The IGP Chronicles Part 1: Intel's G45 & Motherboard Roundup
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Gary Key on September 24, 2008 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Supermicro C2SEA
The third board in today’s overview is from Super Micro Computer, Inc.. Supermicro is typically associated with the server and workstation markets but they also offer desktop products based on the latest Intel chipsets. The Supermicro C2SEA is a full size ATX board featuring the G45 chipset but with DDR3 memory support instead of the typical DDR2 configurations we see in this sector of the market. While DDR3 is usually associated with top end chipsets like the Intel X48 or NVIDIA 790i, it is an alternative option on the P45/G45 chipsets.
Pricing on DDR3 has steadily been declining the last six months and a 4GB DDR3-1333 kit can be had now for $155~$185 depending on timings. Considering a 4GB DDR2-800 CAS4 kit runs around $70, DDR3 is still about twice as expensive. However, pricing will continue to drop based on the latest projections. Whether you like it or not, 2009 will be the year that we see a heavy emphasis on DDR3 with the new Intel i7 product range and AMD releasing AM3. In the grand scope of things, pricing is not that bad if you remember that 2GB of DDR2-800 was around $140~$180 when Core 2 Duo launched in June of 2006.
Getting back to the Supermicro board, the option/features list is rather mundane compared to the ASUS and Gigabyte boards. However, this board does offer Realtek RTL8111C Gigabit Ethernet (that’s three boards and counting now), Realtek ALC888 for HD Audio, a very good TI controller for IEEE 1394a, iTE8213 for PATA support, and the ICH10 Southbridge instead of the ICH10R on our other boards. One omission compared to our other boards is the lack of a DVI port that we found strange considering the board is designed for multiple markets. Also, we would like to have seen the ICH10R utilized as setting up a RAID 5 setup for the home theater (or even in a small business environment) would have been nice without having to purchase an additional RAID card.
Nothing flashy where the BIOS is concerned, it’s almost as if a group of starched white collar bearing engineers came out of retirement from IBM and created the BIOS for them. Actually, the BIOS is designed in this manner as the board will typically end up in white box systems for large corporate accounts or for those in the retail sector who value stability over pizazz. We have to say upfront, this board was extremely stable if nothing else.
While we wanted additional options, we knew that was not going to happen based on the board’s target market, but more importantly it just did not need a BIOS update. We will repeat that, in an age where BIOS releases are generated almost as fast as some Hollywood actors get picked up for DWI, this board did not have any problems we could locate in over 500 hours of testing. One could argue that by limiting the number of options greatly, that such feats are fairly simple to accomplish. If that was the case, then the Intel DG45ID board should have been problem free instead of carrying the seven plagues with it.
The layout of the Supermicro C2SEA is rather standard affair. We do not like the floppy and PATA connectors being on the bottom of the board as it means cable routing will be affecting airflow if these two legacy ports are used. The MCH heatsink did not interfere with our selection of CPU fan/heatsink choices but it did not dissipate heat as effectively as the ASUS, Intel, or Gigabyte offerings. We constantly measured MCH thermals about 3C higher than the other choices.
The other item that popped out to us after installing the board is the two USB ports at the back of the board instead of headers (two additional headers are available). This setup is great for open-air systems (it does happen) or internal devices like card readers that would require a long cable routing to the rear IO panel. The board includes two x16 slots, one is an x16 PCIe 2.0 capable slot and the other is an x4 PCIe 1.1 capable slot for graphics (CrossFire setup like the P35) or x4 and x1 capable peripheral cards.
This board does offer two PS/2 ports and a coaxial SPDIF out port in addition to the optical port. In addition, the board also features an 8-pin EATX power connector and five 4-pin fan headers with monitoring and control via the BIOS. Fan control is based on three settings, server, workstation, and full speed. Server and Workstation settings are thermal based solutions that will increase fan speeds as temperatures rise in the CPU or the case. While fan control is fairly limited, the three settings did work correctly. Supermicro highly suggests that for the fan control system to work properly that any attached system fans either be all 3-pin or 4-pin designs. We did not encounter any problems with S3 resume functions under Vista 32 or Vista 64.
