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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 15? 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

The Radeon HD 5XX0 series is the latest generation of all ATI’s product lines, the main features of which are using more 3D technology and more advanced process of the chips. Plus, the product roadmaps of ATI and AMD are quite similar. The products are all built either with higher C/P rates or with variety of choices for users to make the purchase by their budget easily. There are several kinds of product lines on the PC market: 5900 / 5800 / 5700 / 5600 / 5500 / 5400, which brought ATI new series VGA card a very good comment from the market. I once shared an article about ATI Radeon HD “4670” at the end of 2008, and it turned out that based on the C/P rate, the model was very popular on the market. We can see that from the pricing and position of the product, the new generation ATI Radeon “5570” looks like the previous one “4670”, and also seems “5570” is going to take over the lower cost level of VGA from “4670”. The particulars of the “5570” are including supporting updated Direct X 11, ATI Eyefinity multi-screen technology and ATI Stream technology. First, let’s take a look at the externals of ATI Radeon HD 5570, which is built with a smaller short-card design, means which can be modified with low-profile short bracket, then put into smaller size PC to increase the 3D performance, although one D-Sub connector could be missing. From the rear, we can see that there is a metal bracket to hold the heat-spreader on the front side by 4 screws on the rear. Built-in GDDR3, there are total 8 pcs. of Samsung memory chips on the both sides of the PCB. Frequency is 900Mhz, means it should be DDR3 / 1800. The total capacity is 1024MB, it should be enough to support most of the usage in any kinds of conditions. The heat-spreader is so quite during the operation, no noises, copper made looks very pretty. From the left side, we can see all components “5570” is using, and also with the very dense circuit design. ATI has a very good standard in using the materials & components from the generic PCB design. Since AND & ATI were combined several years ago, we can find AMD brand name on ATI products nowadays. “5570” has built-in D-SUB, DVI & HDMI three different kinds of output connectors. We can see the ATI “5570” chipset is MADE IN TAIWAN after we removed the heat-spreader. The heat-spreader is designed with a large copper base to use for heat spreading, and the quality of the thermal paste also looks very good.

