Test Setup

 Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s): AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4GHz) Socket 939
RAM: 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2
Hard Drive(s): Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM SATA (8MB Buffer)
Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers: NVIDIA nForce 6.56
Video Cards: NVIDIA 6800 Ultra (PCIe)
NVIDIA 6800 Ultra (AGP)
Video Drivers: NVIDIA nForce 77.72
Operating System(s): Windows XP Professional SP2
Direct X 9.0c
Motherboards: ULi AP9567A (M1695/M1567)
Abit AN8 Fatal1ty
Biostar NF4UL-A9
Chaintech VNF4-Ultra
DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D
ECS KN1 Extreme
Epox 9NPA+ Ultra
Winfast NF4UK8AA (Foxconn)

Tests used OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, which uses Samsung TCCD chips. All memory ran at 2-2-2-10 timing in all benchmarks.

The NVIDIA 6800 Ultra was used for testing both PCIe and AGP performance on the ULi and Biostar boards. The 6800 Ultra video cards were tested at the same video timings and differed only in interface - AGP or PCIe. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1280x1024x32 unless noted otherwise.

Results for the ULi M1695/M1567 are color-coded red for PCIe and Orange for AGP in all graphs. Results for the other seven boards, all based on the nForce4 Ultra chipset, are in blue.

tRAS and Memory Stress Testing General Performance & Encoding
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  • Sabresiberian - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    Dang! I just bought an AGP mainboard! LOL! Well, I probably saved $100 and money was a concern for me.

    Glad to see this come out still, hats off to ULI :)

    Wish it had come out 6 months or more ago, I think that would have been more timely, but better late than never, heh.
  • nserra - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    #Wesley Fink
    Repeating....
    I noted that the speed of the AGP is very good, but vs the older 1689 is it equal, higher or is the 1689 even higher. Can you do some 939A8X-M test just to check?
    Also your explanation to #20 is confusing (at least to me), isn’t HT (200x5) = 1000HT speed and the chipset can do 400 (2,3,4X400) ?


    #28 I think Uli chipsets as been always one of the faster with hard disk transfers (a lot faster), the older don’t this I don’t know, also I don’t know the CPU % hit.
  • QV - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    This looks like an interesting board. When I found out that K8T890 doesn't support dual-core, I figured my next machine would be nF4, but this looks good enough that by the time I build my next machine (which will probably be months away, for money reasons), I may very well use a board based on this chipset.

    Also, speaking of dual AGP/PCI-E solutions, can't the VIA PT880 Pro do the same? I know it's for a different platform, but it doesn't seem to be a hack like some boards seem to use, and ASRock makes one or two boards based on it. What's the story there? Can the PT880 Pro really also do the triple graphics interface, and platform differences aside, how does it stack up against the M1695?
  • L3p3rM355i4h - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    Interesting. Hopefully it doesn't go the way of the KT890.
  • MarkHark - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    Does anybody know if this ULI south bridge supports NCQ and how its hard drive I/O performance compares to Nforce4 and SIS?
  • smn198 - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    #25 If I was after AGP with the possibility to upgrade to PCIe without changing motherboard then yes I would be interested but I doubt that this feature will interest OEMs. The cost of a full motherboard will be pushed up once features such as SATA2 and Gbit LAN are added. The possibility of two full x16 PCIe slots is the most interesting thing to me as it could add a bit of future proofing.

    I would be interested if it had been out a few months and I wasn't going to be an early adopter. I'd want to know what the drivers are like and no matter how good this chipset is, I doubt it's driver support will be as good as the nVidia. Good luck to them though! We need another high-end chipset maker for AMD.
  • Zebo - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    Abit and Gigabyte both have full-blown boards in the works.
    ----------------
    Well that certainly makes things interesting.. Thanks again.. And I take back my comment about DOA like SIS 75x seems to be:)
  • Wesley Fink - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    #25 - Competitive and much cheaper also works - with the unique AGP on PCIe to get your attention.
  • smn198 - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link

    #15 - I agree but also, they don't need to show that they are as competitive as the nForce4, they need to be better.
  • fishy - Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - link


    Exciting news to me:

    _I still have an 'ol Asus/ Ali motherboard
    running, and it has been "very good to me" :)

    _I'm still looking for a AMD 64 motherboard
    (bought an NF4 board a few months ago
    and got rid of it really fast, too many
    problems)

    Asus, get on this fast, please!

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