News

Asus P5Q3 Deluxe Review now online

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:21:09 +0000

It's been a while since we released a new review.
We had some server issues, and some of us some personal/family issues to take care of, but now we're back in action and ready to rock ( hopefully at a 10 pages per day rate ).

Today we're going to show you a fully fledged review of Asus's top P45 Express Chipset offering, the P5Q3 Deluxe WiFi-AP@n.
Equipped with Intel's latest ( and last ) chipset for the LGA775 platform, DDR3 memory & CrossFire and CrossFire-X support and a pack of useful ( and some not so useful ) features and peripherals the Asus P5Q3 Deluxe seems to be a perfect solution for everyone's daily rig.

It comes at a reasonably good price, and will more than likely fulfill all your needs, it has 9 SATA II Ports ( 8 internal, 1 external [ e-SATA ] ), 4 PCI-Express 16x slots, 2 PCI Slots for your "legacy" expansion cards, a draft-n Wireless Adapter, Asus's latest 6-engine EPU ( Energy Processing Unit ) for better power saving, and a wide range ( and stable ) of voltages to satisfy your overclocking needs.

Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite drink and click here to read the review now!

CSX Diablo DDR3-2000 2GB Kit Review published

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:40:44 +0000

Are you looking forward to the launch of the new Intel Core i7 CPU series from Intel ?
Do you know that you'll have to use DDR3 memory for the LGA1366 platform ?
If you're looking for a decent DDR3 memory kit to use with your current system or with a new Core i7 system ?
If yes, then you should read the CSX Diablo DDR3-2000 2GB Memory Kit review now!

Click here to read the CSX Diablo DDR3-2000 2GB Kit review.

Asus Striker II Extreme Review published!

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:18:00 +0000

BenchZone proudly presents to you the Asus Striker II Extreme review.
The Asus Striker II Extreme is Asus's newest R.O.G. series motherboard utilizing nVIDIA's latest nFORCE chipset, the nFORCE 790i Ultra SLI.
The nFORCE 790i Ultra SLI chipset features DDR3 memory support, 2-way, 3-way and Quad-SLI for Intel's LGA775 platform.
The Striker II Extreme features a fully fledged BIOS with a enormous amount of settings, very good DDR3 memory overclocking capabilities, decent FSB overclocking capabilities and very good performance ( clock per clock ).
Like every "Republic Of Gamers" motherboard comes with lots of "goodies", a external LCD Poster monitor to troubleshoot your system if you're having problems POSTing, a illuminated I/O Shield, a led lit R.O.G. logo on the NorthBridge heatsink, the Fusion Block System / NorthBridge WaterBlock, a EPU for "optimized" power regulation & saving, quick power on / reset / clear CMOS buttons on board.

As usual, we performed several tests and checked out every feature of the new board, and also set up 2 systems to compare this motherboard with the Asus P5K3 Deluxe motherboard, and the Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 motherboard.

Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite drink and read the review now!

Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 Review!

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 05:46:12 +0000

A bit late ( or not ) to the party or not, the Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 is a decent budget LGA775 motherboard that deserves your attention if you're looking for a stable, user-friendly, and easily overclockable motherboard to play along with your new Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad processor.

We tested it in both stock & overclocked conditions and compared it with the brand new Asus Striker II Extreme 790i Ultra SLI motherboard, and our trusty Asus P5K3 Deluxe.

Go ahead, and read the review now

3D Mark Vantage Review

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:31:32 +0000

BenchZone proudly presents to you the review/article about 3D Mark Vantage, FutureMark's newest addition to the 3D Mark Series benchmarks.

The new installment features several new tests and for the first time, their brand new engine, with native DirectX 10 support. To be precise it's a DirectX 10 only benchmark, so you need a DirectX 10 compliant graphics card to run it, and of course Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.

We tested various graphics cards, and different processors to see what we could score in FutureMark's new "toy" ( for the overclockers & gamers ).

We also take it a step further and explored ( tested ) how the benchmark's scores change by adding more CPU Cores to our system or overclocking our CPU.

