First off, a recap of the system that the tests will be run under:
E8400/ QX9650 //\\ Fuzion V2 Water Cooled
ASUS Maximus 2 Formula P45 //\\ Swiftech MCR320 tri rad
PC Power and Cooling 750quad //\\ Swiftech MCP655 pump
BFG GTX 280 1GB //\\ Danger Den DD-Tieton Water Cooled
2×2 GB Corsair Dominators Creative SupremeFX X-Fi

Windows XP SP3 //\\ Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Now lets dive into this picture crazed explanation of everything that is going on with the 2 different operating systems.

First off lets get the E8400 STOCK XP photos rolling:

Alright for now that should be good for the XP. No worries, for all you picture lovers I have plenty more! For now, we will start with these.

Now lets see the E8400 STOCK Win7 photos:

Tired of looking at pictures yet? Just be glad you did not have to take them all! I have a lot more pics with different tests, I think I will save them for something else or a different segment. Well, now that everyones eyes are burning from all those pictures lets talk numbers and what all we see there.

If you bothered to look at all those pictures and compare them with their counterpart from the opposite OS, you probably noticed the same thing I did.  Windows XP seems to have some higher scores over all in the world that is benching. However, Win7 does hold its own in a few benchmarks. So if you are a striving world overclocking champion or ‘Mr. I run stock benches’ you would most likely want to stay away from Windows 7. Now note I did not go into Windows 7 and dumb it down(nor did i do that in WinXP). By that i mean, go in and turn everything off that does not need to be run or turn off any extra gadgits or things of that nature. This is a stock Windows 7, everything you would see when you first install it is what I ran my benchmarks on. So maybe if you really care and want to get the most out of your benchmarks you could spend an extra 30 minutes or an hour cleaning out everything you do not want running. However, if you were going to do that then why even upgrade in the first place. Am I right? Well of course I am right!

Lets toss out a few examples of what I am talking about when I say WinXP, for the most part, is faster with the benchmarks than Win7.

Super PI 1M/32M

XP

Win7

Did you happen to see the Super PI results?  In the overclocking community, the standard program provides a benchmark for enthusiasts to compare world record pi calculation times. With Super PI running on WinXP I had times of 16.516s in the 1M calculation and 16 minutes 13.390s in the 32M calculation. When we take a gander at Win7 Super PI results which were 15.643s in 1M and 15m 38.845s in 32M. This seems to be the one anomaly in my testing. Super PI runs noticeably quicker, for the experienced benchmark person, in Win7 than in WinXP. Is it just my system or possible a lucky stretch where my CPU felt frisky? I am not sure but I ran the tests a couple times and took the lowest run on each just to be sure once i saw this outcome. I guess if my tests hold true all the Super PI guys should be installing Win7 right about now!

Now on the flip side, tests like 3dmark01, pcmark05, and the Gun Metal benchmark you can see that XP has taken the advantage with the higher scores.

3dMark01

XP

Win7

The 3dmark01 showdown proved WinXP to be the victor. WinXP beat Win7 by an impressive 14,552 points by scoring 59087 to Win7’s lonely 44535 mark. I was really shocked by this one and yes I had to run the tests again because I wanted to make sure and got pretty much the same numbers. Take note for all you 3dmark01 benchers this could be your answer to high scores! So chalk one up for WinXP.

PcMark05

XP

Win7

Now with the PCmark05 it was closer, but once again Win7 just barely edges out WinXP with scores of 9018 to 8843 respectively. This I would say could be called a tie since its only 175 point difference so either way nothing extremely eye popping about it.

Gun Metal Benchmark

XP

Win7

The Gun Metal Benchmark you can see for WinXP the FPS marks were Min. 46.44 Avg. 86.81 Max. 142.15 and Win7’s FPS marks were Min. 40.20 AVG. 50.95 Max. 71.57. I would call this a substantial increase especially if your system is just barely getting by in some games. With a higher minimum frame rate you will cut out the lag spikes that can hit when something intense comes across with the game you are playing. AVG frame rate is another part i consider important because this is mostly your running around doing whatever you want. If it is decently high you will enjoy a lag free environment and therefore better enjoy your game, but if your AVG frame rate is low then I am sure you will not be happy with how the game is playing on your system. Once again WinXP i would say impressively takes the lead on this test also.

Part 2 Conclusion:

To conclude what you have seen above, unless you are ‘that’ guy who jumps to the wrap up instead of reading. As you saw for the most part WinXP right now is ahead by, I would call it, a slight margin. Considering Win7 actually won a benchmark and a pretty important one to boot, I can not sit here and say right now that WinXP is dominating Win7. However, I can say from the looks of it, that it really depends on what you would like to do with your computer. If you are a benching guru or if you are a gaming guru you probably just took 2 different conclusions from this section. Right now I will say that WinXP does have a noticeable advantage in the gaming arena. That is something to keep in mind when choosing your operating system. Win7 does put up a decent, shall I say a better fight, when it comes to CPU benchmarks leaving the GFX stuff alone. This is another thing to keep in mind while considering what you want to do with your computer.

Part 3 Teaser

Part 3 will cover the E8400 overclocked in WinXP and Win7. I split it up from this one because there is a ton of pictures  already and did not want to bore you with them. So I chose to split them to make things a little more entertaining and not a chore to read. You can thank me later!

Also, a little news update. The QX9650 is in the mail today so I should have that Monday or Tuesday so I can start overclocking and benching that bad boy later in the week.

Cheers!

I want to explore just how dominant the QX9650 is over the dual core E8400. Does it come close to anything the QX can do? Would it justify the upgrade albeit the same 775 socket? Does the performance suffer if you upgrade to Windows 7 64bit operating system? If so, how much? Do you gain anything from the upgrade apart from just a shiny new GUI (graphical user interface) Is it even worth the money to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7? What are some nifty changes some users my not realize?

