Test Setup

The ATI CrossFire Xpress 200 chipset fully supports all AMD Athlon 64 processors in both stock and overclocked conditions.

Performance Test Configuration
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 4000+ utilized for all tests.
RAM: 2 x 512mb OCZ Technology PC4800 Platinum Edition
Settings: DDR-400 at (CL2-2-2-5, 1T)
Hard Drive(s): 2 x Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300S0 300GB 7200 RPM SATA (16MB Buffer)
1 x Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300R0 300GB 7200 RPM IDE (16MB Buffer).
System Platform Drivers: ULi SATA Driver - 2.20
NVIDIA Platform - 6.70
ATI -
Video Cards: 1 x EVGA 7900GTX (PCI Express) for all non-CrossFire tests.
2 x ATI X1900XT (PCI Express) for CrossFire tests.
Video Drivers: NVIDIA nForce 84.21 WHQL
ATI Catalyst 6.3 CCC
Cooling: Thermaltake Big Typhoon
Power Supply: Fortron Source FX700-GLN
Operating System(s): Windows XP Professional SP2
Motherboards: ASRock 939SLI32-eSATA2
Abit AT-8 (ATI RD480/ULi1575)
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
Asus A8R-MVP (ATI RD480/ULi1575)
Asus A8R32-MVP (ATI RD480/ULi1575)
ECS KA1 MVP Extreme
EPoX EP-9U1697-GLI


We tested our 7900GTX video cards using NVIDIA 84.21 WHQL drivers and ATI X1900XT cards with Catalyst 6.3 to provide the latest video performance results. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1280x1024x32 unless CrossFire is enabled. Resolution in CrossFire benchmarks is 1600x1200x32 with 4XAA and 8xAF where applicable. 3DMark benchmarks use a "Standard Score" setup at the default video resolution for both X1900XT CrossFire and 7900GTX testing.

Overclocking and Stress Testing General Performance & Encoding
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  • Gary Key - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link

    quote:

    You might want to fix the word mothergoard in the title to be motherboard..


    This item was changed along with the sound reference to Abit that two of us missed a few times at 3:40 this morning. Sorry about the issues! :)

    We do have another bios to test today, so far it has fixed the Firewire and Marvel Ethernet throughput issues. Time to test stability and overclocking.
  • ashishkochaar - Sunday, September 24, 2017 - link

    I had tried doing so with the same software but I was unable to get access for
    <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/1983">Anand... Services.
  • Ryan Norton - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link

    Seriously, I love AT and their reviews are consistently great, but I bought into the A8R-MVP hype and was completely let down. I don't OC my ass off so my disappointment isn't quite the same as someone who wants to run a 3000+ at 325 HTT at 2.8GHz blah blah but still. Not saying AT is at fault, ASUS mostly is: just that no amount of praise can overcome the perception of RD480 boards in the PC enthusiast world now. ESPECIALLY praise for OCability =^)
  • bob661 - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link

    quote:

    but I bought into the A8R-MVP hype
    I heard that there are some pretty pissed off owners of this board out there. ATI is new to the chipset game and they'll need some time to mature like every other manufacturer out there.
  • Ryan Norton - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link

    Yeah, and like I said, I'm not one of them, since I really don't OC much. I was more excited about the layout and passive chipset cooling, which HAS lent itself to a very quiet PC in my Antec P180. Still (and I've got little evidence to back this statement up) the indelible sense of disappointment has crept into my overall appraisal of the board. I replaced an MSI Neo4 Platinum with it and would probably go back to that board were I able to replace its chipset fan (a real leafblower sound-alike) with a passive solution, but my 7800GTX hangs right over that area. The BIOS is very counterintuitively laid out, and not being able to choose which PCIe x16 slot the video card sits in is also annoying.

    You should go read the A8R-MVP section of the Asus website forums (finding them is a PITA since there are few static links available over thre) and read the bitching. I think most of the AT forumgoers' collective experiences with the board ended up here:
    http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...amp;thre...
  • bob661 - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link

    Thanks for the link.
  • seanp789 - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link

    The final words page has a link at the bottom to ethernet performance. a page 14 that does not appear to exist.
  • JarredWalton - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link

    The article was modified from being 16 pages originally to being 13 pages -- no content was changed, but the layout was modified. You probably just saw the article in a transitory state. Sorry.
  • Patrese - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link

    Great review, it seems that the manufacturers are using Anandtech as beta testers for BIOS... :) Is it really too hard to release a mobo with a properly working BIOS? It seems to be happening everytime...
    BTW, this board is too purple to be an Abit, as stated on the last page: "In the on-board audio area, the Abit board offers"
  • Visual - Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - link

    WTF is a video shunt card?

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