Pros/Cons
This is not a board for those that like to fine tune, overclock, or tinker with a BIOS. It is not sexy, there is no flash here, and the documentation is about as interesting as a tractor maintenance manual. However, it is a perfect board for those who want to set up a board once and then forget about it. Super Micro Computer, Inc. heritage is in the server and workstation markets where stability is king and this board shows it. In addition to extreme stability and compatibility, our performance and power tests will show a slight advantage for DDR3 on this platform, not much mind you, but it was not a penalty until we had to input our credit card information at checkout for 4GB of Corsair's finest DDR3.
So what would we change? In keeping with Supermicro's design philosophy, we think limited voltage settings for the processor and memory would be valuable for the HTPC user who likes to undervolt or might have memory that will not POST at 1.5V. A DVI port, rearrangement of the floppy and PATA connectors, inclusion of the ICH10R, and a slightly better heatsink solution would be a bonus. However, none of this matters if stability is compromised as this board is about as solid as they come at this point. As such, for those that like to play it safe and keep systems around longer than a couple of years, this a board that deserves your full attention.
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Imperor - Sunday, September 28, 2008 - link
Impressive how many people just rant on about the review being inadequate when they obviously didn't even read the start of it! If they did that they'd know that reviews of AMD and nVidia boards are coming up and that all will be compared eventually!I get the feeling that the people talking about "Intel fanbois" tend to have the same kind of appreciation of another brand...
Stating the obvious isn't being partial. It just so happens that AMD don't even come close to competing with Intel in the CPU department! Sure AMD might be cheaper, but there are cheap Intels out there as well. The whole platform tends to get a bit more expensive when you go with Intel but you get what you pay for. I'm perfectly happy with my G35+E2140. Does everything a computer is supposed to do but gaming. I'm not a gamer, so that is a non-issue for me.
Very tempted to go mini-ITX with 1,5TB HDD. Tiny box and lots of diskspace!
Found a nice case for it as well, Morex Venus 668. Not that I know anything about it really but it'll hold up to 3 HDDs and a full size ODD and probably house decent cooling for the CPU while still being tiny (~8"x9"x13").
robg1701 - Saturday, September 27, 2008 - link
Do any of the boards support Dual-Link DVI?Im getting a bit sick of having to include a video card in otherwise low power boxes in order to drive my 30" monitor :)
deruberhanyok - Friday, September 26, 2008 - link
[quote]We struggled with G45 for much of the early weeks of its release, but the platform wasn't problem-free enough for a launch-day review.[/quote]You weren't serious here, were you? That basically says "The chipset had problems so we didn't want to write a review talking about them."
piesquared - Friday, September 26, 2008 - link
Does this sight have an ounce of integrity left? I seriously doubt it. Nothing but Intel pandering left here. You "reviewers" have the gaul to do a review of this attempt at an IGP, yet fail to show any review of either an AMD IGP if it proves how inverior G45 is. Are you seriously implying that people are so stupid that they aren't capable of seeing through this BS? I remember something about a SB750 promise somewhere around 2 months ago that never materialized, then a 790gx promise that never materialized, then another 790gx roundup, that not only never materialized, but the DFI preview article seems to have actually vanished, then the AMD IGP part II looks to be delayed or something, probably vanished due to Intel's poor performance.I am really really starting to wonder if AT was purchased by Intel. All evidence points to it. If not, then call a spade a spade and don't make promises you can't keep. I'm sure you think none of this matters because you're so popular that people will read no matter what you write here. I wouldn't be so confident if I were AT.
TA152H - Thursday, September 25, 2008 - link
I can tell you guys are really working on gaining that female readership. As everyone knows, women really go for that low-class, vulgar language.Also, who would want to get rid of PS/2 ports? Whoever on your staff wants this, better have something more than they hate anything legacy. Where's the logic in adding two extra USB ports so you can remove the PS/2 ports? It's not like it's more flexible, really, because you pretty much always need the keyboard and mouse. When's the last time you were in the situation where you said "Oh, I won't be needing my mouse and keyboard today, and I'm so strapped for USB ports, it's a good thing I can use the ones I normally use for the keyboard and mouse for something else". Doubtful you've ever said it, and if you have, you have issues deeper than I am capable of dealing with.
