Performance Test Configuration: Soltek K8TPro-939

If you are interested in more information comparing the Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, LGA 775 Prescott, P4, and P4EE, please see our in-depth comparisons in the following reviews:

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ & FX-55: A Thorough Investigation
nForce4: PCI Express and SLI for Athlon 64
.09 Athlon 64: Value, Speed and Overclocking
AMD Sempron: A Fresh Take on Budget Computing
Intel's 925X & LGA-775: Are Prescott 3.6 and PCI Express Graphics any Faster?
Intel 925X/915: Chipset Performance & DDR2
Intel Celeron D: New, Improved & Exceeds Expectations
Socket 939 Chipsets: Motherboard Performance & PCI/AGP Locks
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ and FX-53: The First 939 CPUs
The Athlon 64 FX-53: AMD's Next Enthusiast Part
Intel's Pentium 4 E: Prescott Arrives with Luggage
Athlon64 3400+: Part 2
AMD's Athlon 64 3400+: Death of the FX-51
Athlon64 3000+: 64-bit at Half the Price

 Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s): AMD Athlon 64 FX53 (2.4GHz) Socket 939
RAM: 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2
2 x 512MB Mushkin PC3500 Level II
2 x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd
Hard Drive(s): Seagate 120GB 7200RPM IDE (8MB Buffer)
Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers: VIA 4in1 Hyperion 4.51 (12-02-2003)
nVidia nForce 6.11 Beta (nForce4)
nVidia nForce Platform Driver 4.24 (nForce3 Ultra)
Video Card(s): nVidia 6800 Ultra (AGP 8X)
nVidia 6800 Ultra (PCI Express)
Video Drivers: nVidia nForce 61.77 (VIA K8T-P, nF3 Ultra, Intel 925X)
nVidia nForce 61.81 Beta (nForce4)
Operation System(s): Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboards: Soltek K8TPro-939 (VIA K8T800 PRO)
Epox 9NDA3+ (nForce3 Ultra)
nVidia nForce4 Ultra Reference Board
Abit AV8 PRO (VIA K8T800 PRO)
ECS KV2 Extreme (VIA K8T800 PRO)
Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939 (nVidia nForce3 Ultra)
MSI K8N Neo2 (nVidia nForce3 Ultra)
MSI K8T Neo2 (VIA K8T800 PRO)

Tests used OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, which uses Samsung TCCD chips. Earlier 939 benchmarks used Mushkin PC3500 Level II or OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd, which were both based on Winbond BH5 memory chips. BH5 memory has been discontinued and is no longer available. All memory ran at 2-2-2-10 timings in all benchmarks.

Since the nVidia 6800 Ultra AGP was used for testing in the 939 chipset launch, we used the 6800 Ultra AGP for benchmarking the Soltek K8TPro-939. The PCI Express 6800 Ultra was used for all testing with the nForce4 and the Reference Intel 925X. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1024x768x32 unless otherwise noted.

Results for VIA K8T800 Pro based motherboards are in green in our results. The Soltek K8TPro-939 we are testing is color-coded in dark green. nVidia nForce3 Ultra based boards results are orange, with the nF4 Ultra results in red. Intel 925X results are in blue. Intel results are included for Reference only. The color coding should allow easy comparison of the tested Soltek to other VIA chipset results and to other chipsets and processors.

Memory Stress Testing: Soltek K8TPro-939 General Performance and Encoding
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  • manno - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    Son of a $@#!

    Any way what the heck is up with the Halo #'s? Is this so shady under the table stuff between MS, or Bungie, and nvidia? If so that sucks, and I hope that we don't see anymore of it in the future. Any info on that?

    -manno
  • manno - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

  • bob661 - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    > In fact the majority of PC users are not
    > overclockers.

    Very true. And the majority of PC users have no idea who Anand is. Online reviews are mostly read by PC users in the know or those that want to be in the know. The average PC user has no clue about these review websites and heads down Best Buy when it's time to purchase a new computer.
  • PrinceGaz - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    Last page, second paragraph- "With 2.6GHz as a target, it is easy to see that we would need a 289 setting for the 3500+,"...

    That should be 3000+. The rest of that sentence is correct.
  • Myrandex - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    typo: We suspect that the answer has to do with the cist difference between the VIA and Realtek solutions

    Also, on the first page a picture doesn't load.
  • Omega215D - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    I know I posted this before but why is there no news on the Elitegroup's Dual PCIe (for graphics) with an AGP Express port on the bottom? This should appeal to those into "future-proofing" by including both old and new. Of course it'll be on a 915 chipset.....
  • Boonesmi - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    hopefully they will have quick bios update that fixes the agp/pci lock (i dont really care about 4 dimms)... if they get it fixed quick it will probably be my next board :)

    newegg has an eta of 11/8/2004 which is about when ill be buying, so make sure you update this review if the agp/pci lock gets fixed
  • Beenthere - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    While a BIOS upgrade will likely fix the AGP lock and (4) DIMM 2T issues, I doubt either is a BIG issue for most PC users. Yes overclockers may have an issue with the AGP lock and no doubt it will be corrected, but not everyone is an overcloker. In fact the majority of PC users are not overclockers. It's OK to point out the AGP lock and (4) DIMM issues for those who care, but it ain't worth getting an ulcer over. From the review it sounds like these are life or death features, which they are not.

    In regards to PCI-e Mobo reviews, the results are going to mirror AGP Mobos as the nF4 chipset is just an nF3 with PCI-e instead of AGP graphics. The only PCI-e Mobos that will show any major difference from a similar nF3 or K8T800 PRO Mobo are the SLI dual graphics card versions. If you're looking for one of these you better have real deep pockets and be willing to wait awhile.
  • MDE - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    Why do you guys keep whining about floppy port location? Honestly I think the bottom of the board is a pretty good location, especially since I almost never use a floppy drive (just for RAID drivers). It's easy to get at when you do need a floppy drive plugged in and doesn't interfere with anything else, helping to avoid the tangle of cables around the right side of the board that's so common with "properly" laid out boards.
  • Gnoad - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - link

    Alot of us still want AGP. I'm sick and tired of mobos being manufactured without the most important part functional: the agp lock. Nforce3 150 pissed me off, and we have it here again. I really don't want to use the k8n neo, so this is a big dissapointment to me.

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