree under full speed operation The power consumption testing 270W under the system of stand-by CPU full speed operation 363W SATA frequency wide testing of the south bridge ICH10R uses CORSAIR NOVA 128GB SSD

IO interface 4- WAY SLI bridge device. Exclusive ECP V2 panel Except that the large-scale heat pipe to dispel the heat, additional fan is necessary to enhance the heat convection for X58 The independent heat sink mould dispels the heat for Mosfet, 10 phase Digital designed for CPU of power supplier PSU I used ANTEC CP-1000, the special products designed, to afford enough power supply capacity under high load The special fan designed and volume which is similar as industrial required, but please noted that CP-1000 have to install in ANTEC of Case, there are 3 kind of case can be selected. Test platform CPU: Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition ES MB: EVGA X58 Classified 4-Way SLI DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG6GX3M3A2000C8 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX260 OC SLI 3WAY HD: CORSAIR NOVA V128 POWER: ANTEC CP-1000 Cooler: Thermaltake Frio OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit The radiator is Thermaltake of Frio Cooler. Personal impression on Thermaltake Cooler was the easy disassembly and assembly in the past, and it still has good efficiency The user can choose to install one or two fans, all have additional thread to control the rotational speed, m/while there are five pipes in the both sides bottom each

In the remembrance, the Core 2 Duo double-core processor was just announced by Intel at the Grand-Hotel in July 2006. After around a half-year later, Intel started Quad-Core era, which was following Core 2 Due structure to make Core 2 Quad CPU. After that, Intel launched Core i7 to enhance its performance with L3, HT and triple- channel functions in November 2008, even if Core i7 was based on Quad-core and simulated with Octa-core (eight-core) in use, but the market was still look forward to hearing from real Hexa-Core (six-core) CPU. After all, the real Hexa-Core CPU was released by Intel in March 16, 2010, meaning the generation was completed replaced by the era of Hexa-Core CPU. The first Hexa-Core CPU was named Core i7-980X Extreme Edition and the specs. is not only have Hyper-Threading, supports Turbo Boost, but supports un-locked frequency. The best frequency can reach to 3.6GHz. Moreover, the Entity of the Hexa-Core comes with Hyper-Threading technology, it can be up to 12-threading, abbreviated as 6C/12T, 32 nm processing, with 12MB of L3 cache. Above all, the Hexa-Core CPU shows the best standards at present. Hereinafter referred to as 980X EE, 980X EE belongs to LGA 1366-pin family, which supports X58 chipsets, and there’s no difference from the Non-Hexa-Core i7 on the surface. Difference with past Core i7 edition from the back of Core i7-980X EE Enclosed inside Cooler is the different from the past edition. There are 4 copper pipes in the bottom in addition to enhance spreading the heat. As regards Mother Board segment, EVGA is very popular in USA and Europe portion recently, X58 4 Classified - Way SLI is the highest version in their product line, EVGA should put out edition of USB3/SATA3 in the future. The tone of black and red match pretty well and quite showy 7 X PCIe X16/X8 is greatest selling point in this kind of X58, to build NF200 chip inside to support supreme SLI 4 - WAY display cards too The black heat sink is the south bridge ICH10R inside There are 8 SATAII device inside for expanding Triple channel is particular in X58, there are 2 kits DIMM altogether can be expanded to DDR3 24GB capacity at most Use three phases power supply to strengthen DDR3 stability LGA 1366 CPU