We've everything you could ask for inside, videos, screenshots, lots of scores, comparisons for gamers & extreme overclockers. RAM Timings influence tests, CPU Core Count tests and more!

So, go ahead and read the review now!

3D Mark Vantage - Review online soon, Video Available Now!

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:12:14 +0000

The embargo for FutureMark's new 3D Mark Series benchmark, 3D Mark Vantage has just ended.
We are currently finishing the review, which shall be online in 1 hour.

Before you get to read the review, feel free to watch a Benchmarking Run Video here

3D Mark Vantage Release Date

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:27:15 +0000

Yesterday FutureMark has published some information regarding their latest installment of the 3D Mark Series, the soon to be released "3D Mark Vantage".
There's a count-down at FutureMark's website for the public release date/time for 3D Mark Vantage, and the day & time of release is April 28th at 16:00 EET ( Finnish time ) [ 6AM PCT ].

We're currently running several tests with various configurations and 3D Mark Vantage, and we should have a article/review of 3D Mark Vantage right on time with it's release.

Stay tuned!

GT200 in mid-June (?)

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:55:11 +0000

I've just got some newer information regarding the release date of GT200 based cards.
It seems that nVIDIA is going to release the GT200 high end part in mid-June.

That's not 100% confirmed folks, but that's how things look right now.
I will try to get a confirmation on this from a second source in the industry.

Forthcoming Reviews

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:28:19 +0000

Do you want an insight regarding the reviews that we're working on ?
Well, here's what we have for you for this month:

- Asus Striker II Extreme - nVIDIA nFORCE 790i Ultra SLI motherboard
- Gigabyte EP35-DS4 - Intel P35 Express motherboard
- nVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX 512MB - a single nVIDIA G92 core based graphics card

We may publish some other reviews & articles as well. But that depends on the arrival dates of the rest parts, and our available time ( you know, motherboard reviews take a lot of time ;) )

Twintech GeForce 8800GT 512MB Heat-Pipe Fan Review

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:26:48 +0000

If you're looking for a mid-range graphics card at a reasonable price, with high performance in todays' games, High Definition Video decoding capabilities, and a silent cooler, then you should check our latest review.

Today we're going to introduce to you the Twintech GeForce 8800GT 512MB Heat-Pipe Fan Edition graphics card.
It's a non-reference GeForce 8800GT 512MB graphics card with Twintech's custom heatsink ( cooler ) and a three phase GPU Core PWM circuit.

We've gathered some competition ( a ATi Radeon HD3870 512MB GDDR4, and a GeForce 8800GTS 512MB ) and set up a "dogfight" in some of the latest and most demanding computer games and synthetic benchmarks.
After measuring the cards performances, we overclocked them and run some overclocked benchmarks as well.
We also did some extreme overclocking with extreme cooling ( Liquid Nitrogen ) on our Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 and posted some photos and a video from the overclocking session for you to check out.

So, go ahead and read the review now!

[Not comfirmed]nVIDIA GT200 Specs

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:55:00 +0000

nVIDIA's forthcoming ( not the 9900's ) high end GPU ( should be released in November, could also be earlier or later, depending on various things, including ATi's solutions appearance ):

Estimated Clocks: 600MHz GPU Core Clock - 1350MHz Stream Processors Clock - GDDR3-2200 Memory Clock
512BIT BUS Width
140.8Gbps Memory Bandwidth
240 SPs ( MADD + MUL more than likely )
120 TFUs
80 TMUs
32 ROPs
TSMC's 65nm Low-K manufacturing process

* Confirmed & not confirmed info mixed up *

Intel 45nm "Penryn" CPUs: E8400 & QX9650 Review

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:09:47 +0000

Are you looking for a new CPU ? Or wanna have a look at the new 45nm Intel Core 2 CPUs from the "Penryn" family ? Want to find out how they perform at the same clocks against their 65nm predecessors ?
Wanna find out if there's any performance to gain from switching to a Quad-Core from a Dual-Core CPU ?
Want to see some extreme overclocking action with the new 45nm Dual-Core & Quad-Core processors from Intel ?

