Above we spot a data encryption test runing CNG, AES, and CBC.

This data decompression test again comes from PCMark Vantage and examines the system for other issues such as potential in-game level loading times by adding some hard disk testing to the mix. It runs only two simultaneous threads which will bring the results a bit closer together.

But enough synthetic testing let's move onwards to game performance.

Synthetic benchmarking: 3DMark 06

Literally millions and millions of benchmark results have been submitted to Futuremark’s Online ResultBrowser database. It has become a point of great prestige to be the holder of the highest 3DMark score. A compelling, easy-to-use interface has made 3DMark very popular among game enthusiasts. Futuremark’s latest benchmark series, 3DMark03 up-to 3DMark06, continues this tradition by providing a Microsoft DirectX 9 benchmark.

The introduction of DirectX 9 and new hardware shader technologies puts a lot of power in the hands of game developers. Increasingly realistic 3D games will be available over the next year and a half. The use of 3D graphics will become more accessible to other applications areas and even operating systems.

Alright as you guys know, we also overclocked the processor towards 3.6 GHz, and the best software at this time related slightly to gaming that severely notices a faster processor is 3DMark06.

Now here's where the 6800 based system will get an upgrade to a X6800 processor (Core 2 Extreme). This is our baseline system for testing and we'll now compare it the the default setup 750i mainboard with Q6600 and then the results at 3.6 GHz.

It is very interesting to see that the way more expensive core 2 Extreme processor is performing roughly equal to the Q6600. And does 3Dmark06 like faster CPU clocks ? You betcha.