Soltek SL-PT880Pro-FGR: VIA Dual-Channel for the Pentium 4

3.2C: Performance Test Configuration

To provide the best comparison to past Performance Tests, two sets of benchmarks were run. Performance was first compared using a 3.2C Northwood processor to the competing Pentium 4 chipsets that we have tested. Results with the Soltek SL-PT800Pro-FGR were compared to two SiS655TX chipset boards and the top Intel 875 Asus P4C800-E.

Performance Test Configuration - 3.2C
Processor(s):	Intel 3.2C (Northwood)
RAM:	2 x 512MB Mushkin PC3500 Level II 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd.
Hard Drive(s):	Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM (8MB Buffer)
Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers:	VIA Hyperion 4.51 (12-02-2003) Intel Chipset Drivers
Video Card(s):	ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB (AGP 8X)
Video Drivers:	ATI Catalyst 4.1
Operating System(s):	Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboards:	Soltek SL-PT880Pro-FGR (VIA PT880) Asus P4S800D-E (SiS 655TX) Gigabyte 8S655TX Ultra (SiS 655FX) Asus P4C800-E (Intel 875P)

Benchmarks used either Mushkin PC3500 Level II or OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd memory modules. Both DIMMs use Winbond BH5 chips and perform virtually the same in our tests.

All performance tests were run with the ATI 9800 PRO 128MB video card with AGP Aperture set to 128MB with Fast Write enabled. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1024x768x32 unless otherwise noted.

Additions to Performance Tests

We have recently updated to Veritest Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004 and Veritest Business Winstone 2004 for system benchmarking.

Game Benchmarks

We have added several new benchmarks to our standard Gaming tests. These include Halo, Microsoft's Direct X 9.0b game; Splinter Cell, a DX9 game; X2 Benchmark, a DX 8.1 game that includes Transform and Lighting effects; the DX9 Aquamark 3; and the DX 8.1 Comanche 4 benchmark. Since we have found that Comanche 4 can become video card limited at higher resolutions, we will only include benchmarks run with 4X anti-aliasing enabled to differentiate system performance better using our standard ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card. We will be reporting more results at 1280 x 1024 resolution in future system and motherboard benchmarking where that resolution provides useful performance data.

We have dropped Yeti Studios DX9 Gun Metal 2 from our standard motherboard and system benchmarks, since there are many other DX9 choices now available that measure system performance variations better. We will be adding other benchmarks in the near future.