Benchmarking, GPUs, and Displays
Our motherboard benchmarks are changing as standardized application test suites like BAPCO's SYSMark 2007 and PC WorldBench 6.0 will be utilized to provide results that look at video creation, E-learning, 3D modeling, and office productivity applications. We will continue to utilize our in-house video/audio/productivity application benchmarks where applicable. Specific application benchmarks for networking, USB, storage, and audio performance will be provided in our in-depth chipset review roundups; otherwise we will reference to these results in first looks or single board reviews.
We are in the midst of a great lull at this time with game benchmarks as the top titles for 2007 such as Crysis, UT3, and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars will not be shipping until the fourth quarter (or "when it's done"), so our current benchmarks will have to suffice until the holiday season. Finally, depending upon the situation we will include synthetic benchmarks such as SuperPI and Futuremark to outline performance differences between stock and overclocked configurations.
One of the most common requests we have received is to see how an integrated graphics chipset on the typical µATX (commonly referred to as microATX or mATX) platform compares to a more performance-oriented graphics chipset designed for mainstream configurations. We're not trying to turn our µATX roundup into a graphics card shootout, but we decided to look at solutions that range in price from $60 to $125 to see just what type of performance and feature improvements an extra week's paycheck could buy.
In keeping with our silence is golden theme, our graphics cards consist of the
Gigabyte 8600GT,
MSI NX8600GTS, and the
Sapphire HD 2400XT. We might even have time to throw in video quality results with our recently arrived
Galaxy 8600GTS HDMI card that features (if you couldn't figure it out) native HDMI output. For those of you who wondering why an AMD HD 2600 card is not included, the reason is simple: passively cooled cards were not available in time. We have now received the
MSI RX2600XT and will include video comparisons with this card and potentially another HD 2600 card in our G35 preview next month.
Overall, our primary focus is to compare video playback quality between these add-in products sporting the latest AVIVO and PureVideo technologies and the latest IGP chipsets from Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA. We will briefly touch on the quality differences in the motherboard test results but will provide an in-depth sidebar article on video quality and gaming performance.
Of course, if you are going to show video card and IGP performance/quality comparisons then one would assume we used a monitor capable of displaying those 1080P capabilities. In fact, we used three different monitors for our test results. Our primary desktop monitors included the
24" Acer AL2416WBsd for DVI and analog output testing along with the
24" Westinghouse L2410NM for HDMI output testing. Our choice for the all-encompassing multifunction monitor in our HTPC buildup is the
42" Westinghouse TX-42F430S (which replaces the older
42" Westinghouse LVM-42w2) that will be reviewed separately in the coming weeks.
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sprockkets - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
For focusing on what matters in uATX boards. That and perhaps the vast majority of people are more focused on these items such as S3 standby as opposed to other features.Shame the abit NF-M2 nView is no longer going to be made since it is older tech.
Myrandex - Friday, August 10, 2007 - link
I think its a shame that there aren't any more SLI capable mATX boards coming out. I have the EVGA Nforce4 SLI mATX board and absolutely love it. I didn't want onboard video, as I already had a 7800GT, and I wanted the option of adding a cheap 7800GT to it later as well if I wanted to (as well as I have a dedicated X-fi sound card and a PCie TV Tuner), so that board worked perfectly.Jason
The Boston Dangler - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
I built a micro box just last night. This was for my friend's parents (in their 60's). The box alone hit the $500 target. Everything else will be purchased in person. I hooked them up with XP MCE and remote, they purchased Office Sudent Edition, and all other software will be freebies. The box will be used for the usual suspects: email, internet, music, movies, and office stuff.ASUS M2NPV-VM
(seems very complete, capable, easy to use, I like the MB header for reset, pwr etc.)
3800+ HE
2 GB decent, cheap DDR-800
Seasonic 330W
Coolermaster Centurion 541, forgot to buy fans DOH!
( I didn't like the way the stand-offs didn't support the forward edge of the MB, the tool-less drive bays are kinda PITA, why are the front panel plugs at the bottom?)
Lite-On SATA DVD
Samsung ??? HDD (love them)
5 beans, not too shabby.
Darth Farter - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
heh, same thing here for my dad ordered from ZZF, 3800+, 2gb ddr2 800, Asus 690G, a 250gb WD, liteon sata dvdrw and mini case vostok w. psu from enermax ~$400.mostlyprudent - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
WOW, impressive summary article. That was a lot of information and you conveyed logically and concisely. The sheer scope of material you plan to present over the next month is staggering, but VERY welcome.Do we really have to wait until September/October for the P35 roundup?
CZroe - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
I just hope you guys are aware that Mission Impossible III on Blu-Ray is MPEG2. Most BD movies are VC-1 or AVC video codecs while it's usually the older titles that end up with MPEG2 (due to immaturity of the mastering software). Most BD movies that are also released on HD-DVD are the exact same VC-1 encode on both discs, so this is an unfortunate selection for comparison.Bjoern77 - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
"Oh, we almost forgot: we get to do this all over again with the P35 motherboards when we're done with the µATX segment."The time that review will show up the p35 will be outdated, concerning all that various components included in this review.
But anyway, i'm looking forward to it.
CZroe - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
I just hope you guys are aware that Mission Impossible III on Blu-Ray is MPEG2. Most BD movies are VC-1 or AVC video codecs while it's usually the older titles that end up with MPEG2 (due to immaturity of the mastering software). Most BD movies that are also released on HD-DVD are the exact same VC-1 encode on both discs, so this is an unfortunate selection for comparison.strikeback03 - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
300 was just released on both using VC-1 for each. Though of course that would mean more testing for the Anandtech crew.Kensei - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
Not to be too pendantic, but did you mean "long road"?
Also, while I have your attention Gary, what happened to those literary quotes you used to use at the beginning of article? I like them... not sure about others though.