We can't really speak of a test system. Initially, we only had the disposal of a sample of a MSI Socket F mainboard, the K9SD Master-A8R. In a roundabout way, we managed to lay our hands on two 2,4GHz Opteron 2216 processors. Using these components, we knocked together a test set-up. Due to the absence of suitable coolers for Socket F processors, we had to improvise considerably with some tie wraps to keep a pair of alternative coolers in their place. Furthermore, the lack of a casing resulted in an air flow deficiency, which was solved by placing an air conditioner right next to the set-up.
The memory also presented a problem. Everything worked smoothly with 4GB DDR2-667, but we preferred to use 8GB for the benchmarks since we tested the Sun Fire X4200 (the dual Socket 940 machine from the previous review) with 8GB as well. Unfortunately, we were unable to create a stable configuration with the DDR2-553 memory taken from a Sun T2000 system in the Socket F mainboard. It is of course too early to wag a finger at anyone, since we're not dealing with final hardware. Nevertheless it's important to keep this in mind while viewing and interpreting the results. The few tests that did come through with 8GB memory show no large difference compared to 4GB, but it is present anyway:
