Review: ATI RADEON Xpress 3200 Shootout: ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe -v- Sapphire PURE Crossfire PC-A9RD580 - Mainboard - HEXUS.net

System Setup and Notes

Hardware

ATI Radeon Xpress 3200 Test Systems
Processor(s)	AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 2.8GHz, single-core, 1MiB L2 cache, San Diego
Mainboard(s)	ASUS A8R32-MVP (ATI Xpress 3200; ULi M1575) Sapphire PURE Crossfire PC-A9RD580 (ATI Xpress 3200; ATI SB450)
Memory	2GiB; Corsair TWINX2048-3500LL XMS PRO
Memory Timings	2.0-3-2-6 @ 400MHz, 1T
BIOS Versions	04/03/2006 (Sapphire) 0311 (ASUS)
Disk Drive	160GB Seagate Barracuda ST3160812AS 7200.9 SATA
Graphics Card(s)	ATI Radeon X1900 XTX (650/775) ATI Radeon X1900 Crossfire (625/725)
Graphics Driver	ATI 8.231-060221a1-030895C-ATI
Operating System	Windows XP Professional, SP2, 32-bit

Software

Game Software
ScienceMark HEXUS Crypto HEXUS Pifast Kribibench LAME MP3 Encoder Realstorm 2004 picCOLOR Cinebench 2003 Far Cry Quake 4 Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Notes

Tests were run a minimum of three times and the median result reported. If values weren't part of a repeatable set, they were discarded and obtained again. Driver defaults were used throughout and stock clocks for all hardware was used unless otherwise noted.

If you have any questions about our testing methods, please feel free to ask at any time in the HEXUS.community.

Testing Notes

Be aware that only the most recent BIOS for the A8R32-MVP makes it usable. We had significant (and massively frustrating) timing issues with prior revisions, on more than one sample, ASUS's engineers somewhat dropping the ball first off. However, the board is definitely workable nowadays, provided you use 0311 or later (assuming ASUS keep the fix in future revisions!), and you'll see us make mention of the new found quality as we conclude.