On the upside, using timings like 3-3-3-8 would make the system more easy to compare to single core s939 you tested before to answer what do we gain from an additional core. This would require GeForce GTS 250 instead of GTX 460.

We know that Command Rate 2T causes significant underperformance and GTX 460 will not be ideal either. Every little piece of optimization helps - it is up to readers to try to squeeze maximum possible performance out of s939 if they so desire and show us the results how far it can go without any dangerous overvolt or risking lifespan of components.

Not only that but also the fact that I am forced to use newer drivers! Anything after 197.77 causes a significant driver overhead - yes, even with a dual core X2 4800 - so this is another reason why older drivers are required on a socket 939 system. With the same GTX 285 I got better results with 197.77 across all the benchmarks!
Different drivers makes any comparison with the previous results invalid. Also the fact that we moved from single core to dual core and from GTS 250 to GTX 460 makes any kind of comparison with the results from chapter 1 where I tested single cores CPU's like comparing apples to oranges.
I finally found a driver that is compatible with all the games and benchmarks on both systems: 275.33! I will use it for testing.

Software used is also different from the previous tests:
1. Fraps 3.5.99 - latest version
2. MSI afterburner 4.50
3. irfanview for all screenshots
4. everest 5.50
5. GPUZ 2.5.0

Synthetic benchmarks:
1. Aquamark3
2. 3dmark 2001
3. 3dmark 2003
4. 3dmark 2005
5. 3dmark 2006
7.Tom 2D
8. Prime 95 version 25.11
9. Cinebench 9.5 or 10.0

Games:
1. Farcry
2. Half life 2 steam version
3. Doom 3
4. Serious Sam 2
5. FEAR
6. Call of duty 2
7. Quake 4
8. Company of heroes
9. Microsoft flight simulator X original release
10. Prey

Games that didn't make the cut: Chronicles of Riddick: escape from Butcher bay - impossible to get repeatable results! NFS most wanted - the same.
Splinter cell chaos theory refuses to install on VIA system - tested with a secondary AX8 and a fresh install of XP! Ghost recon advanced warfighter - impossible to benchmark, results are all over the place!

All synthetic benchmarks are tested first at the default settings and maxed out details in subsequent runs. All games are tests at max details with the exception of Doom 3 and Quake 4 that are tested with AA 8X only. Note that the Achilles heal of GTX 460 is the 256 bit memory bus. GTX 285 has a 512 bit bus that, at very high AA levels such as 8X-16X, manages to overcome pretty easily the GTX 460 (and even radeon 5870 if I use AA 16x in Doom and Quake).
Monitor used is the good old Eizo S2100 with 1600*1200 max resolution. All tests done at 1024*768, 1280*1024 and 1600*1200.
All games and benchmarks at updated to the latest version - example SP2 installed on FSX, Prey updated to 1.4 and so on.