StreetFighter IV Benchmark 800 X 600 => 34.31FPS The clock of Clarkdale GPU from 700Mhz to 933Mhz is to be some help on 3D performance. As for test results from previous two software, 3D performance leaves about 20% to be desired. But if you still need more 3D performance, I recommend that buying VGA to upgrade your system is a better choice. Temperature Test: System standby: - 38/33 OCCT full loading: - 68/62 In the test what I install is OEM cooler, and the above temperature values are low. If you install a higher-level cooler, the result which is less 10℃ ~ 20℃ than the above temperature values may appear. Power Consumption Test: System standby: - 63W OCCT full loading: - 105W Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level High If you don’t install VGA or too many other computer peripherals, the power consumption of 32nm-Clarkdale normally doesn’t exceed 100W. Although overclocking results in a bit more power consumption, the range observed from the test is not high. DDR3 Bandwidth Test: DRAM DDR3 1337.6 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 11169 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 8746 MB/s DDR3 1802.6 CL11 11-11-30 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 14851 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 11310 MB/s DRAM DDR3 1602 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 15509 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 12131 MB/s As far as DDR3 bandwidth is concerned, Clarkdale platform doesn’t show better performance than 45nm Core i5/i7. However compared with LAG 775 and AMD’s two platforms, Clarkdale is still better. And about voltage, Clarkdale is better than the previous platforms; DDR3 1800 can run steadily under only 1.60V. After the test of CORSAIR’s introductory DDR3 product, I find it has nice overclocking ability. With the limit no more than 1.308V, CPU still can be overclocked to 4.2GHz with OEM cooler. Hyper 4 X PI 1M=> 16.109s CPUMARK 99=> 647 Intel Core i3-530 CPU has very high C/P, and its performance, temperature, and power consumption are satisfactory. Especially overclocking, the clock raised to about 4GHz need not too high voltage and higher-level cooler. The process technology of 32nm makes Intel CPU products more competitive. I sincerely hope Intel releases quad-core CPU with 32nm soon. Most prices of H55 MB are about NT$3500 ~ 4200 (about US$110 ~ 113). If MB manufacturers can lower prices 10% ~ 20%, I believe H55 MB will be more popular and universal. BIOSTAR products mainly focus on parity and overclocking. This time the price of BIOSTAR H55 is also friendly, deserving much praise. Intel releases the latest structure IGP platform in 2010, and releases a series of many product lines so that consumers have more choices. At present the prices of H57 chipset and high-level i5 CPU are too high, but H55 and introductory Pentium G6950 or Core i3 530 still have very high C/P. After the appearance of Intel Clarkdale platform, one condition has changed in Micro ATX PC market for a few years: in the past if consumers wanted to choose IGP with higher 3D performance, they usually intended to choose AMD platforms. But now in 2010 Intel begins to focus more on this market, and also has excellent competitiveness. Besides some products I use in this test, you can buy HDD and case so as to build a nice small PC machine. Every consumer of course has his or her favourite brand or budget concerned, so building a PC can be adjustable according to marketing sale. Finally I hope this article can be a good reference to this kind of product information. Thank you!

OCCT full loading: - 82W Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level High With 32nm new technology, Intel has an advantageous position in the aspect of power consumption. After overclocking, power consumption is 39W under stand by, and only 82W under full loading. Clarkdale structure’s low power consumption is satisfactory. Overclocking Performance Test: CPU 180.3 X 22 => 3966MHz DDR3 1802.6 CL11 11-11-30 1T VGA 945MHz BIOS Setup Utility: BIOSTAR H55 HD, like other mid-level H55 products, also has many options for user to overclock. However, as an introductory product, the range of voltage is not wide, 3~6 levels at most. But the product still shows great overclocking performance, in any case. CORSAIR DDR3 also has good performance with overclocking, and the setting 1.60V can run 1800 CL11 steadily. Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 16m 10.000s CPUMARK 99=> 612 Nuclearus Multi Core => 15424 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 15.02/7207 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 169052 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 5448 x CPU=> 12447 PCMark Vantage => 7307 After CPU and GPU are overclocked, we can observe from previous software that performance improve 30% ~ 50%. Furthermore, with OEM Cooler, 3966Mhz can also be steady under 1.212V; 32nm-CPU also shows excellent overclocking ability. 3DMARK2006 => 2170

