FIRST LOOK: ULi M1695 PCIe/AGP Socket 939 for Athlon 64
by Wesley Fink on July 13, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
tRAS and Memory Stress Testing
Memory tRAS Recommendations
In past reviews, memory bandwidth tests established that a tRAS setting of 11 or 12 was generally best for nForce2, a tRAS of 10 was optimal for the nForce3 chipset, and a tRAS of 7 was the best choice for the nForce4 chipset. Since this is our first review of a ULi chipset, tRAS timings were first tested with memtest86, a free diagnostic program with its own boot OS that will boot from either a floppy disk or optical disk. Bandwidth of OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, based on Samsung TCCD chips, was measured from tRas 5 to tRAS 13 to determine the best tRAS setting for the ULi chipset.| Memtest86 Bandwidth ULi M1695 with Athlon 64 4000+ |
|
| 5 tRAS | 1874 |
| 6 tRAS | 1913 |
| 7 tRAS | 1953 |
| 8 tRAS | 1953 |
| 9 tRAS | 1994 |
| 10 tRAS | 1994 |
| 11 tRAS | 1994 |
| 12 tRAS | 1874 |
| 13 tRAS | 1974 |
The best bandwidth was achieved with this combination of ULi M1695/4000+/TCCD in the 9 to 11 range, so a mid-value tRAS of 10 was chosen for all tests. It appears that optimal tRAS timings may also be memory dependent, so we recommend a quick series of memtest86 to establish the optimum tRAS timings for other memories on the ULi chipset.
Memory Stress Test
Our memory stress test measures the ability of the ULi 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) |
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| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 10T |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 1T |
Using two DIMMs in Dual-Channel 128-bit mode, the memory performed in all benchmarks at the fastest 2-2-2-10 timings at default voltage, which was the only memory voltage available.
| Stable DDR400 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 DIMMs populated) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 10T |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 2T |
Tests with all four DIMM slots populated on the ULi M1695 required a 2T Command Rate with 4 DIMMs in two dual channels. This is the pattern seen on other top-performing Socket 939 boards. However, the ULi had no problem running at a 200 CPU speed setting with 4 double-sided DIMMs. This performance is certainly competitive with the best that we have seen on nForce4 motherboards for Socket 939.
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Zebo - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link
Thanks Wes but why no disk, USB, or network performance comparisons?This board(s) is DOA IMO..
Crap realtek audio and no video don't even let it enter the bargian market unlike ATI will do.
second Uli is a nobody in our market like SiS and won't get any serious attention from the likes of ASUS/ABIT/DFI/Gigabyte performance works.
kmmatney - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link
Woohoo! Just what I needed so I can keep my video card (6600GT) while upgrading from my Athlon XP. Waht we NEED though, is a Palermo for Socket 939.JustAnAverageGuy - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link
</didn't read the first paragraph on the last page>:blush;
Any guesses on which manufacturers will be using the chipsets then? Asus, Abit, MSI, etc?
JustAnAverageGuy - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link
Any idea on when the chipset will be available in retail markets?That is VERY impressive. :thumbsup; ULi
Cookie Crusher - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link
Three words: I want one.Ok, some more words: This board is what I think many people have been clamouring for since early this year. A true bridge board that allows all of us average people to make the switch with the maximum amount of flexibility is what we've wanted.
The fact that it performs well is gravy. For all of us who jumped in on socket 754 early on and have waited to switch to socket 939 (and necessarily pci-e) this now let's us make the move without gouging our wallets.
ocyl - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link
Driver support? Linux?Zepper - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link
ocworkbench has had several articles on this chipset. Check that out too..bh.
Furen - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link
#4: Hell yeah, now we just need for someone to actually make these...ryanv12 - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link
whoa! I didn't know we were getting these boards! And here I was, about to upgrade to a PCI-E board, reluctantly. I think I'll just do Dual-Core and pick up this motherboard and drop in a GTX later. I have a 6800GT that's still pretty competent :)Shinei - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link
The only thing I care about is PRICE. If these suckers roll out for $80-$100 cheaper than the nForce4 SLI boards, guess where my money's going... And I'm taking my 6800GT with me! :)