We have everything covered in this review

We take on the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 and the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650, compare them with the Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 and the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 at the same clock frequencies, and "fully" overclocked.
And then...we push them to their limits using air cooling, water cooling and extreme cooling ( Liquid Nitrogen ).

Go ahead and check out the review now!

Feel free to leave your comments, questions and ideas on our forums thread for this review.
Your input is greatly appreciated.

eVGA e-GeForce 8800GTS 512MB Review Published!

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:32:48 +0000

Are you a gamer looking for a decent graphics card to play your favorite demanding games with ?
Is your budget under 260$ ? Well, we might have something very good for you today.

We reviewed the eVGA e-GeForce 8800GTS 512MB graphics card.
Equipped with nVIDIA's 65nm G92 core, 512MegaBytes of Video Memory and a silent yet efficient dual-slot cooler, the eVGA e-GeForce 8800GTS 512MB is definitely a strong player in the Mid-to-High End market sector.

We tested it along with a ATi Radeon HD3870 512MB GDDR4 graphics card in various benchmarks and games like 3D Mark06, Crysis, World In Conflict, Company Of Heroes, BMW M3 Challenge, and more.

Read the review now by clicking here!

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Review @ NordicHardware

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:27:00 +0000

Robert Kihlberg a.k.a. Crotale at NordicHardware took the Core 2 Extreme QX9770, Intel's forthcoming high end desktop processor for a spin in the NH Labs.
Apart from the usual performance figures, comparisons, specifications, etc Robert decided to perform various power consumption measurements, and a "Overclocking Endurance" test.
He overclocked the processor to a specific frequency [ stopping at a "safe" voltage while keeping the temperatures under 65C and the system stable for 10 days running 24/7 load ( using F@H ) ] using a ThermalRight Ultra-120 Extreme heatsink.

Read the full review at NordicHardware ( click here )

Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 Review

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:11:59 +0000

With the launch date of the Intel X48 Express Chipset approaching, BenchZone took the latest X48 Express Chipset equipped offering from Gigabyte for a spin on our prestigious test Bench.

Equipped with Intel's forthcoming high end ( enthusiast ) chipset, two PCI-Express 2.0 16x Slots, CrossFire & CrossFire-X support, along with DDR3-1800 support, the Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 is looking forward to meet our blazing fast hardware and warrant some decent benchmark scores and face the competition ( a Asus P5K3 Deluxe P35 motherboard ).

Don't get fooled by the light green & girls' pink colored DIMM Slots, the Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 seems to be a powerful motherboard and could rock the "neighborhood" with it's performance and features.

Does it stand up on the hype around it...how does it stack up against the Asus P5K3 Deluxe ?
Read the review now & see for yourself

Click here to read the review

Feel free to e-mail us or post on our forums thread with your ideas/suggestions and questions.
Your opinion means a lot to us, and we'd like to hear it

Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 Sneak Peek

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:36:57 +0000

As I'm progressing ( actually finishing ) the review of the Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 Revision 1.1 Engineering Sample motherboard, I decided to give you a sneak peek with some results, "achievements" and other stuff.

As always, the sneak peek's posted in our forums "Sneak Peek" section.

To check out the Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 Rev 1.1 Sneak Peek, click here

P.S. The full review should be ready & published by Sunday.

2GB DDR3 Memory Kits Roundup published!

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:56:00 +0000

Are you looking for some good DDR3 Memory Kit to buy in anticipation of the new motherboards equipped with Intel's forthcoming X48 chipset and nVIDIA's forthcoming nFORCE 790i chipset ?

Come and take a look inside, we've got enthusiast grade kits from A-Data, CellShock, Corsair and Super Talent on our test bench running at screaming frequencies!
Which one's the best kit ? Best performance/price kit ?

How fast are they ?

We've got everything covered, go ahead and read this review.

Click here, you know you want to!

