Benchmarking
Setup
Hardware
| CPU(s) |
AMD
Athlon 1.2 GHz @ 1.2 GHz
|
| Heatsink
& Fan |
3dfxCOOL
Socket A-HO Fan
|
| Motherboard(s) |
FIC
AD11
|
| Memory |
128 MB Mushkin DDR (PC2100)
|
| Hard
Drive(s) |
Quantum
40 GB ATA-100
|
|
CD-ROM |
EPO
50x
|
| Sound
Card |
On
board 3D Surround
|
| Video
Card |
Absolute
Multimedia Outrageous GeForce2 GTS
|
Software
| Operating
System |
Windows
Me
|
| Video
/ VIA Drivers |
nVidia 6.50 final release
|
| |
Benchmarking
Applications |
| OpenGL |
Quake
III Arena v1.17
|
| DirectX |
Microsoft
DirectX 8
|
| Other |
Madonion
3DMark 2000 v1.1., ZD CPUmark 99, Sisoft Sandra 2001
|
AMD sent the 1.2 GHz CPU
so that we could thrash a few boards. Nice, huh? Two thumbs up to Mushkin:
Mushkin saved the day by handing over 128 MB of DDR SDRAM (PC2100). PC2100
means it will run at the 266 MHz FSB of the Athlon that AMD sent. PC1600 DDR
SDRAM can only be run at 100 MHz FSB so keep that in mind when you are upgrading.
The closest board to compare
to is the AOpen AK73 Pro. I think comparing a DDR setup at 266 MHz FSB to
an SDRAM setup at 133 MHz (100 FSB, 133 memory) would show total performance
potential. Unfortunately I killed the Duron 800 CPU that AMD sent before (!).
That means I couldn't compare the AD11 to the AK73 Pro with the same CPU.
So, I used the 1.2 gig Athlon as a 900 MHz Athlon in the AK73 Pro. Yes, this
tilts the results to the AD11 but what I'm getting at is the memory performance
differences. That should show why the move to DDR SDRAM is so important.