System Temp. Fluctuation CPU Voltage Fluctuation While it’s in standby mode, the voltage stays at around 1.38V, and while the CPU is running at full speed, it stays between 1.36~1.37V. The voltage fluctuation range of CPU is majorly dominated by the voltage features of M/B. 3.3V The highest point measured is 3.26V and during the test, it majorly fluctuates between 3.20~3.22V, making the fluctuation ratio around 1.84%. 5V Falling at the range of 4.93~4.99V; the fluctuation ratio is around 1.20% 12V The highest point measured is 11.92V and during the test, it majorly fluctuates between 11.19~11.43V, making the fluctuation ratio around 6.12%. According to the test data released in 80Plus website (at 115V): The power conversion efficiency of E7 600W is 83.01% and in 80Plus website, it shows that the actual power converted from 720.20W is 597.86W. During my test, the peak wattage, 811W, was converted into an effective power of 673.21W (at least 12% higher than the nominal wattage, 600W). The fluctuation rates of Straight Power E7 600W respectively at 3.3V and 12V are both around 1.9%, making it quite a good performance. 12Vstarts to fluctuate violently after OCCT starts to run at full speed. The fluctuation rate is roughly around 6.12%. In overloading situation, 12V fluctuated bigger. The items here are measured by a more accurate meter. In standby mode: 5V is measured at 5.06V, higher than the 4.99V measured by the M/B. OCCT running at full speed: When the voltage range is around 5.12V and OCCT is running at full speed, the voltage measured is higher than those measured in standby mode. In standby mode: 12V is measured as 11.96V, which is a bit higher than the 11.92V measured by M/B. OCCT running at full speed: When the voltage is around 11.67V and OCCT is running at full speed, the voltage measured is 0.29V lower than that measured in standby mode. Here is the status of 12V when the system is running at full loading When the system loading is at 600~700W, the voltage displayed by Power Angle is 11.72~11.75V, when the loading is at 700~800W, the voltage displayed is 11.70~11.72V and when the loading is above 800W, the voltage displayed is 11.67~11.70V. Based on the data mentioned above, we could realize the 12V performance of E7 600W is still quite stable. The performance of 5V & 12V are much better than the fluctuation result measured by OCCT along with M/B. It’s particularly clear while the fluctuation rate of 12V in OCCT is 6.12%, the rate measured by meter is only 2.42%. Conclusion: Advantages 1. Artistic color box design of the new E7 version of Straight Power 2. Unique case coating and fan guard design 3. Certified by 80Plus Bronze & Active PFC 4. 100% Japanese capacitors & SilentWings FDB Fan integrated (only 17dBA) 5. 5-year guarantee provided, brand new PSU replacement for RMA within540 days, free RMA receiving/delivery for RMA within 3 years Disadvantages 1. It would be much better if PCI-E 6 pin could be extended to 4pcs 2. The design would be much better if 12V could be changed to only 1 rail. Efficiency ?????????? Material used ?????????? Spec. ?????????? Appearance ?????????? C/P Ratio ?????????? You could still find the advantages of new E7 version in the non-CM series of Straight Power, such as the honeycomb ventilation holes on both sides, sharp case edges removed to better protect the safety of users. Of course, the long MTBF and low-noise level of the exclusive SilentWings FDB fan integrated also serve as great advantages Actually, I haven’t conducted any tests for the part of the wattage higher than it’s nominal spec. This time, I happened to have a platform capable of running at full loading (over 800W) and it allowed me a great chance to compare the difference. When the loading was around 770W~810W, the rpm and CFM of the fan were both increased without making obvious noise and the body temperature of the Power Supply was around 60 Celsius. In terms of these two aspects, I think you can say the PSU is quite excellent. In terms of voltage fluctuation, relatively, the fluctuation is much less in 3.3V and 5V. Though the fluctuation of 12V is a bit higher, after being measured by a meter, the fluctuation ratio is actually only 2.2%, making itself quite a great point/performance in a 600W PSU loaded a lot above 600W. The end user price of be quiet! Straight Power E7 600W in the market is around 3,990 NTD, roughly equal to $124 USD. E7 600W (non-CM version) is around 500NTD lower than E7 580W (CM version) launched to the market earlier. The two models of new E7 non-CM version (500W & 600W) are capable of increasing the C/P value of E7 version. So, if an end user is taking non-CM power supply into their consideration while making a purchase, Straight Power E7 might be quite a good alternative since its C/P value is relatively quite high. : ) This review also post in my blog WIND'S 3C Welcome 3C lovers to visit and advise.

M/B: ASROCK X58 Extreme3, which is the most advanced PC platform among Intel platforms. Featuring true 333 function, which allows USB 3.0, SATA 3.0 & E-SATA3 to operate at full speed (X16). Test Platform CPU: Intel Core i7-930 MB: ASROCK X58 Extreme3 DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG6GX3M3A2000C8 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX260 OC SLI HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-128GBG2D RAID 0 POWER: be quiet! Straight Power E7 600W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit OS Default Values: CPU 200 X 21 => 4200MHz DARM DDR3 1600 CL6 6-6-18 1T OCCT V3.1.0 In POWER SUPPLY Mode What listed above is the spec of the platform used in the performance review. In order to demonstrate the power consumption happens during the test, the consumption will be measured by “Power Angle”. In OS Desktop window - 222~223W APFC: PF - 0.97~0.98 Running the Power Supply test items in OCCT i7-930 OC 4.2GHz, real 4-core along with 4-core HT full-loading simulation and GTX260 SLI 2WAY - 770~811W? APFC: PF - 0.99 The data obtained through Power Angle is only for reference due to its lack of extreme accuracy. GTX 260 SLI is used for the review in order to reach the utmost 3D efficiency. Also, while at full loading, the CPU could reach power consumption as high as up to 811W; though it was only charged by 110V, still it has reached a level much higher than 600W loading. OCCT Test Result CPU Temp. Fluctuation

