Test setup

To test the Steiger Dynamics LEET Pure, we took the sensible option of limiting our game tests to 1080p, since this is the highest resolution you're likely to use in your lounge on a big screen, at least till 4K becomes mainstream, and because the specification of the LEET Pure sample we have is geared towards 1080p gaming with a single mid-range graphics card. We've also included comparison numbers where necessary for similar CPUs and graphics cards.

Media Benchmarks
Download from: bit-tech.net

We've developed our own suite of benchmarks using real-world and open-source applications to simulate how PCs are actually used. The suite comprises an image editing test using Gimp, a video encoding test using Handbrake, and a multi-tasking test using 7-Zip to archive and encrypt a large batch of files while a HD movie plays in mplayer.

Gimp Image Editing
Website: Gimp

Far from being some kind of pr0n-filtering tool, Gimp is an open-source image editing application - Gimp is an acronym of GNU Image Manipulation Program. Our test simulates how well a PC can manipulate a collection of large digital photos, and to achieve a low time requires a PC with a powerful CPU, plenty of quick memory and efficient access to storage.


Video encoding with Handbrake
Website: http://handbrake.fr

We use the open-source, GPL-licensed, multi-platform, multi-threaded video encoder Handbrake to encode a HD video using the H.264 codec. This primarily tests multi-threaded CPU and memory subsystem performance


Multi-tasking with 7-Zip and mplayer
Websites: www.7-zip.org and www.mplayerhq.hu

Multi-tasking is a phrase with which we're all familiar, as most of us are now used to running multiple applications at the same time. However, to run multiple applications well you need a powerful (ideally multi-core) CPU and plenty of RAM.

Our multi-tasking test performs a massive file backup (with encryption) using 7-Zip, while simultaneously playing back a HD movie file using mplayer, making it a demanding test for any PC.


Overall Score
The overall score is an unweighted mean average of the scores of the three individual tests. A score of 1,000 means that the test system is as fast as our reference PC, which used a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 at stock speed, 2GB of Corsair 1,066MHz DDR2 memory, a 250GB Samsung SpinPoint P120S hard disk and an Asus P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP motherboard. The scoring is linear, so a system scoring 1,200 points is 20 per cent faster than our reference system. Equally, a system scoring 1,200 is 4 per cent faster than a system scoring 1,150.