Introduction:

Just last weekend, I attended INFERNALAN which is one of the many LANs hosted by Intel. It always takes place down in Dupont, Washington on campus in their large cafeteria. While we can't use the Cafeteria to order or buy food, the event does provide plenty of pizza and all the caffeinated drinks you can stand.

Intel Spring Infernalan

You can also see some super sweet beta systems and test products if you look carefully. This is why Infernalan and PDXLAN are great fun to attend. Here's just one of the newest cases from DangerDen. There's more to see at the end, but for now lets get back to the Intel toys.

Got DangerDen?

Some of the attendees are testers and have the latest hardware on display including processors and motherboards. Occasionally, you'll see something else that doesn't have any labels. I often speculate on its origin, but can't say much just in case it violates any NDAs. There were quite a few Penryn QX9650s in several machines built on Bone Trail and Skull Trail Motherboards. The darker, unlit cases really make it hard to see what's inside exactly. Grrr!

The Penryn is where it's at really in terms of new and improved performance. Penryn processors are designed with the Hafnium-based 45nm process technology. Again, the most recent CPU to hit the market is the QX9650 Penryn sporting 12 MB of L2 cache, 1333 MHz FSB, and stock 3GHz speeds. That's a lot of power packed in a 45nm product. And I'm sure you already know, Penryns carry on the overclocking trend with excellent results.

Now, a little bit on the motherboards using the processors. The two latest motherboards to support Penryn are the Bone Trail and Skull Trail. The BT is a single socket platform, while the ST is a dual socket. The motherboards get powerful chipset upgrades including DDR3 and XMP BIOS support. So, the boards now fully support DDR3 and 1600MHz Front Side Bus XMP profiles for some crazy overclocking. This is good news for users with 1333 and 1600MHz DDR3 memory since a simple, quick BIOS setting instantly brings your system's extra power online.

If you haven't seen the BIOS of the latest P35, X38, and X48 motherboards, there a lot more settings than previous generations. Except for budget based models, there's a lot more to tweak. With capable cooling, you can really take advantage of these board's new BIOS settings.

Testing:

Alright, on to the preliminary test results. The test system was a Penryn QX9770 and Bone Trail Motherboard both of which will soon hit the shelves. The DDR3 memory appeared to be OCZ 1600MHz DDR3 based on the 7-6-6-28 timings since I couldn't tell due to the different spreaders. The PSU was unmarked, but most assuredly is a good one for best results. The graphics card was a single ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2. Windows Vista is the installed OS.

Also, these results were achieved using the processor's stock ( O_o ) CPU cooler! I'm not gutsy enough to try this myself yet, but I just didn't happen to have any sweet CPU coolers in my pocket otherwise, I'd have tried to get more.

First, here's the first 3DMark06 results with the system under stock 3.2GHz frequencies, including the DDR3 memory's 1600MHz 7-6-6-28 timings.

QX9770 @ 3200MHz - DDR3 @ 1600MHz

Even at stock frequencies, 16,826 3DMarks is a very respectable score. The best my game system could achieve has been 12,000+ which is based on a P35 DDR3 platform. Of course, that was with only one 8800 GT or GTS.

For the second test, the QX9770 was overclocked to 3.6GHz. The memory was again left to stock frequencies and timings.

QX9770 @ 3600MHz - DDR3 @ 1600MHz

The system scored 18,176 3DMarks which was a pretty decent increase with only a mere 400MHz extra from the processor.

And for the final quick test, the processor was overclocked to almost 4.4GHz keeping the system FSB and memory to 1600MHz again with default timings.

QX9770 @ 4389MHz - DDR3 @ 1600MHz

The final test produced 21,099 3DMarks from another 800MHz pulled from the QX9770. All in all, I'd say the system proved itself successfully from just a little preliminary tweaking.

The only thing that could really top these results would be another HD 3870 X2 in Crossfire mode. Of course even then there's no guarantee of spectacular results given some of the driver glitches with X2 Crossfire. So, for now, we'll have to be happy with almost 22,000 3DMarks.


InfernaLAN:

Normally, I'm not one to attend LANs unless the people are really cool and the games are worth it. With Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty 4 topping the game lists and the crowd is pretty darn cool along with the likes of the staff from DangerDen attending, it just can't be skipped.

New Case	3870 X2 Crossfire	Read #5
Mike's From BFG	Sweet Setup	New DangerDen Case

If you're looking for some really sweet acrylic, aluminum, or modified cases, you'll find them there. It's Intel! You have to expect something pretty sweet. That brings us to the systems often on display hidden behind an acrylic window beyond my reach.

Koolance & DangerDen	More Cooling	My Spot
Blue CCFL	Green CCFL	Compact Cooling

The raffle prizes are always excellent at Infernalan! Several QX9650s were randomly raffled off along with various 8800 GT graphics cards. Coolit Systems and VH added a sweet Eliminator CPU Cooler to go along with all the processors. Patriot Memory is the newest Intel certified memory partner helping sponsor the event which sent about ten PC2-6400LLK 2GB Dual Channel Memory Kits as well. Around the table you can see several nice computer cases in colors other than black and silver.

Raffle Systems

CPUs, RAM, Cooling

Cases

If the raffle winner didn't like the prize, they were allowed to reach in to a huge brown box which contained various processors and pieces of hardware (obviously from Shocker's broom closet) including a Penryn QX9650 Processor. Once the processor was pulled out, the box's remaining contents went to one lucky winner who didn't want the USB microphone left on the table.

The Grab Box

Happy Coolit Winner!

Grab Box Left Overs

Two complete gaming systems were raffled off to the 18 and over attendees. That's a pretty sweet LAN when you can go with the chance of getting a good or even better gaming system. The last Infernalan raffled off an Alienware 7500 series gaming system.

Xaser System

Powered Up

A few new game systems were on display from Intel system integrators like IBuyPower and CyberPowerPC who sponsored the gaming systems for the raffle. The two laptops and desktop systems are just a few of their latest. While the Thermaltake Xaser system was pretty sweet, I was partial to the Gamer Infinity SLI built within a new Apevia X-Telstar case.

Apevia System	Sweet Bezel
Laptop 1	Laptop 2

What did I win? Originally, I won the sweet, new Razer Lachesis Gaming Mouse. But, for the sake of the event, I chose to take a chance on getting the QX9650 out of the big brown box and wound up with a PCI TV Tuner Card which I gave to one of the many VH followers at the LAN. Everyone is happy!

OMG! Intel's new Toddler-Mod

Ghetto Rig Winner

I'd like to thank Intel for the awesome LAN Party, Mr. Lazarone for the new test system and screenies, as well as Gamesurge and EntertheGame for banning the assigned LAN IP for too many connections. Stay tuned for more Intel goodness!

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