Foxconn and Gigabyte Tackle Socket AM2
by Jarred Walton on June 22, 2006 1:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gaming Performance
We ran our standard battery of gaming benchmarks to assess performance, in single GPU as well as SLI mode. Benchmarks for single GPUs were conducted at 1280x1024/1280x960 without antialiasing or anisotropic filtering.
All three of the nForce 590 SLI motherboards perform similarly, with certain boards doing better in some games and falling slightly behind in others. NForce 570 SLI performance follows close behind, however, and given the much lower cost of such boards they are worth serious consideration. You can see that the new drivers and BIOS also caused some changes in the Foxconn results, but we would expect similar improvements/decreases on the other boards when running the same NVIDIA drivers.
Our general advice on both drivers and BIOS versions is to only upgrade if you have a specific issue that is fixed with the later version. We have also experienced BIOS flash failures using WinFlash with two different motherboards in the past couple of weeks, which makes features like Gigabyte's dual BIOS very useful. Unfortunately, neither of the failed motherboards had such a feature. At any rate, we would echo motherboard manufacturers' advice and urge caution with regards to BIOS updates. If you do need to flash the BIOS, you might also want to break out the old floppy drive and use a boot disk for maximum reliability.
SLI Performance
For dual GPU performance, we have increased the resolution to the 1600x1200, and we also ran with 4xAA and 8xAF enabled. We tested the single GPUs at these same settings for comparison. Even at the higher resolution with antialiasing and anisotropic filtering, certain games are still at least partially CPU limited. Of course, other games like F.E.A.R. are almost entirely GPU limited at anything above 1024x768.
The nForce 590 SLI motherboards appear to have a slight performance advantage over their competition in the SLI market, but the results are still clustered together. If you plan on running a multi-GPU configuration, the more difficult question is going to be whether you want to run ATI cards or NVIDIA cards. If you want to run CrossFire on AM2 you'll have to wait for ATI based motherboards to begin shipping. We expect that to occur within the next month, and you will also be able to run CrossFire on Intel's 975X motherboards.
We ran our standard battery of gaming benchmarks to assess performance, in single GPU as well as SLI mode. Benchmarks for single GPUs were conducted at 1280x1024/1280x960 without antialiasing or anisotropic filtering.
All three of the nForce 590 SLI motherboards perform similarly, with certain boards doing better in some games and falling slightly behind in others. NForce 570 SLI performance follows close behind, however, and given the much lower cost of such boards they are worth serious consideration. You can see that the new drivers and BIOS also caused some changes in the Foxconn results, but we would expect similar improvements/decreases on the other boards when running the same NVIDIA drivers.
Our general advice on both drivers and BIOS versions is to only upgrade if you have a specific issue that is fixed with the later version. We have also experienced BIOS flash failures using WinFlash with two different motherboards in the past couple of weeks, which makes features like Gigabyte's dual BIOS very useful. Unfortunately, neither of the failed motherboards had such a feature. At any rate, we would echo motherboard manufacturers' advice and urge caution with regards to BIOS updates. If you do need to flash the BIOS, you might also want to break out the old floppy drive and use a boot disk for maximum reliability.
SLI Performance
For dual GPU performance, we have increased the resolution to the 1600x1200, and we also ran with 4xAA and 8xAF enabled. We tested the single GPUs at these same settings for comparison. Even at the higher resolution with antialiasing and anisotropic filtering, certain games are still at least partially CPU limited. Of course, other games like F.E.A.R. are almost entirely GPU limited at anything above 1024x768.
The nForce 590 SLI motherboards appear to have a slight performance advantage over their competition in the SLI market, but the results are still clustered together. If you plan on running a multi-GPU configuration, the more difficult question is going to be whether you want to run ATI cards or NVIDIA cards. If you want to run CrossFire on AM2 you'll have to wait for ATI based motherboards to begin shipping. We expect that to occur within the next month, and you will also be able to run CrossFire on Intel's 975X motherboards.
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archcommus - Thursday, June 22, 2006 - link
As the article conclusion mentions, I have a Epox 9NPA+ right now. Should I stick with this board and socket and just pick up a cheap X2 sometime soon instead of switching to this new platform?JarredWalton - Thursday, June 22, 2006 - link
Probably. In a month prices should be at much more reasonable levels, and while DDR2-800 with all other parts being more or less equal will be 5-10% faster, unless you're after maximum performance you're better off just upgrading your current CPU to dual core.archcommus - Friday, June 23, 2006 - link
Thanks. The only crappy part about that is having to invest in another gig of DDR memory instead of putting my money towards DDR2, but I guess if it'd last me all of next year, it's not a big deal.Myrandex - Thursday, June 22, 2006 - link
I was surprised from reading the specs list that the Foxconn has ieee1394b and the giga-byte doesn't. Traditionally Gigabyte has been the only manufacturer to consistently include this ont heir boards and it was a factor with me in the past wanting Gigabyte motherboards. Those clamp SATA connectors are nice though as the traditional ones are somewhat flimsy.Jason
R3MF - Thursday, June 22, 2006 - link
that is an absolute winner, and Gigabyte deserve praise for it.i am still waiting for a mATX 570SLI motherboard which has the same third 16x (8x) expansion slot.
preferably a fourth 1x slot as well, but i appreciate the crusties may want at least one legacy PCI slot.
glennpratt - Friday, June 23, 2006 - link
While I appreciate the thought, there is nothing but video cards and a handful of middle of the road devices that work with PCIe. Kinda sucks.MacGuffin - Thursday, June 22, 2006 - link
But something strikes me odd: Compare Page 4 of this review with Page 4 of the Biostar/MSI roundup. The HTT Overclocking Charts from the Biostar and the Foxconn are IDENTICAL (except the Memory Settings row: 9x332HTT=DDR2 665/9x332HTT=DDR 664)! Maximum CPU & Maximum FSB are the exact same!Max CPU Overclock: 258HTTx12 (3100 MHz) +29%
Max FSB Overclock: 332HTTx9 (2989 MHz) +66%
MacGuffin - Thursday, June 22, 2006 - link
Also on Page 9, right after the Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory chart,"All three of the nForce4 590 SLI"
Should be nForce 590 SLI.:-)
JarredWalton - Thursday, June 22, 2006 - link
That one I can entirely blame on Dragon NaturallySpeaking... though of course I have to blame my eyes for not catching the extra number as well.MacGuffin - Thursday, June 22, 2006 - link
Hehe...no problemo. Finish up reviews on MSI K9N Diamond, and ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe within 2 weeks and I won't ask for my money back ;-)