Default Performance: CPU 133.8 X 22 => 2942.9MHz DRAM DDR3 1337.6 CL8 8-8-24 1T GPU 733MHz 128mb Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 20m 12.640s CPUMARK 99=> 452 Nuclearus Multi Core => 10881 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 11.18/5367 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 128706 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 3982 x CPU=> 9236 PCMark Vantage => 5541 The platform based upon Core i3 530 basically has great performance, so it can easily deal with most software making CPU high loading. It also has excellent performance to deal with HD 1080P films or file converting. 3DMARK2006 => 1751 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 800 X 600 => 27.80FPS 3D performance of Intel Clarkdale structure has been almost the same as that of 785G. Intel Clarkdale can easily deal with many introductory 3D games. 3D requirement of StreetFighter IV is more than mid-level, and the software can run nearly smoothly. As far as built-in GPU standard is concerned, 3D performance is good. To those who prefer small PC machine, they can consider buying Intel’s new structure if needing higher-performance 3D platform. Temperature Test: System standby: - 24/26 OCCT full loading: - 55/52 After all, the default clock of the dual-core CPU is near 3GHz, and the temperature is quite low with OEM thin Cooler. And, the temperature is also acceptable even if CPU is full loading. Power Consumption Test: System standby: -39W

In the past as far as built-in GPU platforms were concerned, Intel usually used “G Series” to name its products. G45 or G41 as Intel’s main chipset were commonly seen in the market in the last generation. At the beginning of 2010, Intel released new “All in one PC” structure, and firstly introduced the new technology that GPU was directly built in the CPU. Moreover, Intel improved its CPU to 32nm process, and also released a series of CPUs that support the platform. At present, there are 6 CPUs in the market: low-level Pentium G6950; mid-level Core i3 530/540; and high-level Core i5 650/660/661/670. As to MB chipset, Intel released H55/H57 to support new CPU design, and the main difference was with and without RAID function. Therefore, this time I am going to build a Micro ATX PC based upon Intel’s new structure. As to CPU: I choose Intel Core i3 530, with 73W and the latest 32nm process. The code name is Clarkdale, with clock 2.93GHz, L2 2 x 256KB and L3 4MB. The price was about USD about 120. The OEM coolers of Clarkdale series are all non-copper bottom design, so I infer that copper bottom is not definitely necessary for dual-core CPU with 32nm. The main difference between Core i3 530 and Pentium G6950 is that the former supports HT technology; higher-level Clarkdale i5 also supports TurboBoost auto-overclocking technology. As to DRAM: I choose American brand CORSAIR TWIN3X4G-1333C9A. Its capacity is 2GB X 2, and the clock 1333 CL9 9-9-24 1.50V. The price is about USD about 75. CORSAIR has unique DDR3 heat sink, and the appearance and quality are also good. As to MB: I use H55 chipset—BIOSTAR H55 HD, with higher C/P. There are no whole solid capacitors, no USB3, and no sumptuous material on this mothboard, but the price of the product is the lowest in H55 market, about USD 57. BIOSTAR has another TH55B HD, with 4 DIMM DDR3 and high C/P, and the price is only USD 90. Recently BIOSTAR seems to like using red as material colour, making products more impressive. If this H55 MB can adopt Japanese electrolytic capacitors, I think this product can be more perfect. As to Power Supply: Judging from Intel’s latest 32nm platform, because of built-in GPU, I observe the power consumption of the whole system is low. Antec’s latest Neo ECO 400W is chosen, so the power supply will be enough to add VGA card higher than mid-level. The price is about USD about 55. The power supply uses Japanese high-performance capacitors and quiet 12-centimetre fan with 2 Ball Bearing; this product is also 80 PLUS certified. Test Platform: CPU: Intel Core i3 530 ES MB: BIOSTAR H55 HD DRAM: CORSAIR TWIN3X4G-1333C9A VGA: Intel Clarkdale 733MHz HD: WD 6400AAKS 640GB POWER: Antec Neo ECO 400W Cooler: Intel OEM Cooler OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit

