System Setup and Notes
Hardware
| System | ECS PN2 SLI2+ System | eVGA nForce 680i SLI System | Foxconn 975X7AB System | MSI K9A Platinum AM2 System |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (2.93GHz, 4MiB L2 cache, LGA775) | AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 (2.8GHz, 2 x 1MiB L2 cache, Socket AM2) | ||
| Motherboard | ECS PN2 SLI2+ - nForce 680i SLI | eVGA nForce 680i SLI | Foxconn 975X7AB - Intel i975X | MSI K9A Platinum AM2 - ATI RD580/SB600 |
| Memory | 2GBytes (2 x 1GByte) Corsair EPP | |||
| Memory timings and speed | 4-4-4-12 2T @ 800MHz (PC6400) | |||
| Graphics card(s) | NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX + SLI card for ECS | HIS X1900 CROSSFIRE EDITION + Sapphire X1900XTX | ||
| Disk drive(s) | Seagate 160GB SATAII (ST3160812AS) | |||
| BIOS revision | 691N0P19 (10/31/2006) | 691N0P20 (04/11/2006) | 635F1D08 (09/08/2006) | 1.2B1 (07/17/06) |
| Mainboard software | NVIDIA 9.53 | Intel Inf Update 8.0.1.1002 | Catalyst 6.8 Southbridge package | |
| Graphics driver | NVIDIA ForceWare 91.47 | ATI CATALYST 6.8 | ||
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional, w/ SP2, 32-bit | |||
| PSU | OCZ GameXStream 700W | |||
| Monitor | Dell 2405FPW | |||
Software
We ran the mainboards through our usual array of benchmarks.| 2D Benchmarks |
ScienceMark Memory Bandwidth ScienceMark Memory Latency HEXUS Pifast calculation to 10M places HEXUS WAV encoding HEXUS DivX encoding Cinebench 2003 v9.5 |
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| 3D Benchmarks |
Far Cry v1.33 Quake 4 v1.04 Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory v1.05 |
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Observational notes
We observed that the sample motherboard wouldn't POST with the BIOS defaults when using some quality Corsair PC8500 EPP or Crucial Ballistix PC8000 DDR2 RAM. We reckon this is down to the BIOS not correctly reading the SPD and applying stringent timings at high speeds. Booting with generic memory fixes the problem.As we mentioned earlier, the motherboard has an optional (and supplied) fan that's recommended when overclocking or in chassis with poor ventilation. However, without it installed and using a single 120mm fan spinning at 1,700 RPM, the MCP's temperature was reported at 58C, which was 39C above ambient. We'd recommend, therefore, that the optional fan become obligatory. The fan, though, isn't the quietest, even when running at 50 per cent, and the motherboard reports RPMs of anything between 900 - 9,000RPM when set to 55 per cent.
Another issue we came across is the inability, in the BIOS, to set the chassis automatic fan control to any figure less than 51C, meaning that it won't trigger (and therefore work) until that temperature is reached. This fact is also true of the eVGA motherboard which was run with a later BIOS. The chassis fan, then, can only be activated by setting the fan speed manually, but it needs to be set to 100 per cent for it to work at all. A small but obvious glitch.
Testing notes
We're comparing the ECS PN2 SLI2+ motherboard to another nForce 680i SLI in the form of the eVGA model. Performance should be within the standard deviation for each test. We've also included an Intel i975X chipset-based motherboard from Foxconn, the 975X7AB, and, completing this high-end quartet, MSI's RD580-based board for AMD's AM2 form factor.We feel that your choice of graphics cards dictates the choice of motherboard. High-end users will want to run with multi-GPU setups, or at least have the option to, so both nForce 680i SLI boards have been tested with NVIDIA's GeForce 7900 GTX 512 cards, with the ECS model running them in SLI. The Foxconn and MSI K9A Platinum AM2 boards both support ATI's CrossFire, so that's why we've chosen the largely equivalent X1900 XTX and CrossFire cards. Taking this into account, 2D results will be directly comparable between platforms but 3D results can only be directly compared against the platform offering the same multi-GPU support. All clear? If not, please head on over to the forums.
The actual running speed of the boards is often the differentating factor between motherboards based on the identical core logics. Here's how our quartet panned out, with respect to CPU speed.
2933.1MHz - 266.6MHz FSB - Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 - ECS PN2 SLI2+ nForce 680i
2933.1MHz - 266.6MHz FSB - Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 - eVGA nForce 680i
2928.4MHz - 266.2MHz FSB - Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 - Foxconn 975X7AB - i975X
2810.7MHz - 200.8MHz FSB - AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 - MSI K9A Platinum AM2 - ATI RD580/SB600
The MSI AMD board indulges in a little FSB overclocking but the trio of Core 2 Extreme boards are all at or below the processor's default speed.
On to the benchmarks.