|
Notes From The
Lab:
In the interest
of producing repeatable results, we've standardized testing,
eliminating some of the variables that Windows XP inherently
enables. For instance, both Auto Updating and System
Restore are disabled. Further, we changed the Visual
Effects to reflect "Best Performance" settings. Each
motherboard is configured to its optimal settings as to
truly represent the potential of each product. Because
the Tyan board doesn't sport many BIOS settings, we left it
running its default configuration. The ASUS P4G8X
Deluxe, on the other hand, ran stably at CAS 2, while the
P4PE also ran at CAS2. Finally, each
platform is run using the same hardware setup, as indicated
in the specifications below. Because manufacturers do
use different integrated audio and Ethernet solutions, those
add-ons are disabled to clearly represent the performance of
the platform itself.
Both of the
"Granite Bay" boards are represented by blue bars, while the
i845PE platforms are red/yellow on the charts.
 |
|
The
Hot Hardware Test Systems |
|
Powered by the
Pentium 4 |
|
Motherboard:
Tyan S2662 Trinity i7205
(Granite Bay)
ASUS P4G8X Deluxe (Granite
Bay)
ASUS P4PE (i845PE)
Intel D845PEBT2 (i845PE)
Common
Hardware and Software:
Intel Pentium 4 3.06GHz
with Hyper Threading enabled
2 x Corsair PC3200 CAS2
memory
ATI RADEON 9700 Pro 128MB
(Catalyst 3.0)
IBM 30GB 7200 RPM ATA-100
Hard Drive
Windows XP Professional w/
SP1
DirectX 8.1
Intel Application
Accelerator 2.3
 |
|
SiSoft
Sandra 2003 |
|
Simple performance
metrics |
|
|
CPU
Integer @ 3.06GHz
|
CPU
Float @ 3.06GHz
|
|
Memory Integer @ 3.06GHz
 |
Memory Float @ 3.06GHz
|
|
Multimedia Integer @
3.06GHz
 |
Multimedia Float @ 3.06GHz
|
Because the majority of the
Sandra tests are processor intensive, we don't get a solid
idea about the effect of each platform, much less the
motherboards that are competing. It does become clear,
however, that the "Granite Bay" boards have a lot more
potential in terms of memory bandwidth. Whether this
directly translates into real-world performance remains to
be seen, but the Pentium 4 certainly favors platforms with
plenty of bandwidth.
|
|
|
Content Creation 2002 and Business Winstone 2002 |
|
Desktop Application
Performance |
|
Despite the
bandwidth advantage of the E7205 chipset, neither "Granite
Bay" board is able to establish a significant performance
lead over the single-channel (and less expensive) i845PE
boards. In fact, in Content Creation 2002, the ASUS P4PE
board beats both E7205 boards. The Trinity i7205 is a
solid board, but its performance is sub-par versus the
competing ASUS P4G8X Deluxe and its i845PE competitors.
Quake
3 and Comanche 4 |