HD Tune Pro 4.01 Benchmark Average 170.1 MB/s Access Time 0.2ms HD Tune Pro 4.01 Random Access 1MB 201.404 MB/s AAM 0.1ms EVEREST Linear Read Ave. 213.3 MB/s and the max is 224.7 MB/s FDEBENCH Read is 214.9 Mb/s and Write is 177.1 MB/s ATTO DISK Benchmark above 128k benchmark can reach max reading 231.9 Mb/s and writing 185.9 MB/s CrystalDiskMark Read is 220.0 Mb/s and Write is 178.6 MB/s NoteBook transfer rate is not as fast as PC, but the difference is not big. Most benchmark can reach read 210~220 MB/s and write 177~178 MB/s Comparing to current 2.5” HDD, 5400/7200rpm transfer rate is around 60~90 MB/s. SSD really improve NoteBook transfer performance. It also makes system shorten the waiting time. For the power, I previous review used Battery Eater Pro V2.70 to test the standby time, SSD would have 15 more minutes. But after that, I just realized this benchmark software is for CPU full speed and 3D. According to my friend, since he changed to SSD, the standby time increase around 30 minutes. I think SSD power saving feature is also attractive for NoteBook users. The potential SSD buyers are most using NoteBook. Even though SSD price is higher, but the higher performance, lower power consumption and anti-shock ability are still very attractive. Many of my friends are considering to move to SSD for their NoteBook. For PC platform, 3.5” capacity is higher and performance is better than 2.5” HDD. PC platform also doesn’t concern the shock issue as it’s not moving often. That’s why SSD is less attractive for PC users. Some enthusiasts still buy SSD to make RAID to enhance their PC performance. CPRSAIR P128 SSD owns very high data transfer rate and uses pure SAMSUNG MLC Chips. Currently, CORSAIR also launches most hi-end Force series SSD. The read/write performance is 295/285 MB/s. Force series must be the fastest MLC SSD product. Of course, the price will be higher than P128. I am still looking forward for lower price SSD. It makes SSD be more affordable. This high performance SSD storage can benefit more users if it becomes more popular in the future. Recently, I bought some headset. SONY MDR-DS7100 headset is one of them. Finally, I still would like to Thanks for referring my article.

System performance HD Tune Pro 4.01 Benchmark Average 199.6 MB/s Access Time 0.1ms EVEREST Linear Read Ave. 235.9 MB/s and max is 247.9 MB/s HD Tune Pro 4.01 AAM 0.1ms ATTO DISK Benchmark above 128k benchmark can reach max reading 233 MB/s and writing 181 MB/s EVEREST Read Test Suite Randon Read 248.1 MB/s CrystalDiskMark Read is 236.7 Mb/s and Write is 180.1 MB/s FDEBENCH Read is 222 Mb/s and Write is 181 MB/s P128 internal is 8 channel design and writing performance is 180 MB/s. The reading performance in most benchmark is around 220 MB/s. P128 read/write benchmark is almost same as official spec. The seek time is only 0.1ms. It’s exclusive high performance by SSD and the seeking speed enhance the data search time. PC with P128 RAID 0 HD Tune Pro 4.01 Benchmark Average 414.7 MB/s Access Time 0.1ms EVEREST Linear Read Ave. 451.9 MB/s and max is 498.5 MB/s HD Tune Pro 4.01 AAM 0.1ms ATTO DISK Benchmark above 128k benchmark can reach max reading 422.2 Mb/s and writing is 384.3 MB/s EVEREST Read Test Suite Randon Read 426.0 MB/s CrystalDiskMark Read is 429.3 Mb/s and Write is 369.0 MB/s FDEBENCH Read is 396.8 Mb/s and Write is 363.1 MB/s Using MB built-in chipset, some condition cannot reach double performance in RAID0 as its theory. For P55 single chipset, its SB performance is quite good. Most benchmark reach x2 performance. P55 compares to X58 IC10R, the RAID transfer performance are almost the same. However, users need to fine tune some P55 BIOS to achieve the high performance. NoteBook I use DELL Latitude E series and the SB is ICH9M

