CrossFire Xpress 3200: RD580 for AM2
by Wesley Fink on June 1, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Audio Performance
Audio testing used the latest version 2.2 of the Rightmark 3D Sound CPU utilization test. This benchmark measures the overhead or CPU utilization required by a codec or hardware audio chip. Versions earlier than 2.2 would not work properly on the RD580 chipset .
All benchmarks used Realtek Driver Version 1.36. CPU utilization across the board were the lowest we have ever measured with this utility, ranging from around 0.6% in Empty CPU and 2D tests to 1.4% in 3D and 3D+EAX tests. These utilization numbers are the result of the dual-core CPU as Realtek uses load sharing to drive the audio codec. Unfortunately, as we first described in Intel Core Duo: AOpen i975Xa-YDG to the Rescue, these low test results do not consistently translate into better FPS results in gaming. Results with HD audio on dual-core showed a similar loss of FPS whether run with a single or dual-core CPU.
Realtek has been very consistent in recent months in releasing regular updates to their HD audio drivers, and we suspect that trend will continue with ATI, Intel, and NVIDIA all now firmly committed to HD Azalia audio. Each new Realtek update has lowered CPU utilization and we also hope that will continue.
Audio testing used the latest version 2.2 of the Rightmark 3D Sound CPU utilization test. This benchmark measures the overhead or CPU utilization required by a codec or hardware audio chip. Versions earlier than 2.2 would not work properly on the RD580 chipset .
All benchmarks used Realtek Driver Version 1.36. CPU utilization across the board were the lowest we have ever measured with this utility, ranging from around 0.6% in Empty CPU and 2D tests to 1.4% in 3D and 3D+EAX tests. These utilization numbers are the result of the dual-core CPU as Realtek uses load sharing to drive the audio codec. Unfortunately, as we first described in Intel Core Duo: AOpen i975Xa-YDG to the Rescue, these low test results do not consistently translate into better FPS results in gaming. Results with HD audio on dual-core showed a similar loss of FPS whether run with a single or dual-core CPU.
Realtek has been very consistent in recent months in releasing regular updates to their HD audio drivers, and we suspect that trend will continue with ATI, Intel, and NVIDIA all now firmly committed to HD Azalia audio. Each new Realtek update has lowered CPU utilization and we also hope that will continue.
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Gary Key - Thursday, June 1, 2006 - link
Wes's original hard drive met an untimely death during testing. However, the chart is incorrect as the Maxtor drive has a 16MB cache also and in our IPEAK tests the two drives are very comparable if not the same. We did not see any differences in the game scores and PCMark was off about 20 points, well within the margin of error for testing for this application.