Albatron KX18D PROII: nForce2 Ultra with Memory Ratios

Performance Test Configuration

Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s):	AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (400MHz FSB)
RAM:	2 x 512MB Mushkin PC3500 Level II 2 x 256MB Corsair PC3200 TwinX LL 1.1
Hard Drive(s):	Maxtor 120GB 7200 RPM (8MB Buffer) Western Digital 120GB 7200 RPM (8MB Buffer)
Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers:	NVIDIA nForce version 2.45 (7/29/03) NVIDIA nForce version 2.03 (1/30/03) VIA 4in1 Hyperion 4.47 (May 20, 2003) SiS AGP r1.16 & SiS IDE r2.04
Video Card(s):	ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB (AGP 8X)
Video Drivers:	ATI Catalyst 3.6
Operating System(s):	Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboards:	Albatron KX18D ProII @200.5 FSB Soltek KT600-R (KT600)@ 200.01 FSB DFI 748-AL (SiS748)@ 200.45MHz FSB Asus A7V600 (KT600)@ 200.0 MHz FSB Soltek NV400-L64 (nForce2 400 SC)@ 200.5MHz FSB DFI NFII Ultra LANParty (nForce2 Ultra 400) @ 201.35 MHz FSB Gigabyte 7VT600 1394 (KT600) @ 202.78MHz FSB Gigabyte 7NNXP (nForce2 Ultra 400) @ 202.77MHz FSB Epox 8KRA2+ (KT600)@202.44MHz FSB

All performance tests run on recent nForce2 Ultra 400 use Mushkin PC3500 LII to preserve 2-2-2-5 timings at DDR400. Earlier tests on nForce2 Ultra 400, NForce2 400, and VIA KT400 used Corsair 3200LL v1.1 modules set to 2-2-2-5 in DDR400 mode. Dual-Channel mode was used on nForce2 Ultra 400 boards, and 2 dimms working as Single-Channel were used on the nForce2 400 and VIA KT600 boards.

All performance tests were run with 4-bank interleave where it was an available option. Timings used were the highest available (Aggressive, Turbo, Ultra, etc.) on the motherboard.

All performance tests were run with the ATI 9800 PRO 128MB video card with AGP Aperture set to 128MB with Fast Write enabled. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1024x768x32.

Additions to Performance Tests

We have standardized on ZD Labs Internet Content Creation Winstone 2003 and ZD Labs Business Winstone 2002 for system benchmarking. We are no longer reporting SysMark2002 results as part of our standard benchmark suite.

Game Benchmarks

We have added the DirectX 9 Gun Metal DirectX Benchmark 2 from Yeti Labs as a standard game benchmark. We are also evaluating the new X2 Benchmark, which includes Transform and Lighting effects as part of the standard benchmarks. Results are reported here for reference. Jedi Knight II has been dropped from our standard Benchmark Suite. We were forced to use different patches for operation on Athlon and Intel Pentium 4, which made cross-platform comparison difficult if not impossible. In addition, Opteron/Athlon64 requires a third patching variation for benchmarking. JK2 uses a Quake engine, and we are continuing Quake3 as a standard benchmark for the time being.

New Hardware

With the release of DirectX 9 late in 2002, the availability of Benchmarks to test DX9, and the availability of DX9-supporting video cards from both nVidia and ATI, we are now using the ATI Radeon 9800 PRO for all hardware reviews.