|
 |
|
HotHardware Test Systems |
|
AthlonXP All the Way!! |
|
|
ABIT
KX7-333R Motherboard
AMD AthlonXP
1800+
256MB Crucial PC2700
(2.5-4-2-5-2)
2 IBM
ATA100 7200RPM 42GB HD
eVGA eGeForce4
Ti4600
Creative 52X
CD-ROM
Standard Floppy
Drive
Windows XP
Professional
DirectX 8.1
Detonator 29.42
VIA 4-in-1s 4.38(2)v(a) |
A Few Words
About The Benchmarks:
To help explain the scores we
achieve when testing a product, we feel it is
necessary to explain how we set up a system
before running the benchmarks. With the ABIT KX7-333R motherboard, we started off
by setting the BIOS to Load Optimized
Defaults. The memory frequency was
manually set to 166MHz. (333MHz. DDR) and the
advanced settings were set for 2.5-4-2-5-2.
Next, we set up
the Two IBM Deskstar hard drives in a RAID-0
configuration with the High-Point controller
set for a 16KB Stripe. We then installed
a fresh copy of Windows XP Professional using
FAT32 and followed that up with a download of
all Critical Updates in Windows Update,
except for Messenger. We then disabled
and removed Messenger from the system, set the
visual quality to "Best Performance",
defragged the RAID array and rebooted before
starting our tests. As a comparison we
included scores from the
Soyo KT333 Dragon
Ultra we reviewed here. |
 |
|
Overclocking
the
ABIT KX7-333R Motherboard |
|
Get On The Bus! |
|
Overclocking the
KX7-333R was pretty straightforward, yielding few
surprises. With our "locked" AthlonXP
1800+, we were able to reach a top FSB speed of 146MHz., increasing the CPU output from the default 1.53GHz.
to 1.68GHz., or 9.7%. Some of you may be
groaning at the paltry 146MHz. bus speed that we maxed out
at, but keep in mind that we achieved this without having to
scale back our aggressive memory timings. Surely, we could
have set our memory from 2.5-4-2-5-2 to 2.5-5-3-6-3 and gone
a bit higher with the bus. Nonetheless, we don't think it
makes much sense to restrict the memory performance to
achieve a higher CPU speed. Instead, we try to reach a good
balance that boosts the performance of all system components
rather than just the CPU. Let's take a look
at how
this board shapes up in the performance tests. We'll
kick things off with a few runs at Sandra 2002 Pro SP-1 at
both stock and overclocked speeds.
 |
|
Benchmarking with Sisoft Sandra 2002 Pro |
|
Starting with the Synthetic... |
|
We always like
to start things off with a few tests from Sandra 2002 Pro
SP-1. This is an excellent synthetic benchmarking
program for assessing a system's potential when compared to
their ever increasing database of reference systems.
Let's take a look at some of the basics, then we'll put the
system to the test in the proving grounds.
CPU@1.53GHz.
 |
CPU@1.68GHz.
 |
We didn't see too many surprises here. The performance
of the AthlonXP 1800+ was in the ballpark of what we would
expect. At 1.68GHz, we were pushing our processor into
AthlonXP 2100+ territory.
|
Multimedia@1.53GHz.
 |
Multimedia@1.68GHz.
 |
The same trend held true with the Multimedia test, although
this time our AthlonXP 1800+ really pushed into the Pentium
2.4GHz. territory when overclocked.
|
Memory@1.53GHz.
 |
Memory@1.68GHz.
 |
The memory performance with
the ABIT KX7-333R was quite good. Once we pumped up
the front-side bus to 146MHz., the DDR-RAM posted some
excellent gains.
Hard Drive - RAID
 |
The RAID performance with the
HPT-372 was virtually equal to the reference system in
Sandra's database.
Next, we'll put the ABIT KX7-333R
through some of our favorite tests to see how well this
board performs. Let's start off with a little Quake
3...
Quake 3 and MadOnion's
3DMark2001SE |