Battle of the brands.

[DoGMaN]

I just got an MSI K7N2-L, a Leadtek K7NCR18D-Pro, Chaintech Apogee 7NJL1 and Asus A7N8X Deluxe. I have an EPoX 8RDA+ coming in this week and I'm trying to skank an Abit NF7-S but they are not yet available in Canada. Can anyone think of a brand I am missing?

Fun and games to commence shortly.

[PimpJack]

i think u got them all richi rich LOL

[DoGMaN]

LOL don't I wish ;)

[GVCryan]

Soltek has a board due out.

SL-75frn-r

link (http://www.soltek.com.tw/English/home/01.htm)

[DoGMaN]

I'll have to see what I can do about getting the Soltek board. It doesn't seem to be available yet.

[gobbo]

I've heard a rumor that gigabyte have a board in the works at the mo, but it won't be out for a couple of months due to the Release Partner rules etc!

[DoGMaN]

Hrmmmmmmz well it looks like I'll be using on these six listed. The Soltek board is not ready for retail yet and I'm not going to wait on the Gigabyte. I'll just add them in later on. Anything you guys would like to see tested specifically?

[BrainStorm]

Originally posted by DoGMaN
Anything you guys would like to see tested specifically?

All boards with everything the same (peripherals, ram timings, video cards, etc.) at 166 FSB/memory, at 175, at 185, and 200. Just to see if any are faster at the same settings.

Then OC'ing, of course. All at synch fsb/memory. Test them all to see who can go the highest at the tightest ram timings, and who can go the highest at the loosest ram timings. I assume you have an unlocked processor so you can set the multi down low and make sure you're only testing their fsb overclockability.

And please run some benches with UT2k3. I'm not really into DoomIII, so UT2K3 will probably be the most stressful game I play for awhile.

How soon do you think you'll have this ambitious project accomplished?

[DoGMaN]

Well depending on how long it takes to get the last of the boards in. I should be done in about a week. I have several processors to play with so I'll test with each of them and see what I can do. I am however stuck waiting on some good ram. It should be in Tuesday. Other than that, I've already begun testing the Leadtek board. Its nice, but lacks a lot of the adjustment I would have liked.

I'll be sure to keep you posted.

[gobbo]

Basically just run the tests at exact same settings on each board. See which one(s) perform the best at certain tasks etc.

Be a good comparison to see!

Good luck with the testing:)

[DoGMaN]

Thanks.

[spaceman]

If it were me, I'd test each mobo, with the same CPU & same mem, just to be sure diff CPU's don't give unfair comparisons of the mobo. :)

[DoGMaN]

Well I have no choice but to use the same CPU and ram. I only have enough parts to do one system at a time. :D

[LostInTennessee]

gobbo - best Avatar I've seen!

[Liquid3D]

Although unrelated I totally agree with LostInTennessee. Gobbo; that is without a doubt the best Avatar yet!!!! Can you design me one?

And not for nothing, but what you do DoGMaN; hit the Lottery? Or just financially gifted and grateful? Actually it's none of my business, but I appreciate your doing the comparison.

I have one question pertaining to every board. Which boards have the socket-(A) VSS PIN grounded unlocking all Thoroughbred-B's, and allowing for full multiplier access in the BIOS?

[zakelwe]

I'd like to see :-

1) Maximum memory speed sync each will run pifast in.

2) Same for 3dmark as well, but for 1 and 2 sticks and the difference between 1 and two sticks at a set memory speed, ie like 200.

Shame the Soltek is not out, I have a feeling it might do well. They have had more time to look into the nforce2 chipset.

Regards

Andy

[DoGMaN]

Liquid3D - Good point. I'll have to check that when my 2400+ shows up. So far the Leadtek does not have any option for multipliers at all. But I'll check the other boards. No lottery, just happen to be able to get stuff once and a while. ;)

zakelwe - Can do.

[Mikee]

DoGMaN, that's way cool of you to do that. I'm sure you will already be doing this, but will be interesting to see exact apples to apples comparisons, but also how high (at any multiple/fsb) you can OC and both get into winblows, and then at which you can run 3dMark2001. I know the Asus I have will come out short with only a 211 bios fsb.

Also what 3dMark scores with each having the same mem timings, fsb, multiple as you march up...that will also tell something about the stability and potential of each board.

What cooling you gonna be using on the cpu and NB? What RAM? Power supply, video card, OS? It sounds like it will be Hella fun, but out of idle curiosity, how come you're doing this...especially since you are sporting one of them thar P4 contraptions in your sig. LOL!