Coming Soon

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:39:00 +0000

I bet most of you are wondering what these guys at BenchZone are doing over the last few months...sleeping ?
Well...nope, we're not sleeping, but we had some issues, and I had some personal issues that had to be resolved asap, and my "reviews" had to come second on my "to do" list.

Now it's comeback time!
This month, you'll be seeing the following reviews:

6 way 2GB DDR3 Memory Kits roundup ( A-Data, CellShock, Corsair, Super Talent )
Twintech GeForce 8800GT 512MB Heat-Pipe Edition
GeForce 8800GTS 512MB
Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 Rev 1.1 Engineering Sample 'review' and overclocking tests
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Antec Veris MX-1 HDD Enclosure ( e-SATA & USB 2.0 )

And hopefully...

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650
Asus Maximus Formula
Asus Striker Extreme II 780i motherboard

P.S. Happy Valentine's day [ and remember love is something that people should "celebrate" every day ;) ]

Happy New Year 2008!!!

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 03:45:11 +0000

Happy New Year, 2008!!!
May 2008 be a year full of happiness, health, excitement, love & success for everyone

Party out people, have fun...and remember...no drinks for the driver...you don't need any drinks to have fun

Take care,
The BenchZone Team

OCZ ATV Turbo 4GB Review

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 05:30:37 +0000

Are you looking for a fast, reliable & virtually indestructible USB Flash Disk Drive ?
Well, OCZ has what you're looking for, the ATV Turbo series USB 2.0 Flash Disk Drives.
Coming in two capacities, 4GB & 8GB, a ruggedized body, and 35MB/s read rate, and 21MB/s write rate.

We put OCZ's ATV Turbo 4GB under the scope, and throw ( the drive! and some performance tests ) at it, will it survive the dive into Liquid Nitrogen ? Will it survive the BenchZone� wall to wall bounce test ?
Will it perform like the manufacturer claims ?

Read BenchZone's review and find out today!

Gigabyte Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB Review

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:20:40 +0000

Are you looking for an affordable low-end graphics card to buy for your PC ?
Not a graphics card just to play pacman & solitaire, but a card that can run the latest titles at least on low details ?
Then check out today's review, the Gigabyte Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB GDDR3 Silent-Pipe II.
Not to mention, it has great HD Video decoding capabilities, and it's passively cooled ( HTPC's card anyone ? ).

Read the review now!

Back online, some jet lag though :-(

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 06:41:45 +0000

Dear readers,

The transition to the new servers & software ended some minutes ago.
Everything is ok, no data loss for the site, but we lost some data from the users registrations for our forums.
Please register again if you're unable to login.

Thanks for your support, BenchZone wouldn't be the same without you

Possible downtime for 1-3 days!

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:40:58 +0000

Dear readers,

There will be a short servers downtime for 1-3 days as we are switching servers and upgrading our software.
BenchZone will be back shortly.

The administrative team

New 8800GTS 640MB Specifications ( CONFIRMED )

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:04:00 +0000

Well, the new GeForce 8800GT graphics card is out and it's performance & performance/price ratio is unbelievably high!
With that move the current 8800GTS 640MB graphics card are priced higher than the 8800GT while their performance is lower.
nVIDIA had to make a move, and well...here it is:

Confirmed from a reliable source in the VGA industry, nVIDIA will release a new GeForce 8800GTS 640MB card, with the following specifications:

There are rumors about a new GTX refresh, and maybe a GX2 card in Q1 2008, but we were unable to confirm with any of our contacts.

Updated.
By the way, this is a "refresh" of the G80 based GTS, there will also be a G92 based GTS with 128 SPs, 256MB/512MB VRAM & 256BIT BUS Width.

Crysis Single Player Demo Download Link

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 06:16:46 +0000

I know you guys have been impatiently waiting for this game.
Well, here's something to keep you playing until the full game release ( 16 Nov ), here's the official "Crysis" Single Player Demo.

Click here to download the Crysis SP Demo ( 1.77GB )