HOW WE CONFIGURED THE TEST SYSTEM:

The first thing we did when setting up our test systems was enter the system BIOS and set the memory timings for optimal performance.  With both the Shuttle SN41G2 and Asus A7N8X test beds, this meant setting our memory to run synchronously with the processor FSB at 166MHz, with the timings set to 2-4-2-2 with a CAS latency of 2.  After configuring the BIOS, we booted the systems, formatted the hard drives and installed a fresh copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 1.  When our Windows installation was complete, we hit the Windows Update site and installed all of the critical updates and service packs currently available (Except for Windows Media Player 9 and the updates associated with Windows Messenger).  We then disabled Auto-Updating and System Restore and disabled, then removed Windows Messenger from the system.  All of the necessary drivers were installed, and we then defragged the hard drive.  Lastly, we installed all of the necessary benchmarking software, de-fragmented the hard drive and ran our tests.

The HotHardware Test System The Little PC That Could

SiSoft SANDRA Benchmarks Lets Get The Party Started

SANDRA (the System ANalyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information and diagnostic utility developed by SiSoftware. Beyond benchmarking, SANDRA also provides a host of other information about your hardware and operating system. We began our testing with three of the built-in tests that partially comprise the SANDRA 2002 suite (CPU, Multimedia and Memory). We ran these tests with an Athlon XP 2700+ CPU on the SN41G2 using the integrated GF4MX configured with 64MB of shared memory, and with a Radeon 9700 Pro installed.  We compared its performance to the nForce2 powered Asus A7N8X, to see how the FN41 fares versus a top-of-the-line, full sized motherboard...

Throughout all of the SANDRA tests, whether using the integrated GeForce4 MX graphics or a Radeon 9700 Pro, the SN41G2's performance is on par with the A7N8X.  There is a slight drop off in performance when using the IGP, but that is to be expected.  The IGP uses shared system memory, which decreases the net amount of available bandwidth.  The IGP's impact on performance is minimal in the SANDRA tests though, lets move on and see how the SN41G2 fares in some more strenuous activities.

PCMark2002 Benchmarks More Synthetic Action

Next we ran some tests with Futuremark's (formerly MadOnion) PCMark2002 benchmarking suite.  Like other synthetic benchmarks, it's difficult to translate PCMark2002 scores into "real world" performance.  However, because it is very easy to run, and produces repeatable, comparable results, PCMark2002 has become a staple here in the H.H. labs.  We ran PCMark2002's "CPU" and "Memory" performance modules on all of the systems.  The CPU module incorporates the following tests:

CPU Test:

• JPEG decompression

• Zlib compression & decompression

• Text search

• MP3 Audio Conversion

• 3D Vector Calculation

Memory Test Technical details: (Quoted From MadOnion / Futuremark)

Raw read, write, and read-modify-write operations are performed starting from a 3072 kilobytes array decreasing in size to 1536 KB, 384 KB, 48 KB and finally 6 KB. Each size of block is tested two second and the amount of accessed data is given as result. In the STL container test a list of 116 byte elements is constructed and sorted by an integer pseudo-random key. The list is then iterated through as many times as possible for 2 seconds and the total size of the accessed elements is given as result. There are 6 runs of this test, with 24576 items in the largest run corresponding to a total data amount of 1536 KB, decreasing in size to 12288 items (768 KB), 6144 items (384 KB), 1536 items (96 KB), 768 items (48 KB) and 96 items in the smallest run corresponding to 6 KB of total data.

In PCMark2002's CPU test, the SN41G2 in both configurations performs only slightly lower than its "full sized" A7N8X counterpart.  The memory performance module tells a bit of a different story.  When using the integrated graphics, the SN41G2 falls a few hundred points short of the A7N8X.  Throw in a Radeon 9700 Pro and the performance jumps right back up though.  To this point, the SN41G2, when populated with an add-in graphics board doesn't give away any performance to a conventional system.

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