[Mikee]

Oh never mind my last question...I clicked on your sig (after manually fixing the link)! Thanks for doing it though.

[DoGMaN]

Originally posted by Mikee
DoGMaN, that's way cool of you to do that. I'm sure you will already be doing this, but will be interesting to see exact apples to apples comparisons, but also how high (at any multiple/fsb) you can OC and both get into winblows, and then at which you can run 3dMark2001. I know the Asus I have will come out short with only a 211 bios fsb.

Also what 3dMark scores with each having the same mem timings, fsb, multiple as you march up...that will also tell something about the stability and potential of each board.

What cooling you gonna be using on the cpu and NB? What RAM? Power supply, video card, OS? It sounds like it will be Hella fun, but out of idle curiosity, how come you're doing this...especially since you are sporting one of them thar P4 contraptions in your sig. LOL!

Hrmmz so many things to answer. I will be running 3DMark2K1 on all the boards at stock speed, as you said "for an apples to apples comparison". I will try and hit the max for each board and run 3dmark as you request, if time permits. Shouldn't be an issue. I'm not going to be changing anything on the boards. I will only test them as they come. If the cooler on the NB is no good, you'll hear about it. I have several different sticks of ram that I will be using to test compatibility but I'll be using OCZ PC3500 Dual Channel EL DDR for the overclocking and testing. The CPU is cooled with a plain AX-7 with a 50mm Sunon fan. I wanted to keep the rig as close to what a "normal" (LOL) user would have. Should be more then enough to have this CPU hitting 2Ghz. I'll use my R9700 for the tests, just to make sure the card is not limiting the scores. OS will be WinXP Pro Nvidia reference nforce drivers Ver 2. AOpen 300W PSU. Pink bunny slippers :stick: Opps guess you didn't need that much info. LOL Nanotherm XTC Silver paste. Anything I missed?

Here is the list of tests/benchmarks so far:
Sisoft SANDRA
3DMark2K1SE
PCMark2002
HDTach
UT2K3 <--Multiple tests
RTCW <--Using Q3Bench
SuperPI 1M Calculation

I'm going to try and do all tests with single and Dual channel. If there is anything I've missed, or something you would like to see done. Just let me know.

Thanks for the update on the link. I fixed it :slobber:

[BrainStorm]

DoGMan, one other thing - and I'm sorry about the time it will take and I guess I'll understand if you don't do it - but highest OC and highest FSB at which each board will do Prime95 (latest build) torture test without an error for 24 hours (maybe 12 hours if you want to cut down on the time spent).

Thanks, and looking forward to this! :)

[Dapper]

Nice going Dogman can't wait for the results.

[DoGMaN]

@BrainStorm - I'll see what I can do.

[N8]

Good luck w/ ur testing...we'll love to hear the results :)

[sysfailur]

Sounds like you'll have a nice round up. Be sure to run hexus pifast on each please ;) Heuxs Pifast is quickly becoming one of my fav. benches :)

[DoGMaN]

@sysfailur - have a link to that benchmark?

NM I found it.

[Asniper]

wow must be nice to have hte money for all them, but what would you do with them all after? cough hehe can't wait to see your results

[PimpJack]

will u be installing fresh xp with all the boards? I think its not essencial since they all use nforce 2.0 drivers. although the asus and chaintech have sound issues wuth the new drivers.

Also i would like to see as little tweaking in ur benchmarks as possible. By that i mean just install xp and all necessary programs and let it rip. I think most of u don't care about highest scores nforce can do but just a fair and square comparison of the boards u have. Just try to keep outside forces to a bare minimum and let the mobos do all the work.

Good luck and it will be a nice review!!!!!!!!!

[DoGMaN]

Yah everything will remain stock. The OS is installed and the drivers and thats all. Just VSync will be turned off. I figure that will give the best results. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I sure hope it works out.

[Hallowed]

Dogman:

Perhaps you could go through the user forums (like amdmb and nForcersHQ) and try to use all the latest + stable BIOS that gives each particular board best performance & stability.

For instance Chaintech has the official BIOS to unlock out (so I hear)

Asus 1001E
Epox 2C31

etc etc.

Thanks, and looking forward to your review. :D

[DoGMaN]

I just fired up the chaintech with an AXP 1800+ Its unlocked. I was using the latest bios from leadtek. It really didn't help it much. :(