Budget And Premium Motherboards At The Crossroads

Test Setup

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Processor
Single Core CPUsIntel Pentium 4 Processor 560 (3.6 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache)
Memory
Intel Platform (DDR400)2x 512 MB - DDR400 (200 MHz)Corsair Pro Series CMX512-3200XL (XMS3208 V1.1)(CL2.0-2-2-5-1T @ 200 MHz)
Intel Platform (DDR2-667)2x 512 MB - DDR2-667 (333 MHz)Corsair CM2X512A-5400UL (XMS5400 V1.2)(CL3-2-2-8-1T @ 333 MHz)
Motherboards
Intel PlatformMSI 915PL Neo-V Rev. 1.0, BIOS 1.0)Intel 915P ChipsetMSI P4N Neo (Rev. 1.0, BIOS 1.2 )NVIDIA nForce4 Intel Edition SLI Chipset
System Hardware
Graphics Card (PCIe)NVIDIA Geforce 6800 GT (Reference Board)GPU : NVIDIA Geforce 6800 GT (350 MHz)Memory : 256 MB DDR-SDRAM (500 MHz)
Hard DriveHitachi Deskstar 7K250250 GB, 8 MB Cache, 7200 rpm
Power SupplyTagan TG480-U01, ATX 2.0, 480 W
Software
NVIDIA Chipset DriversNVIDIA Forceware 7.13
Intel Chipset DriversIntel Inf 7.2.1.1003
Graphics DriverNVIDIA Forceware 77.72
DirectXVersion : 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
OSWindows XP Professional 5.10.2600,Service Pack 2

MSI’s 915PL Neo-V is a very slim full-size ATX motherboard with support for dual channel DDR400 memory.

The P4N Diamond runs DDR2 memory.Benchmarks And Settings

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Benchmarks and Settings
OpenGL
Doom IIIVersion : 1.0.12621280x1024, 32 BitVideo Quality = High Qualitydemo1Graphics detail = High Quality
WolfensteinEnemy TerritoryVersion : 2.56 (Patch V 1.02)1280x1024, 32 Bittimedemo 1 / demo demo4Geometric detail = highTexture detail = high
DirectX 8
Unreal Tournament 2004Version : 32041280x1024, 32 Bit, Audio = offTHG8-assault-single
3DMark2003Version 3.6.01024x786, 32 BitGraphics and CPU Default Benchmark
DirectX 9
FarCryVersion 1.1 Build 12561280x1024 - 32 Bitqualtity options = High
3DMark 2005Version 1.01024x786, 32 BitGraphics and CPU Default Benchmark
Video
Pinnacle Studio 9 PlusVersion : 9.4.1from : 352x288 MPEG-2 41 MBto : 720x576 MPEG-2 95 MBEncoding and Transition Rendering to MPEG-2/DVDno Audio
Auto Gordian KnotDivX 5.2.1XviD 1.0.3Version : 1.95Audio = AC3 6chCustom size = 100 MBResulution settings = Fixed widthCodec = XviD and DivX 5Audio = CBR MP3, kbps 192182 MB VOB MPEG2-source
Windows Media EncoderVersion : 9.00.00.2980720x480 DV to WMV320x240 (29.97 fps)282 kbps streaming
Audio
Lame MP3Version 3.97.1 Multi-threaded AlphaWave 17:14 minutes (182 MB) to mp332 - 320 kbitVBR = level 3
Applications
WinRARVersion 3.41283 MB, 246 FilesCompression = BestDictionary = 4096 kB
3DS Max 7Characters "Dragon_Charater_rig"1600x1200Rendering Single
Synthetic
PCMark 2005 ProVersion : 1.0.1CPU and Memory Tests
SiSoftware Sandra ProVersion 2005, SR1CPU Test = Multimedia BenchmarkMemory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark
ScienceMarkVersion 2.0All Tests