E7 version of be quiet! Straight Power series is the latest version launched by BQT. The models from earlier E7 version are 480W, 580W and 680W. These 3 models are all cable management (CM version) power supplies and surely their prices are a bit higher because of the relatively costly CM design. Straight Power also has its non-CM version in the market, including 500 and 600W. In terms of selling prices in the market, their prices are surely a few hundred bucks lower than that of E7 CM version. The focus of new E7 version launched this time is on 80+ Bronze Certification and the SilentWings FDB fan integrated. This new series not only is compliant to Rev. 5.0 of Energy Star and the power consumption needed in standby mode is less than 0.5W. As for its cosmetic part, the point lies in its brand new style. The case used this time is quite different from be quiet! typical image in our mind. We’ll introduce more of the case in the following section. Here is our star, Straight Power E7 600W. The color box design of E7 version, with less different color combinations, looks more elegant. Contents Multi-Language User Manual, Cable Ties, Screws, Power Cord. Straight Power E7 600W Dimensions: 160mm X 150mm X 86mm The coating is “finger-print resistant”, leaving the case a neat touch. The titanium gray coating used this time makes this E7 version quite different from the black case we normally see in be quiet! power supply cases. The honeycomb ventilation holes in the back side, commonly seen design. Active PFC, 110~240Vac The symmetric fan guard is in Jazz-Black. Just like what I’ve said before, it looks really like BBQ grill. However, it still looks quite stylish. 12cm FDB Fan: MTBF/300K hrs, 17dBA The model name of Straight Power E7 600W is "BQT E7-600W" +12V*4 (45A in total), reaching 540W at most. 3 rows of honeycomb ventilation holes right beside cables, quite helpful in enhancing the heat ventilation mechanism. Output Cables 1 X 20+4 Pin ATX 1 X 12V P8 1 X 12V P4 1 X 6 Pin VGA 2 X 6+2 Pin VGA 4 X HDD 6 X SATA 1 X FDD

Standby - 2:44:28 In Battery Eater Pro test, full speed CPU+3D, the power duration is the shortest. If you only play video, X201i can stay 2hr10mins. It’s acceptable range. The latest structure really improves the system performance. However, for the standby mode, it’s lower 10% comparing to X200s. Lenovo ThinkPad X201i Overall Good 1. High end product shell and components. The commercial model design has very good keyboard and coating. 2. Latest Intel platform. The CPU, GPU and DDR3 performance are all improved. 3. 12” matte monitor which is normally only for high end 12~13.3” NoteBook 4. In normal usage, the body temperature is low. The thermal solution design is very good. 5. The most famous touch point is better than touch pad after you get used to. 6. The ThinkLight and keyboard are very suitable for business persons. Weak 1. Fn key position is easily to press wrong as its position. 2. 4Cell battery duration is not as much as I expect. 3. The shell will easily to see the dust. 4. No HDMI or USB 3.0 Performance ?????????? Components ?????????? Specification ?????????? Outlook ?????????? C/P Value ?????????? For the audio, in the real situation, the hi-pitch is not high enough. Alto is very good. You can hear the fine and smooth sounds. Bass is not low enough. I feel the sound field is too weak. For my experience of light commercial NoteBook, X201i use dual speakers are quite good already. Using 2M pixels WebCAM, I found the color and detail are quite good. It’s almost same as the real theme. If the luminance is not well, the noise will be higher. ThinkPad X201 is a good components, features and performance NoteBook. Especially lowest price one, X201i, is more attractive. The price is around 29000~38000NTD as different specs. It’s around 900~1185USD. Compare to the other NoteBook brands in the same price segment, you are hard to find the same product to compete. I think in this price segment, ThinkPad X201i is in really good position to gain the market share. Many people ask me what is the key factors to choose a good NoteBook? What brands or models are better quality and performance? Then I will ask that are you carrying out very often? If yes, please choose below 1.5Kg~1.6Kg products. If not, just pick whatever you like. If you need to carry out your NoteBook, I recommend the weight is your first priority to consider. Just for your reference. Small dimension and light NoteBook is the mainstream product. Even in DeskTop, it’s getting smaller as well. In the past, Micro ATX is the mainstream spec for small PC. Recently, Mini-ITX, the smaller form factor, is getting more and more popular. In the near future, I will share one article about Inte Core i5-655K/GIGABYTE H55N-USB3/SEED Case high performance MIni-ITX PC. I hope it can provide you some ideas of small PC. Finally, I attach the Spyder2 color correction file for all X201i users. Thanks for reading this Lenovo ThinkPad X201i review. windwithme Lenovo ThinkPad X201i This review also post in my blog WIND'S 3C Welcome 3C lovers to visit and advise.

