Quick and Quiet: Pentium M Desktop Boards by AOpen and DFI

Test Setup

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Processor
Socket 479 Intel Pentium M 755 (2.0 GHz, 2 MB Cache, FSB400)
Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0 GHz, 128/512 kB Cache)90 nm Winchester Core
Motherboards
Motherboard I DFI 855GME-MGF
Motherboard II AOpen i855GMEm-LFS
Motherboard III MSI K8N Neo2
System Components
DDR-SDRAM 2x 512 MB PC3200 Crucial BallistixTimings: CL 2.0-2-2-5
Graphics Card I ATI Radeon X800 PRO
Graphics Card II Onboard, 32 MB
HDD Western Digital WD800JB7,200 rpm, 8 MB Cache
Controller ICH4M
Software
Intel Chipset Intel Chipset Installation Utility 5.1.1.1002
NVIDIA Chipset ForceWare 5.10
ATI Graphics Catalyst Ver. 8-071-041026a
Intel Grapics Intel Graphics Driver Ver. 14.9
DirectX 9.0c
OS Windows XP Professional, Build 2600,Service Pack 1

We did not bother to do benchmarks using the integrated graphics twice, since there are no technical differences here, and not much 3D performance to be expected in any event. We ran both platforms using an ATI Radeon X800 Pro AGP, which also powered our AMD reference system with the Athlon64 Winchester 3200+. We decided to use this particular processor since it works at the same clock speed as our Pentium M 755 (2.0 GHz). Thanks to the 90 nm process, AMD managed to reduce the thermal loss considerably.

Benchmarks And Settings

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Benchmarks and SettingsOpenGL
WolfensteinEnemy Territory Version: 2.551024x768 - 32 bittimedemo 1 / demo demo4Graphics detail = Normal
3D Studio Max 6.0Discreet Characters "Dragon_Charater_rig"Pixel: 1280 x 1024Rendering Single
Doom 3 Version 1.0.12621024x768 - 32 bitmedium qualitytimedemo demo1
SPECopc Viewperf Version 8.011280x1024 - 32 BitSPEC Benchmark Mode
DirectX 8
Unreal Tournament 2004 Version: 32041024x768 - 32 bit, Audio offthg9 assault botmatch
DirectX 9a
3DMark 2003 Version 3.4.0Graphics and CPU Default Benchmark1024x768 - 32 bit
3DMark 2005 1024x768 - 32 bitGraphics and CPU Default Benchmark
PCMark 2004 Pro Version: 1.2.0CPU and Memory Tests
SiSoftware Sandra 2004 Version 2004.10.9.89CPU Test = MultiMedia, CPU ArithmeticMemory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark
Audio
Lame MP3 Version 3.96Wave 17:14 minutes (182 MB) to mp332 - 320 kbitVBR = level 3
Video
Auto Gordian KnotDivX 5.21XviD 1.0.2 Version: 1.72 BetaAudio = AC3 6chCustom size = 100 MBResulution settings = 640x256Codec = XviD and DivX 5Audio = CBR MP3, kbps 192
Applications
Multimedia ContentCreation Winstone 2004 Version 1.05 runs
Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.