Review: EPoX EP-4PLAI - Mainboard - HEXUS.net

System Setup

Hardware

EPoX EP-4PLAI, Socket 478, Intel 848P, Pentium 4, 06/11/03 BIOS
EPoX EP-4PDA2+, Socket 478, Intel 865PE, Pentium 4, 05/08/03 BIOS
ABIT IC7, Socket 478, Intel i875, Pentium 4, A18 BIOS
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz, 512KB L2, 16 x 200MHz (ABIT)
Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz, 512KB L2, 15 x 200MHz (EP-4PLAI, EP-4PDA2+)
2 x 256MB Corsair XMS3200LLPT, 2-3-3-6 (EP-4PLAI)
2 x 256MB Corsair XMS3200LLPT, 2-2-2-6 (EP-4PDA2+)
2 x 256MB Corsair XMS3500C2, 2-2-2-6 (ABIT)
Western Digital WD360 Raptor, SATA, 36.2GB
ATI Radeon 9800XT (412/730)

Software

Windows XP Professional SP1
ATI CATALYST 3.9 and Control Panel
Intel 5.02.1002 chipset drivers (ABIT, 4PDA2+, 4PLAI)
HEXUS Pifast v41
Simplisoft HDTach 2.61
Kribi Bench 1.19
Sciencemark 2.0
3DMark 2001SE v330
Quake3 v1.30 HQ (four demo)
Serious Sam 2 (OpenGL HQ, SDC demo)
LAME 3.92MMX MP3 Encoding(192CBR, U2's Pop album)
Realstorm Ray Tracing
Comanche 4 Demo
X2: The Threat - Rolling Demo

Notes

Clock Speeds

The 4PLAI ran the 3.0C at the following clock speeds, keep that in mind when comparing results.

The EP-4PDA2+ ran the 3.0C at 3022.0MHz, the IC7 ran the 3.2 at 3207.7MHz.

With the 4PLAI being the single memory channel derivative of 865PE, the 4PLAI goes up against my reference 865PE platform board, the EPoX EP-4PDA2+. Like the 4PLAI, it features an AMM/PAT enabled BIOS which is enabled throughout and is run in both dual channel and single channel modes.

In summary, the 4PLAI/848P/NoPAT combination goes up against 865PE/PAT in both single and dual channel configurations, to see how closely it matches the performance of a PAT enabled 865PE board. I'll comment on the 865PE non PAT performance as necessary. The 3.2 and IC7 are there to make up the numbers, keeping the graphs from looking bare.

Hopefully we'll get a good look at the difference between tweaked single and dual channel Pentium 4 performance from the 865PE board, along with a look at how untweaked budget 848P keeps up.

Our usual benchmark suite throughout, everything is run three times to ensure consistency, the top and bottom results discarded and the median result used for comparison.

Finally, before we move on to the benchmarks, a quick CPU-Z shot to reveal the codename for 848P, Breeds Hill.