Asus P5N32-SLI: Dual x16 - What Dreams Are Made On . . .
by Gary Key on October 27, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Ethernet Performance
The current motherboard test suite includes LAN performance measurements. All of these boards utilize PCI Express controllers with the only difference being the supplier of the core logic.
The Windows 2000 Driver Development Kit (DDK) includes a useful LAN testing utility called NTttcp. We used the NTttcp tool to test Ethernet throughput and the CPU utilization of the various Ethernet Controllers used on the nForce4 Ultra motherboards.
We set up one machine as the server; in this case, an Intel box with an Intel CSA Gigabit LAN connection. Intel CSA has a reputation for providing fast throughput and this seemed a reasonable choice to serve our Gigabit LAN clients.
At the server side, we used the following Command Line as suggested by the VIA whitepaper on LAN testing:
All standard Ethernet tests were performed with standard frames and the NVIDIA Active Armor suite disabled unless otherwise noted. Gigabit Ethernet supports Jumbo frames as well and will provide a further reduction in CPU overhead.
We added a further test scenario in which ActiveArmor was enabled on the Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe board via the new 6.82 platform driver set. The throughput numbers increased by almost 3% while the CPU utilization dropped by over 7% with the standard settings enabled in the application. We also enabled Jumbo frames with ActiveArmor resulting in an increase in throughput numbers by 5% while the CPU utilization dropped by over 12%. We will be adding this benchmark testing to our standard test suite along with providing more information regarding the NVIDIA firewall solution in the near future. I highly recommend that if you have a NF4 based board, you should utilize ActiveArmor in its current configuration.
The current motherboard test suite includes LAN performance measurements. All of these boards utilize PCI Express controllers with the only difference being the supplier of the core logic.
The Windows 2000 Driver Development Kit (DDK) includes a useful LAN testing utility called NTttcp. We used the NTttcp tool to test Ethernet throughput and the CPU utilization of the various Ethernet Controllers used on the nForce4 Ultra motherboards.
We set up one machine as the server; in this case, an Intel box with an Intel CSA Gigabit LAN connection. Intel CSA has a reputation for providing fast throughput and this seemed a reasonable choice to serve our Gigabit LAN clients.
At the server side, we used the following Command Line as suggested by the VIA whitepaper on LAN testing:
Ntttcps - m 4 ,0, -a 4 - l 256000 - n 30000On the client side (the motherboard under test), we used the following Command Line:
Ntttcpr - m 4 ,0, -a 4 - l 256000 - n 30000At the conclusion of the test, we captured the throughput and CPU utilization figures from the client screen.
All standard Ethernet tests were performed with standard frames and the NVIDIA Active Armor suite disabled unless otherwise noted. Gigabit Ethernet supports Jumbo frames as well and will provide a further reduction in CPU overhead.
We added a further test scenario in which ActiveArmor was enabled on the Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe board via the new 6.82 platform driver set. The throughput numbers increased by almost 3% while the CPU utilization dropped by over 7% with the standard settings enabled in the application. We also enabled Jumbo frames with ActiveArmor resulting in an increase in throughput numbers by 5% while the CPU utilization dropped by over 12%. We will be adding this benchmark testing to our standard test suite along with providing more information regarding the NVIDIA firewall solution in the near future. I highly recommend that if you have a NF4 based board, you should utilize ActiveArmor in its current configuration.
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Beenthere - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
Why would ANYONE spend the coin to buy an Intel based SLI system when you can buy an AMD system for the same price that will out-perform the Intel system and be upgradable for years???The only reason I can see for anyone buying any Intel product at this time is if they are stuck with an Intel system already and they desire to upgrade to a faster chip if they can find one to fit whatever socket Mobo they have. Otherwise I see no logical reason whatsoever for even considering an obsolete, under-performing Intel product.
Shintai - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
You ask the wrong question. Why would anyone buy a SLI/CrossFire system at all.bob661 - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
He can ask any question he wants. There are no wrong questions.Because one can. :)Ricky Ling - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
I only afraid on the future upgradeability on this board because according to ASUS Support FAQ (as this news has not been revealed on the Internet), this board does not support future Pentium 4 that based on 65nm technology, namely Cedar Mill (Single core replacing Prescott) and Presler (Dual core replacing Smithfield)So how is testing done the Presler sample processor cause I thought Anand got holding of 1 Presler sample...Pls double check at the following :
http://support.asus.com/faq/faq_right_second_detai...">http://support.asus.com/faq/faq_right_s...P5N32-SL...
As Presler start hitting OEM already....we need more info on this issue???
Gary Key - Sunday, October 30, 2005 - link
The initial information I have from Asus this weekend is the board will support the 65nm CPU range with a bios update and the CPU steppings must be B1 or above.
Gary Key - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
Hello,I had already asked for public clarification about this issue from Asus after visiting the website last week. I believe the entire FAQ has not been properly updated as it still states the Pentium 820 will only work in single core mode which is no longer the case with this chipset revision. We have not had an issue testing the Presler or Cedar Mill CPUs with current board designs from different suppliers.
I will respond once I have further information.
Thank you.
Chuckles - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
How's the clearance on the right-most PCIe x1 slot? It looks like a card put in there would be perilously close to the northbridge heatsink.Gary Key - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
Hi,The D-Link DGE-560T PCIe network adaptor card fit fine and it is the longest card I tried in the x1 slot. I would agree if a card had several logic chips placed in the right area on the back of the board then clearance could be an issue with the heatsink. However, the few peripheral PCIe cards that I have fit fine.
erwos - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
I wouldn't have minded seeing the difference between bridged SLI and bridgeless SLI on both SLI Dual x16 and SLI Dual x8 motherboards.My gut feeling is that nVidia is going to be phasing out the bridge in the near future, if they can get the same performance without it using the PCIe bus.
-Erwos
DigitalFreak - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
"ASUS CPU Lock Free (BIOS setting to unlock multiplier locked CPUs)"Does this mean that all multipliers (up and down) are available again?