CORSAIR P128 SSD official spec is 220/180 MB/s Installing with X201i, QM57 chipset, can achieve 229/175 MB/s. It really unleashes the performance in NoteBook. Some users always think CPU or individual VGA card grades are the only factors for NoteBook performance. However, if you don’t run video-encoding, CPU, or play 3D Game, VGA, in NoteBook, SSD is the most efficient way to improve the system performance which like internet, music and most applications. You will feel the difference in boot and open software. 3D is the latest Intel technology that CPU built-in GPU 3DMARK2006 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1280 X 720 => 24.52FPS StreetFighter IV Benchmark in GM45 is only 13 FPS. In this test, the score is over 24 FPS. The new Intel chipset improve the 3D performance around 50~70% more than GM45. DRAM performance DDR3 1364 CL7 7-7-20 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth-8979MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-7253MB/s The both DRAM bandwidth benchmark are all 50~100% higher than GM45. Built-in Memory Controller in CPU is really helpful for system perfroamance. CPU Temperature Standby - 36~41? CPU full speed - 81~86? 32nm manufacturing CPU looks like no big advantage in temperature. In actual usage, X201i emanates air is lower than the software. There is only some heat air. It might be the board temperature detecting software number is higher. The temperature in the thermal holes is lower than some other brands NoteBook. Power consumption test by Power Angle as reference Entering OS desktop - 10W CPU full speed - 30W For the standby status, it’s really good. It’s also same as CULV or Atom platform. In full speed, the consumption is similar with NoteBook. But 32nm should lower the power. Battery Duration 4Cell battery, Battery Eater Pro (turn off wifi and bluetooth) Full Speed - 0:42:12

Lenovo ThinkPad X201i 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 QM57. 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 => 27m 15.148s CPUMARK99 => 327 Nuclearus Multi Core => 8239 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 8.05/3862 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 97206 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU => 2858 CB x CPU => 6706 CB PCMark Vantage => 4859 Even it’s the most entry i3 CPU, the benchmark score is very good. It’s not only much higher than Core 2 Duo CULV CPU, but also higher than P8700 2.53GHz. i3-330M is only 2.13GHz, but the performance is almost same as P8700. During multi-tasking performance, as i3 has HT, the performance is higher than P8700. The new generation Core i3~i7 CPU performance is much better than Core 2 Duo. HDD SY9320423AS test 2.5” 320GB 7200rpm version. As 7200rpm 2.5” HDD, the performance is quite well. The highest read/write speed is around 89~94MB/s. The system running is very smooth. 2.5” SATA HDD is the key factor of whole system performance. Using high performance MLC SSD-CORSAIR P128 to test

Front side Lower right side is monitor lock and SD memory card slot Keyboard layout, size and touch feeling are all very good. It’s also water proof. The difference with X200 is X201 has touch pad, so the keyboard size is smaller. 12.1” matte monitor, the resolution is 1280X800. The open degree is 180. Both side of LCD has antenna inside, they called UltraConnect. It can enhance the recipient ability. Bottom side Docking connector, dual speakers, the support cushion is also special designed. The shaft between monitor and body is metal, should be very durable. It’s said this design is their own patent, so other brands cannot copy. 2M pixels WebCAM, and next is ThinkLight illumination feature. If you don’t get used to touch point, you can use touch pad. Thermal solution looks good. It looks like copper material. X201i uses 4Cell battery, the weight is 1425g. The official spec is 1.39Kg which is very close to the real. It’s a good example.