New storage device, I believe most people will think of SSD first. SSD full name is Solid-State Drive. SSD is very popular in the past 2 years. It also breaks the performance barrier for NoteBook. Most SSD key features are light, power saving, higher performance and secure data protection. However, SSD price is much higher and less capacity than traditional HDD. I still remember that before 1H 2009, SSD focused on performance and capacity improvement. But the price was not big change. Mainstream 64GB SSD price was around 200USD. Also, the MLC performance was reading at 200~220 MB/s and writing at 150~180 MB/s. Recently, I saw some non-SAMSUNG SSD controller can enhance MLC performance. USA famous Memory manufacturer, CORSAIR, also announced many SSD products these 2 years. So far you can find 6 models CORSAIR SSD and the capacity are from 32 to 512GB. Also, there are Performance/Force/Reactor/Nova/Extreme/Legacy series for users to choose. This time I got is CMFSSD-128GBG2D. It belongs to Performance series and 128GB. 2 years warranty. CORSAIR P128 SSD packing It’s 2.5 inches. Product ID is P128. 2 years warranty. Official spec is 220/180 MB/s Built-in 128MB DRAM as buffer cache. The key differences between P128 and P64 are capacity and slower writing speed as 64GB spec is 220/120 MB/s. Metal case with hairline brushed finish. It makes look and texture being better. Official data shows the weight is 80g which is lighter than 2.5” HDD. Backside with SAMSUNG warranty sticker SATA connector supports SATAII and compatible with PC and NB. Weight by electronic scale/ CORSAIR CMFSSD-128GBG2D is 73g TOSHIBA 120GB 5400rpm is 112g Most 2.5” HDD are around 100~115g. It means the traditional HDD is heaver than P128 SSD around 51~57%. Someone think it’s just 27~39g lighter. However, for NoteBook users, you still can feel the weight difference. At least, my most using NoteBook are around 1.0~1.4kg. After changing to SSD, I can feel the NoteBook become lighter. PC platform is using GIGABYTE P55A-UD7. Last time, I used X58 and ICH10R to test. This time I change to latest P55 to test the performance. P55A-UD7 supports 3Way-SLI.USB 3.0 and latest SATA3.0 Configuration CPU: Intel Core i7-870 MB: GIGABYTE P55A-UD7 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG6GX3M3A2000C8 VGA: MSI N9600GT Diamond HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-128GBG2D POWER: be quiet E7 Cable Management 480W Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit

While OCCT was operating at full speed, 12V was around 11.92~11.93V; 0,20V lower than it was in standby mode. With the application of the multimeter, the voltage fluctuation of 5V at full speed was only 0.02V and 12V was only 0.20V. Both of these two values were much better than those measured by M/B in OCCT operation. Though the fluctuation rate of 12V in OCCT operation was 3.6%, it was actually only 1.60% measured by multimeter, apparently a lot better. Conclusion: Advantages: 1, the color box of Straight Power E7’s latest version is a lot more attractive 2, special case coating and fan guard design 3, 80Plus Bronze certified; equipped with APFC circuit 4, all capacitors are Japanese, and noise level is only 17dBA 5, 5-year warranty, free to exchange for a new one within 540days if malfunction happens, and free NG PSU collection and delivery within 3 years. Disadvantages: 1, the fluctuation range of 12V still leaves room for improvement 2, it would be better if 12V is changed into single rail Efficiency ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Material ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Spec. ★★★★★★★★★☆ Appearance ★★★★★★★★★☆ C/P ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Upon my first glance at Straight Power E7, I could tell it was quite a special product. Its appearance and fan design both greatly differentiate it from other ordinary looking power supplies. Also, in other points you could also see how hard be quiet! has tried to differentiate it from other PSU, such as the external fan connectors that allows more silence for the system, honeycomb ventilation holes on both sides of the case, scratch-proof case, and the rounding of case sharp corners that could prevent users from being hurt, etc. During the system test, E7 CM 680W was very quiet in both standby and full-speed modes; hardly could you hear any noise. The temperature measured from its surface was around 45~50℃. The stability of 3.3V & 5V is relatively higher than that of 12V. Though after voltage fluctuation of 12V was more accurately measured by a multimeter, the fluctuation rate was proved 50% less than that measured by M/B, still there is room for improvement of 12V’s stability. The market price range of be quiet! Straight Power E7 680W is around 5990NTD, roughly equal to 186USD, making it neither an expensive nor an inexpensive PSU on the market. Though the quality is good and the materials used are of high quality, personally, I think if the price could be lowered a bit, it would be even better. At least, a lowered price would allow end users who are interested in this product more possibility to purchase this product. : )