Well in my multi segment review, yes I said multi segment review, I will answer or at least try to answer every question above. Heck I may even answer stuff I didn’t even mean to or set out and to try to do. The reason for multiple segments is that there will be a lot of pictures and information that would put people to sleep in 1 read. So with knowing that I decided to make more than 1 and plus I can post as I go for the most part. That is what makes it all worth it and fun to boot. The unknown is out there and I am going to try and wrangle it, tie it down, kick a little dirt in its face and make it give me answers!

So with that said here is a list of my plans of action for this multi allotment review.

1) I will run benches and other tests at stock speeds (Win7 / XP).
2) I will run benches and other tests at overclocked speeds (Win7 / XP).
3) I will run benches and other tests with just the CPU overclocked and Just the GFX card overclocked so people can see what they add separately and see how important each is to the tests.
3) I will overclock the Nvidia 280 along the way and supply results and benches of its performance and see what all I can get out of the beast.
4) I will provide my best commentary and hopefully some well thought out repartee along the way
5) At the end of this I will hopefully be able to answer all the questions and come to some solid conclusions as to whats better or is the upgrade legit ect. ect.

Programs I plan on running: (the list is subject to change. I may add or subtract stuff along the way)

• PCMark05, 3DMark05, 3DMark06, 3DMark2001 SE
• Gun Metal Benchmark
• SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2009 ( Processor Arithmetic, Multi-Media, Multi-Core Efficiency, Power Management Efficiency, Cryptography, Video Rendering, GPU Processing, GPU Bandwidth)
• Aquamark3
• Wprime
• Cinebench R10
• Meta Bench
• Copying DVDs
• Super PI – 1M, 32M

I think I have enough programs to keep me busy and put out a nice overall review on everything.

Soooooo with all of that said lets check the system out that will be running the tests:

E8400/ QX9650   //\\ Fuzion V2 Water Cooled
ASUS Maximus 2 Formula P45 //\\ Swiftech MCR320 tri rad
PC Power and Cooling 750quad //\\ Swiftech MCP655 pump
BFG GTX 280 1GB //\\ Danger Den DD-Tieton Water Cooled
2×2 GB Corsair Dominators Creative SupremeFX X-Fi

Windows XP SP3 //\\ Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Keep checking back because I have already started benching the E8400 and I should be working on typing up part 2 in the next few days.

Cheers!

Moving on though because time is what I am trying to pass doing the fun stuff!

Real fast here is a SS of what I am up against.

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Hipro5 Is the current record holder as you can see. Maybe there is something with the climate in Greece to help him squeeze out that little bit extra for the world record. Who knows but i think the Texas heat will not be on my side today :/
Should I make a quick move to Greece to be on the same playing field, even though i still have water running through my system? We will never know because once again you, my fans, have not yet sent that check to me.

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So here we go! Picture of everything stock so lets see where that gets us.

OK so I ran the test stock to see what i had to work with. Well as you can see 15.688s is not really close to the world record of 6.360s.

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Now it is time to get serious and start ramping up the volts and see what Mr. Electricity can bring me!

I just went for 4GHz but the results are still not what I need to steal away the record from Mr. Hipro5 (finished in the 13s range)

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Here we go, restart enter BIOS with authority wanting to make a statement. Lets see what happens here.

Well, I guess you could call that a decent run at 11.6s. Once again still not the world record I am chasing.

Rinse, repeat, hitting that enter BIOS button like I own the world. I get in there I change some more settings and of course F10 save all and lets restart and see if it even boots up to let me make another run at the world record!

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Well, the joy of actually booting up was soon overcome with a feeling of ‘WHY?’ Why could this not be the one to take me over the top. Why am I stuck with this water cooling setup when i should have LN2 or at least Cascade cooling. Why are my fans not sponsoring my endeavors. I just don’t know but one day we could maybe it will happen. So start saving and lets let the money flow

Rinse, Repeat! Excitement is building i am pounding the buttons once again to get into BIOS. Yes, I said buttons. In all the excitement I lost track if it was F5 or F2 or F3 to get me back into where i need to dominate this world record. So I go for gold I crank the juice. I gave it all shes got captain! I made over volting my bitch! Who says the E8400 can’t handle 1.7v on water. Who said my ram could not handle 2.8v on air. Who said this would never work and is borderline crazy? I will tell you who said that, it was Mr. ASUS and of course Mr. Corsair. Because when i hit F10 save all and reset. What happened? Well, NOTHING! Just so happens that Mr. ASUS and Mr. Corsair laughed at me in front of all my friends, by friends I mean my 2 100 pound Labs sitting on my bed behind me. So they care if I get this record? I would like to think so!

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Once again after I get back in to BIOS after that massive fail. I change more settings I tweak a few more on top of that. The ideas are flowing of what to try and at last I hit F10 save all and it resets. The suspense is killing me! Will it even boot? Who knows. It teased me while i waited and thinking it was not going to boot. All the of the sudden I see the wonderful Windows XP logo. The butterflies start when I get to my desktop. ‘Quick quick go go run the test,’ I was screaming in my mind! This is what it gave me…

Well I have to say, the world record it was not! For this E8400 on water and nothing colder than the ambient temperature in my room, it was just simply too much to overcome! 10.781s was just not going to give me what I needed to beat the record. 4+ seconds behind the true leader and world record holder.

However I have to say that 4.320 GHz on this chip without having to redline the voltage was pretty impressive. I would have to say that, although I did lose the Super PI battle today I was extremely impressed with how far this chip did overclock. Who would of thought that this chip had it within itself to go that far? Not me, that is for sure.

So I give you props Mr. Hipro5 with your world record. Just know that my fans are staging my comeback and one day I will be there.