Lenovo ThinkPad series is the most well known in their NoteBook product line. Continue IBM prime design tradition, the X series NoteBook is still very popular for commercial users. Especially the previous X201 with CULV version, the price drops a lot. Even the budget concerned user also can have the good commercial grade quality product. The parity ThinkPad is more competitive. Besides the product C/P is enhanced, it also attracts the users sight. I still remember the year before, Intel NoteBook CPU almost are Core 2 Duo. The main models are TX00 and PX00 series. Also CULV CPU is focus on low clock and power consumption. After Q1 2010, you can see many brands use new Intel structure - Core i3/i5/i7 3 CPU series. It’s with new chipset for higher performance. Lenovo next generation 12 inch ThinkPad, model X201. According to CPU level, there are X201i, X201, X201s, and X201t four series. This review is X201i-A22, has 3 versions, with Intel Core i3-330M CPU. First, let’s look the Lenovo ThinkPad X201i outlook, same as X200 series. The chassis is magnesium alloy with special coating. The matt surface is more commercial quality. It doesn’t like bright coating will paint-shed after long time usage. Battery and body shell quality can be better if they are the same. 4Cell battery and the spec is NOM 2.0 AH 29WH The adaptor is smaller version. The cable is quite crude. A22 is the X201i version which is without Windows7. The accessories are simple. Upper lid front has 3 Status LED. Left side From Left: Power in, thermal holes (X200 is copper), USB, D-SUB, RJ45 LAN, ExpressCard, USB(Always On USB), Wifi switch Right Side From Left: USB, earphone, Mic, MODEM phone line jack, HDD, anti-thief lock

FINAL FANTASY XIV => 3331 As the different 3D benchmark software, the score has 5~15% higher. 4.2GHz Core i7-875K has better performance as running 3D software. Temperature Standby - 43~37 CPU Full Speed - 71~89 Intel Burn Test v2.4?Stress Level Maximum As OC to 4.2GHz, it also needs to raise the voltage quite much. So you can see the temperature is high as running at full speed. This is the price for OC by air cooling. Power Consumption Standby - 172W CPU Full Speed - 339W Power consumption result is similar with temperature. It’s almost same in standby but raise a lot in full speed mode. 4.2GHz standby and full speed difference is 167W. It’s more than 2 times more. Finally, pull clock to 4508MHz and make CPU-Z certificate. windwithme OC Intel Core i7-875K 4.5GHz Certified Even if you pull the CPU voltage, CPU clock still can be higher but may not be able to pass the burning test and cannot use for long time. I prefer to OC the system under air cooling and can be stable. It will be more useful for most users. Intel Core i7-875K current price is around 11700NTD, about 363USD. The previous top LGA 1156 is Core i7-870 and the price is 19000NTD, around 589USD. The channel has off shelf the Core i7-870 and replace by 875K which is higher C/P value. You can see Intel top LGA 1156 CPU price drop to let user pay less for buying. The price of 875K and 860 are very close. 875K is also unlock, so the C/P is not lower than 860. If you are planning to buy Core i7-860, you can also consider Core i7-875K. Most user worry about the OC needs to have good capability of MB and DDR3, so they give up in the beginning. The unlock 875K make OC be easier. The user only need to set the ratio and voltage. I do hope Intel can have more SKU than 875K/655K. They also can consider to have more entry LGA 1156 CPU for choosing.

