System setup and notes
Hardware and Software
Test Platforms
| System | Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 System | Foxconn C51GK8MA System | ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 System | ABIT AX8 S939 System | Intel i955X System | Intel i945G System |
| Processor(s) | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ | Intel Pentium 4 660 |
| Mainboard | Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 | Foxconn C51GK8MA nForce 430 | ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 nForce4 Ultra | ABIT AX8 VIA K8T890 | ABIT AW8-MAX | Intel i945G reference |
| Memory | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS3200XL | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS3200XL | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS3200XL | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS3200XL | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS2-5400UL | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS2-5400UL | Memory timings | 2-2-2-5 1T @ DDR400 | 2-2-2-5 1T @ DDR400 | 2-2-2-5 1T @ DDR400 | 2-2-2-5 1T @ DDR400 | 3-2-2-8 @ DDR533 | 3-2-2-8 @ DDR533 |
| Discrete Graphics Card | ATI RADEON X850 XT PE - PEG16X - CATALYST 5.4 | |||||
| Onboard graphics | GeForce 6100 - 81.32 drivers | GeForce 6150 - 81.32 drivers | - | - | - | Intel GMA950 - 4396 drivers | Disk Drive | 160GB WD IDE & 36GB SATA Raptor |
| BIOS Version | BIOS F2 | BIOS 26th Augutst 2005 | BIOS 9th Augutst 2005 | BIOS 13 - 25th April 2005 | BIOS 13 | NT94510J.86A.0897 |
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional, SP2 (32-bit) | |||||
| Mainboard Software | NVIDIA ForceWare 8.12 platform driver | NVIDIA ForceWare 8.12 platform driver | NVIDIA ForceWare 6.39 platform driver | VIA Hyperion Pro v4.55 | Intel INF Update Utility 7.0.0.1019 | Intel INF Update Utility 7.0.0.1019 |
Benchmark Software
HEXUS.in-house Cryptography Benchmark
HEXUS Pifast Benchmark
ScienceMark 2.0 (7th February 2005)
Realstorm 2004
CINEBENCH 2003 multi-CPU render
HEXUS.in-house MP3 Encoding Benchmark using LAME 3.97a (Intel HT compiler) - 701MB WAV
picCOLOR 32-bit v4.0
KribiBench v1.1
Microsoft Movie Maker 2.1
Simpli Software's HDTach 3.01
DOOM 3 Timedemo 1
3DMar05 b1.2.0
Far Cry v1.3
Notes
As expected, the Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 completed our gamut of tests without issue. A discrete ATI RADEON X850 XT PE 256MB card was used to test the gaming potential of the 'board but all other tests were conducted with the onboard video's framebuffer set to 128MB. The direct comparison here would have to be the nForce 430/GeForcee 6150 motherboard from Foxconn, which boasts better onboard video capabilities as well as a faster GPU core clock. We've added a few established chipsets to the lineup, so that you can see where this micro-ATX offering stacks up against some decent competition.
The running speed of the PCI-Express-based systems were as follows:
3600.2MHz - Intel i945GTP - Intel i945G - Intel Pentium 4 660
3592.2MHz - ABIT AW8-MAX - Intel i955X - Intel Pentium 4 660
2411.2MHz - ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 - nForce4 Ultra - AMD Athlon 64 4000+
2411.1MHz - Foxconn C51GK8MA - nForce 430/6150 - AMD Athlon 64 4000+
2411.0MHz - Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 - nForce 430/6100 - AMD Athlon 64 4000+
2405.4MHz - ABIT AX8 - VIA K8T890 - AMD Athlon 64 4000+
Overclocking
A lack of voltage adjustment was always going to hinder overclocking efforts. An AMD Athlon 64 FX-55's multiplier was reduced to 8x, HTT frequency to 3x, and DRAM speeds to DDR100. We managed to reach a maximum, stable driven clock speed of 262MHz. The board is fine for moderate overclocking but we'd recommend you look elsewhere if you need high driven clock speeds to make the most out of your processor.