Episode II: Attack of the Chipsets - Intel 845E and 845G for 533 MHz FSB and DDR-SDRAM

Test Setup

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Intel Hardware (Sockel 478)133 MHz FSB - 533 MHz Memory Clock
ProcessorPentium 4 2.53 GHz
Motherboards
Intel 850 EAsus P4T533-C Revision: 1.01 Bios: 1001 BETA 007
Intel 845 EAsus P4T533-E Revision: 1.01 Bios: 1002 BETA 007
Intel 845 GGigabyte GA-8IGXP 533 Revision: 1.1 Bios: F2c M
VIA P4X333VIA Reference Board VT8116 Bios: 6877
Memory Setup by CL2-2-2 (no Sale)
RAM 12x 256 MB RDRAM, PC800, 400 MHz, 40ns, Infineon
RAM 24x 128 MB RDRAM, PC1066, 533 MHz, 32ns, Samsung
RAM 31 x 512 MB, DDR333, 166 MHz, CL2.0, Winbond
Common Hardware
Graphics CardGeForce 4 Ti 4600 (MSI MS-8870)Memory: 128 MB DDR-SDRAMMemory Clock: 650 MHzChip Clock: 300 MHz
Hard DriveMaxtor 40 GB, 5T040H4UltraATA/100, 7,200 rpm, 2 MB Cache
Drivers & Software
Graphics DriverDetonator 4 Series V28.32
VIA Chipset DriverV1.50 BETA
VIA AGP DriverV4.11 BETA
DirectX Version8.1
Intel 850E DriverV 4.00.1009
Intel 850 DriverV 3.20.1008
Intel IAA DriverV 2.0
Operating SystemWindows 2000 SP2 (englisch)
Benchmarks and Settings
Quake III ArenaRetail Version 1.16command line = +set cd_nocd 1 +set s_initsound 0Graphics detail set to 'Normal'Benchmark using 'Q3DEMO1'
3DMark2000 ProVersion 1.1 Build 340 - default Benchmark
3DMark2001 ProBuild 200 - default Benchmark
PCMark2002 Proonly CPU and Memory Bench (no Video Memory)
SiSoft Sandra 2001Professional Version 2001.3.7.50
SPEC viewperfV7.0 (1280x1024/32Bit)
mpeg4 encodingXmpeg 4.5DivX 5.01 Pro (YV12)Compression/quality: SlowestData Rate: 780 kBitFormat: 720x576 Pixel@25 fps150 MB VOB-Datei, no Audio
Studio 7Version 7.31.6 (MPEG 2)
Sysmark 2002no Patch
LameLame 3.91 MMX, SSE, SSE 2, 3DNow!
WinACE2.11, 178 MB Wave-Datei, Best Compression, Dictonary 4096 kB
Cinema 4D XL R7Version V7.303 Rendering: 1024x768
3D Studio MaxVersion 4.2Rendering of Scene "e;Rabbit"e;800x600 10 Bilder

Benchmark Results

In this review we are not going to take a look at the integrated graphics of 845G. The reason for this decision is the powerful memory controller which makes this chipset, in our eyes, certainly not low-cost, but a performance product, nonetheless. Thus we ran all benchmarks with a GeForce 4 TI4600 card and 128 MB video memory.

Please don't forget that DDR333 support for 845G has not yet been approved. Still we added these numbers as the vast majority of 845G motherboards already offers support for this faster memory - although it's merely an overclocking feature so far.