Test System

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad QX6700 @ 3GHz (9x333MHz)

Motherboard: ASUS Maximus Extreme (Supplied by ASUS)

Memory: 2x 1GB DDR3-1600 OCZ (Supplied by OCZ)

Graphics Card: MSI Geforce 8800GTS 640MB (Supplied by MSI)

Cooling: GIGABYTE Neon775 (Supplied by GIGABYTE)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP SP2

Drivers: Intel INF 8.3.1.1009, Forceware 163.21

Today we have updated our test system to use our new X38 based motherboard, the ASUS Maximus Extreme. This board has started to really prove itself to us in the labs, as with extra tweaking it manages to overclock extremely well for our motherboard reviews. For our hard disk reviews we have found it perfect as well, as it has a JMicron HDD controller for both SATA and IDE drives as well as six SATA ports off the ICH9R supporting RAID, ACHI and native IDE functions.

We will be pitting the Seagate 7200.11 against our 7200.10 500GB drive and the Western Digital RE2 750GB model. We have also added a new test to the fray, HD Tune which does a good all round job of testing the HDD.

HD Tach

Version and / or Patch Used: 3.0.1.0

Developer Homepage: http://www.simplisoftware.com

Product Homepage: http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public/index.php?request=HdTach