Test Bed
As mentioned, we now have a shiny new test bed at Gotfrag Hardware. The complete specs are as follows:

• Case: Antec Sonata II
• Power Supply: Antec NeoHE 550W
• Hard Drive: Western Digital 2500KS 7200RPM, 250GB with 16MB Cache Buffer
• Video: eVGA NVIDIA GeForce 7900GT KO Superclocked (580/1580)
• Memory: 1024MB (2x512MB) Corsair XMS2 PC2 6400 (TWIN2X1024A-6400)
• Optical Drive: Lite-ON SHW160P6S05
• Cooling: Thermaltake Big Typhoon

Added:

• Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D975XBX (Bad Axe)
• Processors: Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800, 2933MHz, Intel Core 2 Duo E6700, 2667MHz

Software Configuration:

• Motherboard BIOS: D975XBX Express BIOS Update (Rev. 1209, BETA)
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2
• Video Driver: NVIDIA ForceWare Version 91.31 WHQL Certified (June 23 release)

Methods
We will be reporting the result of rigorous testing and retesting of the two Core 2 Duo processors that were sent to us. Keep in mind that the results we were trying to find were those of processor scores and values, not necessarily those of entire system performance. That being said, we did run quite a few tests that analysed the entire system rather than just the processor. The results for such tests will be evaluated based on processor influence.

Each and every test we run is completed a minimum of three times and an average of all the tests is taken and reported herein. Our reason for doing this is to diminish the effect of random performance anomalies caused by background programs hanging, the benchmark itself having a hiccup, or any other such unexpected event. We feel that presenting results in this manner is far more accurate than basing the numbers off of a single test. Any and all applicable demos and/or recordings used in the benchmarking process can be downloaded for your own use. You can find the link for these demos in the corresponding test results section.