Active PFC - 0.99~1.00 The measurement data outputted by Power Angel is only for reference, since its accuracy level is not that high. Though 3WAY SLI couldn’t be applied to reach an utmost 3D efficiency and hence put the system under a full loading condition during the test, still, I got an utmost consumption value, 727W, from this test, which could also be considered as a middle/high loading test for 680W. OCCT test result CPU temperature fluctuation System temperature fluctuation CPU voltage fluctuation While in standby mode, it was around 1.38V; during full-speed operation, it was around 1.38~1.41V. The fluctuation range of CPU’s voltage is majorly related to the voltage characteristic of M/B. 3.3V The utmost value measured was 3.34V; the fluctuation majorly lied in the range of 3.28~3.3V. The fluctuation rate was around 1.80%. 3.3V 5V It was around 4.95~5.03V. The fluctuation rate was around 1.59%. 12V The utmost value measured was 12.48V, majorly covering the rage of 12.03~12.10V. The fluctuation rate was around 3.6%. The voltage fluctuation rates of Straight Power E7 680W’s 3.3V & 12V were both under 1.8%, which is considered quite a satisfying number. The fluctuation of 12V started to become less stable after OCCT operated over 10 minutes. The rate was around 3.6%, a larger fluctuation rate than any other voltages tested. However, this fluctuation rate still lied inside the range of +-5% required by Intel. Also, the voltage measured for 12V was not actually the real voltage value. Here, we used a multimeter for a more accurate result. While in standby mode, 5Vwas around 5.07V, still a bit higher than that measured by M/B. While OCCT was operating at full-speed, 5V was around 5.07~5.0V, making almost no difference from that measured in standby mode. While in standby mode, 12 was around 12.13V, a bit lower than 12.43V measured by M/B.

Spec of Straight Power E7 CM 680W; Model Name: BQT E7-CM-680W +12V*4, with a combined current of 52A and a combined output wattage of 624W Silient Wings, a FDB fan designed by be quiet!, is also specially integrated into E7 series. The M/B used in this test is GIGABYTE P55A-UD5, a middle-high spec among LGA 1156 sockets. Through my recent experience, I found out when LGA 1156 was under overclocking mode, it would demand quite a high consumption of +12V. UD5 is integrated with USB3.0 and the latest MB technology. Test Platform CPU: Intel Core i7-870 MB: GIGABYTE P55A-UD5 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG4GX3M2A2000C8 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX260 OC SLI HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-128GBG2D RAID0 POWER: be quiet! Straight Power E7 CM 680W Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit OS system defaults CPU 200 X 20 => 4000Mhz DARM DDR3 2000 CL8 8-8-24 1T OCCT V3.1.0 POWER SUPPLY mode, Shader Complexity 8 What above is the test platform used in this test. In order to display the status of power consumption during the test, the consumption data would be obtained from the measurement made by “Power Angle”. Upon entering the desktop screen of OS system- 225~226W Active PFC - 0.97~0.98 The test items for the Power Supply in OCCT i7-870 OC 4GHz, a 4-core CPU with simulated full-loading 4-core HT and a physical speeding up from GTX260 - 681~727W。 Running power supply test item in OCCT i7-870 OC 4GHz, quad physical cores and quad HT virtual cores run in full speed plus GTX260 SLI 2WAY and GTX260 PhysX - 681~727W

