A Real Nail-Biter: Four Boards With ALi Magik 1

Linux Kernel Compilation

The compilation of the Linux kernel reveals only slight differences between the individual boards. The Transcend board turns out to be the slowest candidate once more.

Moral: ALi Magik 1 - Not Yet Fully Developed

In this test it was quite clear: In making the boards, the manufacturers had two variations to choose from: either stable and weak performance, or high performance combined with unstable operation. We saw this in the test with various BIOS versions, which caused up to a 10 percent difference in overall performance. This is the ALi Magik 1 at a not yet fully mature stage. Often several test candidates crashed during the determination of test results.

Overclocking fans should give the chipset a wide berth right from the start: Although numerous features are offered for overclocking, raising the speed only works in a very narrow range. On the other hand, the board will not start up anymore, making it necessary to delete and reconfigure the CMOS settings. Overall, the poor success to overclock the test candidates reflects the questionable quality of the ALi chipset. Especially in direct competition with VIA. As soon as VIA puts its KT266 on the market in large quantities, life will become a lot harder for ALi. ALi has still got a chance for success once the quality problems have been eliminated. Right now however, the only thing ALi Magik 1 has going for it is its low price. Motherboard manufacturers such as Asus are currently going after OEM customers with ALi Magik1 boards by advertising "DDR support".