Conroe Buying Guide: Feeding the Monster
by Gary Key & Wesley Fink on July 19, 2006 6:20 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Standard Gaming Performance
We tested with a small group of games due to time constraints, but we picked games based on a variety of game engines to give a quick indication of the boards' performance. Additional testing will be done in our full board reviews but for this roundup we are using Serious Sam 2, Half Life 2: Lost Coast, F.E.A.R, Quake 4, and Battlefield 2. All boards were tested with the EVGA 7900GTX using NVIDIA 91.31 WHQL drivers. The Intel 975X boards were also tested with a single ATI X1900XTX card with the Catalyst 6.6 driver.
The two most performance oriented boards in our roundup are the ASUS P5W-DH and Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 boards, and they complete our gaming benchmarks with scores at or near the top of each game category. The most consistent board in the roundup is the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe that stayed the course throughout testing by remaining in the middle sector of the group. Although the Biostar board did not finish first, it also did not have swings where it was at the top of one benchmark and near the bottom on another one. The ASRock board finished last among the 7900GTX boards four times and second to last on the Quake 4 test where it had its best showing. Overall, the scores generated by this group of boards are so close that you would be hard pressed to actually see or feel the difference in real game play.
The ATI X1900XTX cards finished significantly behind the NVIDIA cards in Half Life 2: Lost Coast where they generally score even or ahead of NVIDIA depending upon game settings. While their performance in the DOOM 3 engine games are normally several percentage points behind the NVIDIA based cards until recently, the difference in our Quake 4 test is also perplexing with the current 6.6 driver release. We ran our ATI X1900XTX in the ASUS P5N32-SLI board and the percentage differences between the GPUs were the same that we see on the AMD S939 or AM2 platforms. It appears to us at this time there is an ATI driver bug with the current Intel chipsets and Core 2 Duo, or perhaps a lack of optimization.
We tested with a small group of games due to time constraints, but we picked games based on a variety of game engines to give a quick indication of the boards' performance. Additional testing will be done in our full board reviews but for this roundup we are using Serious Sam 2, Half Life 2: Lost Coast, F.E.A.R, Quake 4, and Battlefield 2. All boards were tested with the EVGA 7900GTX using NVIDIA 91.31 WHQL drivers. The Intel 975X boards were also tested with a single ATI X1900XTX card with the Catalyst 6.6 driver.
The two most performance oriented boards in our roundup are the ASUS P5W-DH and Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 boards, and they complete our gaming benchmarks with scores at or near the top of each game category. The most consistent board in the roundup is the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe that stayed the course throughout testing by remaining in the middle sector of the group. Although the Biostar board did not finish first, it also did not have swings where it was at the top of one benchmark and near the bottom on another one. The ASRock board finished last among the 7900GTX boards four times and second to last on the Quake 4 test where it had its best showing. Overall, the scores generated by this group of boards are so close that you would be hard pressed to actually see or feel the difference in real game play.
The ATI X1900XTX cards finished significantly behind the NVIDIA cards in Half Life 2: Lost Coast where they generally score even or ahead of NVIDIA depending upon game settings. While their performance in the DOOM 3 engine games are normally several percentage points behind the NVIDIA based cards until recently, the difference in our Quake 4 test is also perplexing with the current 6.6 driver release. We ran our ATI X1900XTX in the ASUS P5N32-SLI board and the percentage differences between the GPUs were the same that we see on the AMD S939 or AM2 platforms. It appears to us at this time there is an ATI driver bug with the current Intel chipsets and Core 2 Duo, or perhaps a lack of optimization.
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Gary Key - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
Hi,We used 0701. The bios versions used for each board are listed at the bottom of the features chart.
Thanks.
vmsein - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
I missed that! Thank you very much again:)Bochista - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
Can we see some results for 1920 x 1200 for 23 & 24 inch monitors as well as some 2560 x 1600 results for 30 inch monitors? Also, can we see the 7950 GX2 in action where all MBs would be on an equal SLI footing?Gary Key - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
We will place this on our suggestion list for Roundup Two and discuss it with the Video editors this week.ivoloos - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
The article says "Users need to realize that the nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition will still use the C19 SPP that is on this board."I remember me that a while ago I've read somewhere NVIDIA is busy with a new SPP that will replace the C19 and should arrive somewhere around Q1 next year. Someone know whether this is this correct, or will the C19 not be replaced?
Gary Key - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
Yes, NVIDIA is readying a new Intel Chipset that is scheduled for release in the winter. The current C19 is now at a C1 revision, the original P5N32-SLI shipped with revision A3.ivoloos - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
Ah, Thanks!!I plan to buy me a Core 2 Dou/Extreme system about a year from now, let's say somewhere around the release of Intels Bearlake chipset. The decision will be made then, after having a clear view at the features of that chipset and the new NVIDIA chipset.
The article, which is very good by the way, made some doubts rise about whether that what I've read was correct or not.
I'm curious about the period when we can expect the new NVIDIA chipset to appear on the motherboards. Any news about that (Q1/2007 perhaps?), or is too early to say something about this?
imaheadcase - Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - link
I want to build a value SLI motherboard with conroe.Maybe compare 6 value SLI motherboards with conroe and 2 gigs of value ram in the future when boards are released?
Thanks!
RogueSpear - Thursday, July 20, 2006 - link
Am I the only one who thinks that the phrase "Value SLI" is a bit like "Military Intelligence" ?Gary Key - Thursday, July 20, 2006 - link
Great statement!!! :) I guess value in the sense that the 570SLI boards will be about $50~$75 less than the 590SLI boards. However, unless you want to really overclock the FSB, even the 570SLI boards will be a value compared to the P965 boards.