be quiet! has made 2 revisions out of its own product line for the past 6 months, respectively upgrading Straight Power Series into “Deluxe” version (coded as E6/non CM), and upgrading Straight Power Series recently into CM version (coded as E7). Therefore, you’ll find E6 and E7 versions of Straight Power series on the market. The major difference between these two versions is whether it has CM or not. be quiet! Straight Power E7 CM (Cable Management) has 3 wattages for you to choose from, 480, 580 and 680W. This wattage range covers the wattage commonly required by most of the users. In addition, all of them are 80Plus Bronze certified. The efficiency test result of E7 680W’s 20/50/100% loading listed in 80Plus website is 85.84/86.86/83.05% respectively. The test result looks quite satisfying. 80+ Bronze could be considered as an index of middle-high level power supplies. Here is our start - Straight Power E7 CM 680W There is no jaguar image as be quiet! usually would put on their color box this time. Through the simpler color combination, the color box looks of even more quality. Accessories Multi-language User Manual, CM Cable Kit, Cable Tie, Screws, Power Cord Straight Power E7 680W Dimensions 160mm X 150mm X 86mm The case is coated in titanium gray, making it quite different from black cases commonly seen. The sand texture surface of the case is finger-print proof and the appearance of the heat sink is also a great feature of the product. CM Cables 1 X 12V P8 2 X 6 Pin VGA 2 X 6+2 Pin VGA 8 X HDD 7 X SATA 2 X FDD Connectors from inside of E7 680W 1 X 24/20 Pin 1 X 12V P4 2 X Fan connectors 12cm FDB fan with black symmetric grill-like fan guard is adopted into this series. The fan guard does look like BBQ grill, ……anyway, quite a special design. E7 series is integrated with a FDB fan, developed by be quiet!, which has a MTBF of 300,000 Hrs and a super low noise level down to 17dBA. The rear end of the PSU is equipped with the commonly seen ventilation holes in honeycomb shape. Active PFC, applicable in 110~240Vac CM connection sockets A sticker is pasted stating the name/function of each socket so that end users could avoid mistaken connections. There are also 3 rows of ventilations holes beneath for enhancing overall cooling mechanism.

AMD platform is high C/P value in the market and also for budget concerned users. Also, X2/X3 CPU is cheaper and probably able to enable extra cores and L3 cache to enhance performance. This is another selling point. X4 product is mid end CPU line. It’s also can be considered by higher budget users. If it plus 785G products, most MB brands provide fair price products. For All in one, AMD CPU and MB are the most cost effective one. This article is focus on AMD mid-end products. The products here are not the cheapest one, but the good quality and performance. If you have the same demand, you can refer to this review configuration. If the budget is lower or have favorite brands, you also can pick up your own combination. AMD CPU performance is still 10-20% behind the competitor. However, their price control policy is quite well. Most AMD CPU is for entry and mid-end market. It does attract many users who concern about C/P value. In the future, AMD will launch 890GX. I hope the performance can be even better. AMD 45nm CPU yield rate can be improved to achieve 4G in lower voltage. It will help AMD to gain more market share in 2010. These continuous AMD Athlon II Unlock Core and Phenom II X4 reviews are for AMD fans. Wish all of you can find your perfect match system this year.