It's not like the keyboard or mouse work better in the USB port, or that it's somehow superior in this configuration. In fact, the PS/2 ports were made specifically for this, and are perfectly adequate for it. Didn't you guys know that USB has more overhead than the PS/2 ports? I guess not. So, you worry about fractions of a percent going from motherboard to motherboard with the same chipset, but you prefer to use a USB mouse and keyboard? I just do not understand that. USB was a nice invention of Intel to suck up CPU power so you'd need a faster processor. It's a pity this has been forgotten.
Sure, let's the replace the efficient with the inefficient, so we can say we're done with the legacy ports and we can all feel like we've moved forward. Yes, that's real progress we want. Good grief.
CSMR - Friday, September 26, 2008 - link
Yeah I had to get a quad core so I can dedicate one core to the USB mouse and one to the USB keyboard. Now I can type ultra fast and the mouse really zips around the screen.MrFoo1 - Thursday, September 25, 2008 - link
Non-integrated graphics cards are discrete, not discreet.discreet = modest/prudent/unnoticeable
discrete = constituting a separate entity
dev0lution - Thursday, September 25, 2008 - link
I really dislike the trend of recent reviews that go off on tangents about the state of the market, or particular vendor performance gripes and then the rest of the review doesn't even touch on relevant benchmarks or features to back up these rants. If you're going to complain about IGP performance from AMD or NVIDIA, you might want to back that up with at least ONE board being included in the comparison charts. Who cares if Intel G45 gets bad frame rates against itself (across the board to boot). Why not show how 3 IGP chipsets from the major vendors stack up against each other in something mainstream like Spore? If it's a G45 only review, how about you save the side comments for a true IGP roundup? Sorry, but if you have the time to post a "(p)review" that brings up competitive aspects with no benchmarks to balance out those comments, it's basically single-vendor propaganda - nothing in the conclusions deal with whether a IGP in the same price range from another vendor would fill the void that G45 clearly does not fill.Since when does issues at the release date mean you can't post the review? "We struggled with G45 for much of the early weeks of its release, but the platform wasn't problem-free enough for a launch-day review." - Ummm, might want to include that as disclosure in all your other post-launch day reviews!?! Or do other vendors get brownie points for being problem-free when you can actually buy the product?
Unfortunately, the inconsistency across multiple reviews make it somewhat difficult to compare competing products from multiple vendors because the methodology varies between single chipset and competitive benchmarks, even when you can separate the irrelevant introductory comments and bias from the particular author from the rest of the review.
More authors obviously does not equal consistency or more relevant reviews..
yyrkoon - Thursday, September 25, 2008 - link
Looking forward to your review of this board(if I understood you correctly), as I have been keeping an eye on this board for a while now. Perfect for an all around general use board(minus gaming of course), but would have been really REALLY nice if that 1x PCIe slot were a 16x PCIe with atleast 8x bandwidth. Hell I think i would settle with 4xPCIe speeds, just to have the ability to use an AMD/ATI 3650/3670 in this system. I think Jetway has a similar board with a 16x PCIe slot, slightly less features, at the cost of like $350 usd . . .Now if someone reputable (meaning someone who can actually make a solid board from the START *cough*ABIT*cough*) using the Core 2 mobile CPU, SO-DIMMs, etc, AT A REASONABLE PRICE . . . I think I might be in power consumption heaven. Running my desktop 'beast' tends to drain the battery banks dry ; )
iwodo - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
I wonder if Anand could answer a few questions we have in our mind.Why with a generation Die Shrink we only get 2 extra Shader instead of like 4 - 6? Where did all the extra available die space went?
With the New Radeon HD 4x series, people have consistent result they can get single digit CPU usage when viewing 1080P H.264 with a E7xxx Series CPU, or slightly more then 15% when using an old Celeron. This is 2 - 3 times better then G45!!!! Even 780G is a lot better then G45 as well. So why such a HUGE difference in performance of so called Hardware Accelerated Decoding?