MSI P35 Neo2-FR: Platinum performance for under $100

Media Performance

We will take a brief look at general media performance with our test suite that includes Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0. We utilize the PC WorldBench 6.0 Test for measuring platform performance in Adobe's Photoshop CS2. The benchmark applies an extensive number of filters to the test image and heavily stresses the CPU and storage systems. The scores reported include the full conversion process and are in seconds, with lower numbers indicating better performance.

This test requires a balance between CPU speed and a fast storage subsystem. The Neo2-FR board scores within two seconds of the top board.

Our next test is one recommended by Intel, but the test itself appears to be fair and results are very repeatable. This test simply measures the amount of time required to fix and optimize 103 different photos weighing in at 63MB. We report results in seconds, with lower times indicating better performance

The Neo2-FR board scores well in this CPU intensive test and is only 0.4 seconds slower than its big bother. With the memory timings set identically, the board is just as fast as the Platinum version.

Media Encoding Performance

We are utilizing Nero Recode 2 and Sony Vegas 7.0e for our video encoding tests. The scores listed include the full encoding process represented in seconds, with lower numbers indicating better performance.

Our first series of tests is quite easy - we take our original Office Space DVD and use AnyDVD to rip the full DVD to the hard drive without compression, thus providing an almost exact duplicate of the DVD. We then fire up Nero Recode 2, select our Office Space copy on the hard drive, and perform a shrink operation to allow the entire movie along with extras to fit on a single 4.5GB DVD disc. We leave all options on their defaults except we uncheck the advanced analysis option.

We find in this CPU and disk intensive test that all of the boards are within 1% of each other with the Neo2-FR board finishing one second slower than the fastest boards. Over the course of a year, that difference might add up to an extra five minutes of your life back. However, if you are burning that many DVDs, you are probably in need of much more than five minutes of saved time.

Our Sony Vegas 7.0e test converts several of our summer vacation files into a plasma-screen-pleasing 1080/24P format with a 5.1 audio stream. We ensure our quality settings are set to their highest levels and then let the horses loose.

In a test that really stresses the CPU and memory subsystem, we see the Neo2-FR board trailing the other P35 boards. This result once again confirms the slower memory timings make a difference, however slight - 1.5% in this case.