FIRST LOOK: Asus P5AD2-E - 1066FSB & DDR2-711
by Wesley Fink on November 29, 2004 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Test Setup
We compared the performance of the Asus P5AD2-E to the Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE (925XE), the Intel 925X motherboard, and the Asus P5AD2 Premium (925X). We tested with the 3.6Ghz 800FSB Intel 560 CPU on the 925X, and the 3.46EE 1066FSB CPU on the 925XE boards. We also included results for the fastest current A64 processors - the FX55 and the 4000+ on the nForce 4 PCI Express Reference board. To remove the video card as a performance factor, all benchmarks were run with the PCI Express nVidia 6800 Ultra.| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | Intel 3.46EE (1066FSB) Socket 775 Intel 560 (3.6GHz) Socket 775 AMD FX55 (2.6Ghz) Socket 939 AMD 4000+ (2.4GHz) Socket 939 |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB Crucial DDR2-533 2 x 512MB OCZ 3200 Platinum Rev. 2 DDR |
| Hard Drive(s): | Maxtor 250GB MaXLine III (16MB buffer) |
| Video Card(s): | nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra PCIe |
| Video Drivers: | nVidia 61.77 Graphics Drivers |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| Power Supply: | OCZ Power Stream 520 (520W) |
| Motherboards: | Asus P5AD2-E (Intel 925XE) Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE (Intel 925XE) Asus P5AD2 Premium (Intel 925X) Intel 925XCV (Intel 925X) nVidia nForce 4 Reference Board |
The configuration was kept as close as possible between the 3 motherboards, but we are forced to compare DDR400 memory at 2-2-2-10 to DDR2-533 at 3-3-3-10. However, as we saw in the DDR vs. DDR2 review, the performance of fast DDR400 and DDR533 is very close.
In the Performance graphs, the tested Asus P5AD2-E board is in Dark Blue. Other Intel-based motherboards are in Light Blue. Athlon 64 reference results are in Green - Light Green for FX55 and Dark Green for 4000+.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
34 Comments
View All Comments
dariush - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
For Gaming, AMD is better but not all computer users are gamer, When Talking about about video encoding and stability (must important in critical cases) you see Intel says the last words.Wesley Fink - Thursday, December 2, 2004 - link
#32 - I would sincerely appreciate your reading the review before posting comments. Overclocking is covered on p.3 - which is actually titled "Overclocking and Stress Testing".Second, this is a First Look which is less detailed that a full review - the idea is to bring you more reviews quicker. We used to include a page explaining this, but I removed it this go-round because I assumed the idea was well-known by now. It appears I was should have kept the explanation page in the review.
Third, First Look uses PCMark2004 as a General Performance comparison. However, as I stated in Comment #18 the complete Winstones and media encoding do not provide additional information. However, they are already posted in Comment #18 and I'll repeat them:
"We did run a full suite of benchmarks for future comparisons, but nothing really changes.
925XE/3.46EE - 925X/3.6E - nF4/FX55 - Benchmark
34.1 - 34.4 - 39.3 - MM Content Creation 04
26.7 - 26.5 - 31.1 - Business Winstone 04
73.1 - 73.4 - 69.1 - AutoGK DivX 5.1.1".
Fourth, we use a standard setup to allow easier comparisons. Where standard 1024x768 benchmarks are CPU or GPU bound we do use AA and/or higher resolutions to allow valid comparions of motherboard performance. For example Comanche 4 is run at 1280x1024 with 4X AA because 1024x768 without AA reveals nothing about true performance. The "Score" bench for Aquamark 3 uses 4AA by default. We run the newest games at highest settings as detailed in the chart descriptions.
T8000 - Thursday, December 2, 2004 - link
If you talk about enthousiast options, overclocking is usually one of them. Still, no single overclocked CPU was included in the benchmarks.There was also no mention about the 925XE containing more options to keep PCI-E within spec during overclocking.
Besides, there where only gaming benchmarks with high end GPU's running at 1024x768 with no AA or AF, thus creating an unlikely scenario with performance numbers that do not reflect real world performance differences, even for those who just play games.
Who would even consider buying a $500 GF6800U to play only at settings that a $200 GF6600GT does with ease?
danidentity - Wednesday, December 1, 2004 - link
#28 - The Dolby Digital Live encoding on this board is functionally the same as SoundStorm on the NF2 boards. No PCI sound cards currently support Dolby Digital Live.cALIx - Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - link
Not to change the subject, but in this review, Doom 3 is listed as a dx9 game. Isnt D3 an opengl based game? If you open the console you can easily see all the gl_ extensions that are open. Also Hardocp always lists D3 as an opengl game when they benchmark with it. So I'm just wondering if someone could clear that up for me. I understand what they are individually, but i'm still confused as to how they work/dont work together...LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - link
Ouch...my brand new $140 MSI K8N Neo 2 mainboard and I feel sorry for those who choose to shell $250-300 for this board. Not that it's a bad piece of hardware, not that Intel's high-end P4 chips are bad hardware either...but you can do better for far less money, so why would you pay this kind of cash? Especially when you could balance out your system with the money you've saved by upping your graphics card or opting for more RAM or a faster hard disk. Guess I'm just someone who doesn't see the point in buying a Jaguar when an Acura RSX-S would do what I want for less.tc2k04 - Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - link
I know i'm late, but,Did anybody else notice the talk about the audio solution, is this encoding comparable to the output of nforce2 boards? they say its a first for on the motherboard audio, can you buy seperate pci cards at reasonable prices which can do this?
i'm trying to get a sound solution that can output 2 channel audio in 5.1 through a digital out like my nforce2 onboard does. If this can do this, i might end up buying an intel.
Googer - Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - link
Intel's engineering DEPT takes orders From queer mac using Marketers.Googer - Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - link
#3 it works. I have done it. Super7 is like a Swiss Army Knife.TrogdorJW - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
Hey Wes,Any chance of some OC tests and numbers from a standard Prescott core?
I'm wondering if a 2.8E has the potential to reach a 1066 FSB overclock.
(I'm also including hard returns due to the overly long link someone posted.)
As the 2MB cache alleviates some of the pressures of the FSB, a 1MB cache might benefit more.
Besides, if a 2.8E could actually OC well to 3.73 GHz and a 1066 FSB, that might be worthwhile!