The BIOS
The following series of images show some of the most frequented screens that will be accessed while configuring the system BIOS.

Main Settings	Advanced Menu

Advanced Settings	Video Configuration

Security Settings	Power Settings

Boot Settings

Systemax Sabre:
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Edition SP2
Intel Bad Axe D975XBX
Intel® Core2 Duo X6800 @ 2.93GHz
ATI X1900XTX Crossfire Mode PCI-Express Graphics - 2 x 512MB
2.0GB Corsair CM2X1024-6400 DDR2 - 2 x 1024MB
2 x 150GB 10K RPM Raptor SATA hard drives= 300GB RAID 0
Plextor PX 755A SATA DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD-ROM
Sony CRX 320EE CD-RW Combo Drive
Integrated SigmaTel STAC9221D A2 @ Intel 82801GB ICH7 - High Definition Audio Controller
Integrated LAN Intel(R) PRO/1000
Ultra X-Finity 600 Watt PSU
Razor Diamondback Salamander Red Gaming Mouse
Saitek Eclipse Special Edition Red Illuminated Keyboard
LACIE Electron Blue 22” CRT

Software:
FRAPS
PCMark05
3DMark06
SiSoft Sandra 2007
DH Photoshop Benchmark
HD Tach
Half Life 2 Episode 1
F.E.A.R.
Prey
Oblivion

When we fired up the Systemax Sabre we were greeted by a fresh install of Windows XP Pro SP2. We then proceeded to get all the important Windows updates, the latest DirectX 9c release, Perfect Disk 7 to defrag our system.  After making sure all our cables were securely attached we opened up ATI’s Catalyst Control Centre and found that Crossfire was ready and waiting for action.

SiSoft Sandra 2007
One of the most common applications that is used for system performance comparison is Sandra 2007.  It will give us a decent idea how our test rig compares to other high end systems.




The Sabre performs as expected in Sandra 2007 putting up good numbers in all the tests.  It really shines in the multimedia tests.

PCMark05
This is one application from Futuremark that can be used to determine specific areas of system performance.


Thanks to the combination of the ATI Crossfire setup, the Intel CPU and the WD Raptor hard drives, this system delivers great performance in this test.

3DMark06
While 3DMark is not usually part of the test suite used at DH, we felt that a score close to 10K was worth mentioning considering the testing was done at stock speeds.


DH Photoshop Benchmark
This is a good tool for testing a specific systems performance using Adobe Photoshop.  It is an action which works in similar fashion to a macro.  It runs through a series of predefined functions then shows how long each function took to complete.  This benchmark gives a good representation of how a system would perform if it was used as a graphic editing machine.
Considering that any score under 200 seconds is a decent result, the Systemax Sabre performs admirably scoring a time of 111.2 seconds to complete this series of tests.

HD Tach
This program from Simpli Software is very handy when it comes to testing a systems hard drive performance. It will tell you the random access times, the load it puts on your CPU, the burst speed and average read times of the hard drives.


The 2 Raptor hard drives purr right along with a Burst speed of 236.1 MB/sec and an average read speed of 128.2 MB/sec which is not bad at all. 

Next more benchmarking and the conclusion >>