CINEBENCH R11.5 OpenGL => 5.08 fps CPU => 4.57 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.17 pts PCMark Vantage => 6141 DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-20 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 9177 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 13340 MB/s Pulling CPU clock from 2600MHz to 3900MHZ, you can see CPU performance increases 40~50%. CPU C2 version in 1.4~1.45V can reach around 3.75GHz. C3 version makes CPU clock be higher.。 AMD C3 version is not popular in the market now. I do hope it can be more and more popular. I think it’s also can enhance their core competition ability. 3DMARK2006 => 2209 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 800 X 600 => 33.55 FPS Biohazard5 Benchmark 800 X 600 => 14.4 fps Call of Juarez 1024 X 768 => Avg 21.1 Pulling IGP clock from 500MHz to 770MHz, the 3D performance is even higher. StreetFighter IV Benchmark almost reaches 30FPS. Call of Juarez 3D performance is doubled after OC. As my personal experience, 785G IGP at least can achieve 700~750MHz. Power Consumption Standby - 83W OCCT Full Speed - 226W POWER SUPPLY mode，Shader Complexity 8 After OC, the standby consumption is similar. However, it’s 75W difference in full speed. The main reason is CPU and IGP all OC over 50%. It really increases the power. Using be quiet! 350W Power Supply is enough. You even can use high end VGA card with this PSU. Phenom II X4 910e OC to 4GHz is stable. The voltage is 1.504V Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 18m 55.588s CPUMARK 99=> 549 Previous AMD CPU C2 stepping needs 1.52~1.6V to achieve 4GHz. Also, there are still many C2 cannot reach 4G even with higher voltage. However, I think AMD still can improve their manufacturing to lower voltage to 1.4~1.45V.

PCMark Vantage => 5514 DDR3 1339.2 CL9 9-9-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 7915 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 12019 MB/s Due to use Phenom II X4 CPU, the multi-core benchmark is good. This AMD platform is capable for graphic design, file transformation, multimedia and multi-tasking. 3DMARK2006 => 1687 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 800 X 600 => 24.37FPS Biohazard5 Benchmark 800 X 600 => 10.4 fps Call of Juarez 1024 X 768 => Avg 11.5 AMD 785G is almost the best performance IGP chipset in the market. For mid to high end 3D Game, it’s still far away for smooth running. But for entry 3D Game or software, 785G is enough. Power Consumption Standby - 69W OCCT Full Speed - 141W POWER SUPPLY mode，Shader Complexity 8 The whole system power consumption is very good, especially for quad core CPU plus 785G. It is good performance and green. I hope AMD can launch more low voltage and power CPU. OC Performance CPU 300 X 13 => 3900MHz DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-20 1T VGA 770MHz Nuclearus Multi Core => 17145 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 19.64/9426 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 193687 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU => 4506 x CPU => 16379

Cooler Thermaltake contac 29 price is 990NTD, around 31USD. Three cooper thermal pipes, the trouble is AM3 installation direction is not so good. If you don’t OC over 3.4GHz, the original cooler is acceptable. 3.5 HDD product is only 2 brands in the market now. User can choose that by the capacity and own favorite. HDD is not the key concerned part for building new PC. Also, 785G BIOS OC guide is complete in last review. If you need it, please check it out. Test Configuration CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 910e MB: GIGABYTE GA-785GMT-USB3 DRAM: CORSAIR XMS3 TR3X6G1600C8 VGA: ATI Radeon HD 4200 HD: WD 6400AAKS 640GB POWER: be quiet! power4 350W Cooler: Thermaltake contac 29 OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit AMD exclusive software-OverDrive Utility. You can see all system information. Diagram shows user configuration. System Information shows voltage, temperature, fan speed and chipset clock. Default System Performance CPU 200.9 X 13 => 2611.6MHz DDR3 1339.2 CL9 9-9-24 1T VGA 500MHz Nuclearus Multi Core => 10989 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 13.40/6431 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 140677 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU => 3062 x CPU => 11265 CINEBENCH R11.5 OpenGL => 3.51 fps CPU => 3.13 pts CPU(Single Core) => 0.79 pts