nForce4 Ultra Roundup: Charting the Mainstream
by Wesley Fink on July 5, 2005 10:28 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Biostar NF4UL-A9: Overclocking and Stress Testing
FSB Overclocking Results
| Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed | |
| Biostar NF4UL-A9 | |
| Processor: | Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4GHz, 1MB Cache) |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.50V (default 1.50V) |
| Cooling: | Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 Heatsink/Fan |
| Power Supply: | OCZ Power Stream 520W |
| Memory: | OCZ PC3200 EL Platinum Rev. 2 (Samsung TCCD Memory Chips) |
| Hard Drive: | Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA 8MB Cache |
| Maximum OC: (Standard Ratio) |
223x12 (Auto HT, 2-3-2-7, 1T, 2.7V) 2677MHz (+11.5%) |
| Maximum FSB: (Lower Ratio) |
232x11 (2552MHz) (Auto HT, 2.5-3-3-7, 2.7) (1:1 Memory, 1T, 2 DIMMs in DC mode) (+16% Bus Overclock) |
With all of the excellent adjustments for overclocking, we were hoping for some nice performance boosts with the Biostar. Unfortunately, that was not to happen, as the board design did not match the controls provided by Biostar. Overclocking was about the worst in the roundup, with just an 11.5% boost on a CPU that can do 20% overclocking on some boards. The lower multiplier didn't help much, allowing just a 16% boost.
Memory Stress Test Results:
Our memory stress test measured the ability of the Biostar to operate at its officially supported memory frequency (400MHz DDR), at the lowest memory timings that OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 modules will support. All DIMMs used for stress testing were 512MB double-sided (or double-bank) memory. To make sure that memory performed properly in Dual-Channel mode, memory was only tested using either one dual-channel (2 DIMMs) or 2 dual-channels (4 DIMMs).| Stable DDR400 Timings - One Dual-Channel (2/4 DIMMs populated) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 7T |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 1T |
Using two DIMMs in Dual-Channel 128-bit mode, the memory performed in all benchmarks at the fastest 2-2-2-7 timings, at default 2.6V voltage.
Tests with 4 DS DIMMs on an AMD Athlon 64 system are more demanding, since AMD specifies DDR333 for this combination. However, most AMD Athlon 64 motherboards combined with recent AMD processors (the memory controller is on the AMD CPU) have been able to handle 4 DIMMs at DDR400.
| Stable DDR400 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 DIMMs populated) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 7T |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 2T |
Tests with all four DIMM slots populated on the Biostar nForce4 boards required a 2T Command Rate with 4 DS DIMMs in two dual channels. This is the pattern seen on other top-performing Socket 939 boards, and is a limitation of the AMD on-chip memory controller. Additional voltage did not help and DDR400 with 4 DS DIMMs still required a Command Rate as we have seen on other nF4 boards.
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vijay333 - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
oh...final system will have 4-5 HDs, standard DVD reader/writer along with (most likely) a 6800Ultra or a X800XL...Xenoterranos - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
Anandtech did toy with a listening test a while back (I really don't remember much about it, other than the fact that they should have used Klipsch proMedia Ultra 5.1 speakers...)vijay333 - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
Maybe I missed this info in the article somehow, but could you provide the minimum/recommended PSU wattages for the motherboards? esp the DFI and the Epox. I have a Antec 400W Smartpower PSU right now, but read a few posts on newegg that this might not be enough? Hope I don't need to upgrade this too along with the mobo, cpu and gpu...vijay333 - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
knitecrow - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
I have a comment about audio -- a topic that most sites ignore.Shouldn't there be a blind listening test?
i mean cpu utilization is fairly useless. If i am listening to mp3s i care more about the quality than cpu utilization.
flatblastard - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
I stopped reading on page 4 upon discovering the round-up. No explanation needed...Wesley Fink - Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - link
g33k -The DFI was more a control to demonstrate SLI and Ultra performance were the same other than SLI video. Drivers have updated and we retested everything on the DFI as a sanity check. We ran benchmarks and not a full review, but it was hard to ignore the excellent performance.
There is also a comment in our Final Words that the MSI Ultra board should also be considered a winner, since the SLI version was a Gold Editors Choice in the SLI roundup, and the Ultra should perform the same.
g33k - Tuesday, July 5, 2005 - link
Along the same logic though, I'm curious as to why you chose to review the DFI Ultra-D when you reviewed the SLI version of this board earlier as well?.g33k - Tuesday, July 5, 2005 - link
Jeez, read Wesley's comments, he just answered why he did not review, the MSI board. It was already reviewed in the SLI roundup.Wesley Fink - Tuesday, July 5, 2005 - link
"As you can see, none of the onboard audio solutions were quite as low in CPU utilization as the Creative SoundBlaster Live! Chip, which is used on the MSI K8N Neo4 SLI Platinum tested in the nForce4 SLI roundup."Since this is still nF4 we included components tested on all nForce4 boards. The Ultra version of the MSI, BTW, uses the Realtek ALC850 chipset and not the Sound Blaster Live!. The SB Live! is only used on the MSI SLI.