Dual Core Stress Test: AMD vs. Intel

Previous Log Entries: Replacement Craze

Tuesday, June 7th 2005: This was an exciting day in the THG Laboratory. The team was busy all day getting the Intel system up and running.

We had already performed a BIOS update on Monday evening, using the Windows XP tool "@Bios" from Gigabyte. The software update was supposed to put an end to the continual system crashes of the last few days, so we had high hopes. Unfortunately, that's not what happened - in fact, after the BIOS update, the board no longer started at all, and the dual-BIOS feature did not help.

The Intel system caused more trouble the whole day long: quite a few motherboards were replaced.

After a BIOS update, the Intel system no longer started, so the circuit board was replaced.

Gigabyte out - Epox in. Working on the Intel-System.

We had a new, just-delivered Epox EP-5NVA+SLI version 1.0 - also equipped with an nForce4-SLI chipset - so a quick replacement was available. The board is suitable for dual cores, so re-equipping it later should be no problem. But again, we immediately experienced problems. After the initial start, the motherboard began to smell like an electrical fire, even though only the BIOS had been activated. After 10 minutes, the board shut down and could not be restarted.