Intel 925X/915: Chipset Performance & DDR2
by Wesley Fink on June 19, 2004 3:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
925X vs. 915 vs. Athlon 64: Test Configuration
The Intel 925X and 915 were configured using the same top-end 560 (3.6GHz) CPU, 1 GB DDR2 memory, video card, hard drives, and SATA RAID Array to compare chipset performance accurately.| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | Intel 560 (3.6GHz) Socket 775 AMD FX53 (2.4GHz) Socket 939 |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB Micron DDR2 533 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev.2 (Samsung 2-2-2-5 tested at 2-2-2-10 for A64) |
| Hard Drive(s): | 2 x 250GB Maxtor MaXLine III in SATA RAID Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA (8Mb buffer) |
| Video AGP & IDE Chipset Drivers: | Intel Chipset Driver 6.0.0.1014 Intel Application Accelerator 4.0.0.6211 NVIDIA nForce version 4.24 |
| Video Card(s): | nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra PCIe nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra AGP 8X |
| Video Drivers: | nVidia 61.45 Graphics Drivers |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| Power Supply: | HiPro 470W (Intel) Enermax 465W |
| Motherboards: | Intel 925XCV (Intel 925X) Socket 775 Intel 915GUX (Intel 915G) Socket 775 MSI K8N Neo2 (nForce3-250 Ultra) Socket 939 |
The AMD Athlon 64 Platform used the top-end FX53 (2.4GHz) CPU, an AGP 8X version of the same GeForce 6800 Ultra video card, 1 GB OCZ DDR400 2-2-2 DDR memory (tested at 2-2-2-10 for best A64 performance) using the new Samsung chips, and (due to time limitations) a single hard drive instead of a RAID array. Using a single drive instead of SATA RAID should place the FX53 system at a performance disadvantage.
The nVidia 6800 Ultra PCIe uses a bridge chip to the PCI Express bus. The performance impact of the nVidia 6800 Ultra bridge chip for PCIe is unknown at this point.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
57 Comments
View All Comments
nserra - Tuesday, June 22, 2004 - link
You guys are only evaluating the performance, I think it's not that important, the features yes, those are important. The P4 is crap even with hyper-x,y,z, so it wasn't a "chipset" that was going to make a miracle.I would like to see the new platform tested, IGP, Sound system, EMT64 (is it enable on LGA775 processors?), NX bit?, new power saving techniques, so new features up to test.
At least the DDR vs DDR2 comparison is a good thing.
I was hopping that DD2 would give a performance boast, since the P4 architecture relies on higher bandwidth and higher latency (the pros of RDRAM i850), but I guess not....
Bozo Galora - Monday, June 21, 2004 - link
yes he's sureRyanVM - Monday, June 21, 2004 - link
#54, Are you sure you aren't thinking of the S754/S939 dual socket mobo?tfranzese - Sunday, June 20, 2004 - link
#53, yes, there's a board that was shown at Computex that had both sockets giving the option to use one or the other.RyanVM - Sunday, June 20, 2004 - link
So, any chance that the 915 chipset can be tied to a socket 478 + Northwood? :DMarlin1975 - Sunday, June 20, 2004 - link
AMD does not really need dual ch. memory. Look at the diff. between a socket 939 and 754, it is very little for most apps. Also Dual Ch memory is not new. It was used WAY back in the day.The only reason it is back is because intel can't design a decent CPU so they have to make up for it with pricey and unneeded tech.
tfranzese - Sunday, June 20, 2004 - link
Anemone, there's really little reason you need dual-channel memory on the AMD64 platform with the memory controller being on the chip.Anemone - Sunday, June 20, 2004 - link
Anti overclocking designs in the new chipsets? Very poor choice.I will reiterate Intel performance per $ over its previous generations is pathetic. More $ required per degree of performance and the increase over last year is poor.
AMD is expensive until you get to the 754 - but perhaps I'm mistaken but I thought the industry had left single channel memory configurations behind 2 years ago. Oh wait, it's AMD, that's about their catchup period, sorry. So yes look at AMD in dual channel AMD64 chips and yes they are very pricey. So much for their argument that by providing competition they keep prices down.
Add to all that the overclocking unfriendly stuff, and while AMD comes out as better overall, the performance per $ is still not markedly better than last year, imo.
:)
Bozo Galora - Sunday, June 20, 2004 - link
"My My We are in trouble now arent we..."Yeah, I guess we might have to offer AMD a few of our (cash in the bank) billions to buy them out. I wonder if the FTC will allow that? Hmmmmm. Let's investigate.
firtol88 - Saturday, June 19, 2004 - link
My My we are in trouble now aren't we...Looks like AMD is the clear choice, unless you need a heater.