CINEBENCH R10

CINEBENCH places a heavy load on the CPU during the rendering tests, and can utilize a single CPU or multiple cores. The video subsystem has no bearing on the CPU rendering portion of this benchmark.

Cinebench R10

The Core i7 processors excel at rendering, and here we have the highest single CPU and multiple CPU scores that we've seen on a system, with a "Multiprocessor Speedup" of 4.13. Three GTX 285s will require all the CPU they can get, so these scores are encouraging for later tests.

PCMark Vantage

Our new standard for general platform performance is the PCMark Vantage suite that provides a wide range of tests, some of which focus on the CPU while others also utilize the video subsystem. Tests include digital photo manipulation, webpage loading, video transcoding, HD content playback, and so forth.

PCMark Vantage

The system provides great performance here as well, beating out our previous leader, the Velocity Micro system with CrossFire ATI HD 4870 GPUs.

SPECviewperf 10

Though these machines are intended for gaming, often the high-end hardware is useful for other purposes as well, such as CAD, artistic rendering, and medical software (though purists will tell you that professional graphics solutions are the only way to ensure that the driver packages will be completely accurate and stable). SPECviewperf is a set of benchmarks that measure the OpenGL performance in packages such as 3D Studio Max, Pro/Engineer, SolidWorks, and other professional applications used daily by many companies. The software is free to download and test on your own system, but be aware that running all the tests takes several hours to complete. We ran all tests at a resolution of 1280x1024.

SpecViewPerf 10

Here we see the system struggling, and in fact this is the only real stumble this system encountered. During the test runs, we observed rendering oddities (flickering and missing textures) that are likely driver related. While most single GPU solutions will run these applications reasonably well, the SLI configuration does not play nicely with these software suites. We can't fault the system much for this, as it's not intended for these applications. In this case, we'd definitely recommend professionals look to a system better suited for their intended use.

Setup and Startup Gaming/3D Performance
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  • frozentundra123456 - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link

    Amazing performance,but overkill for most people. Still, I would love to have one. Wonder how SLI HD4670x2 cards would compare to the triple GTX285 in performance and power usage.
    The price seems relatively reasonable considering a 3 year warranty.
  • Clauzii - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link

    Yes, they should definately do that.
  • gamerk2 - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link

    I brought my PC from DS. Even watercooled, thanks the all the extra fans, it is a LOUD system, but it also stays quite cool. Had an nforce releated freezing issue for a while, but to be fair, it was rare and took months for me to track to a cause (Either Overvolted RAm or a 1:1 RAM-FSB ratio fixed the problem). Support is all around great, forums are more active then some other competitors, and you can find answers to your questions quite quickly.

    As long as you know you are paying a premium for your system, and don't mind the extra noise that comes with cooling, then DSO is the way to go. I'd definatly buy my next PC from them after my experiance with this one.
  • Matt Campbell - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link

    Thanks for the feedback!
  • HOOfan 1 - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link

    I wouldn't be suprised if the leaf blower of a power supply you got was louder than anything else in the case.
  • NicePants42 - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link

    After owning a PCP&C 'Silencer' 750, and experiencing a PCP&C 1000W unit, I will guarantee you that the PSU is the loadest thing in that case BY FAR.

    A Corsair HX1000, Thermaltake Toughpower 1200, Cooler Master Real Power 1000W, Enermax Galaxy Evo or Revolution 85+, just off the top of my head, would be much better choices in terms of noise without sacrificing quality.
  • aigomorla - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link

    and u are one of the few who does not own a classified to know how picky it is with psu's.

    I personally went though 3.

    The enermax revo does NOT work 50% of the time.
  • HOOfan 1 - Wednesday, May 20, 2009 - link

    That is EVGA's fault though....not Enermax's

    Not being a rabid overclocker, but instead a rabid PSU hound, I would rather get a Gigabyte mobo and a nice quiet quality PSU.
  • NicePants42 - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link

    Of course I meant 'loudest'. Yay for edits.
  • Hauk - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link

    I have a friend who's a packaging engineer. I laughed when I first heard the title, but I've learned that solid packing methods are critical to insure product quality remains unchanged through tranist.

    As we can see from the shipping box exterior, heavy boxes like these are subject to extremes during transit. I was very impressed to see Digital Storm using injectable foam packing ON THE INSIDE of the system. This packing prevents the heavy components (graphic cards, oversize air coolers, etc) from the forces of gravity. Imagine a typical shipping box sliding down a 20 foot chutes in shipping hub.

    Newton's Law at work here, the large components want to keep moving as the box comes to an abrupt halt, the custom molded foam insert pervents that from happening. This is CRITICAL for a pre-built high end system, as they in particular contain heavy components inside.

    A big thumbs up to Digital Storm on the packing...

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