Voltage setup page CPU Feature If you want to pull high CPU/DRAM frequency, you need to fine tune QPI/Vtt Voltage base on each CPU capability. If you enable Hyper-Threading to let CPU be 4C/8T, the CPU Voltage also depends on its capability. During test, Core i7-875K OC voltage is very well. 200/2000 at 4.2GHz only need QPI/Vtt Voltage 1.210V and CPU Vcore 1.3000~1.32500V to be stable for all test. CPU 200 X 21 => 4200MHz DDR3 2000 CL8 8-8-24 1T Hyper PI 32M X8=> 14m 28.968s CPUMARK 99=> 653 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 297430 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 7.17 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.43 pts PCMark Vantage => 17389 As OC Core i7-875K to 4.2GHz, the performance increases around 20~30%. The stabilized voltage only needs 1.296V~1.328V. It’s really excellent and can show how mature for Intel CPU manufacture is. Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 24460 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 19253 MB/s DDR3 bandwidth is also very high after OC. Overall DDR3 performance increases around 25~30%. It’s very close to LGA 1366. 3D Performance 3DMark Vantage => P16431 CPU SCORE => 25766 GPU SCORE => 14660 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1920 X 1200 => 181.90FPS DEVIL MAY CRY4 1280 X 1024 => 157.43/142.07/192.42/110.61 fps

Power Consumption Standby - 141W CPU Full Load - 217W CPU standby and full load power consumption difference is 76W. The difference is still in acceptable range. The standby is 141W, but most power consumption is by hi-end VGA... HDD Test Using Intel mainstream version SSD, X25-V 40GB, for RAID 0 X25-V 40GB official spec is reading 170 MB/s and writing 35 MB/s HD Tune Pro 4.01 Benchmark Average 355.9 MB/s?Access Time 0.1ms ATTO DISK Benchmark over 128k test can achieve 392 MB/s for reading and 89 MB/s for writing. CrystalDiskMark - 390.8 Mb/s for reading and 86.74 MB/s for writing. FDEBENCH test result is 327.6 Mb/s for reading and 89.8 MB/s for writing. X25-V 40GB spec is lower performance than X25-M 80GB, reading 250 MB/s and writing 70 MB/s. However, I recommend users can buy X25-V 40GB for RAID 0. The cost is similar and the RAID0 capacity is 80GB also. Also, X25-V RAID 0 performance can reach over 320~350 MB/s for reading and writing is similar with X25-M, is above 80 MB/s. This combo is better than buy just one X25-M 80GB. 4K, writing performance, is also the special strength of Intel SSD. OC Performance First of all, you can refer to my BIOS fine tune set up for 200/2000 BIOS Main page Core i7-875K ratio range : X9~X62 DDR3 Setup

PCMark Vantage => 15310 Core i7-875K already has very high performance at default clock as with Turbo Boost OC technology. As per CPU utilization rate, the clock will be in between 2.93~3.60GHz. It should be affordable for most application. Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 19460 MB/s EVEREST Memory Read - 14717 MB/s Even though LGA 1156 has dual channel structure, not like as triple channel in LGA 1366, so the DDR3 bandwidth is lower. Core i7 CPU built-in Memory Controller design makes LGA1156 DDR3 bandwidth be higher than dual channel PC platform over 1.5 times more. PSU is be quiet! latest power4 DELUXE 530W which is high C/P value product. 100% Japanese solid capacitors, 12cm low acoustic fan, 2-way 12V output designs. In this CPU Core i7-875K and VGA HD5830 platform, it can adequate OC or high loading system. 530W is also enough for ATI CrossFireX 3D Performance 3DMark Vantage => P14430 CPU SCORE => 19866 GPU SCORE => 13224 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1920 X 1200 => 168.64FPS DEVIL MAY CRY4 1280 X 1024 => 146.92/131.13/182.86/100.72 fps FINAL FANTASY XIV => 3076 3D gaming performance is relied on VGA capability. However, the higher performance CPU can enhance 3D performance around 10-20%. Core i7-875K performance is quite high standard, so when you use with ATI HD5380 for better 3D. Temperature Stnadby - 37~40 CPU Full Load - 53~59 Intel Burn Test v2.4?Stress Level Maximum Under room temperature is 28?, CPU full speed is still lower than 60?. For 4C/8T spec, Core i7-875K temperature is very good.