ECS L4S8A (SiS 648): Value P4 Performance

ECS L4S8A: Stress Testing

We managed to run quite a few tests on the L4S8A, although we weren't able to do as much as we would have liked due to the poor DDR400 functionality. We still managed to test this board in several different areas and configurations, including

1. Chipset and motherboard stress testing was conducted by running the FSB at 152MHz (1:1 ratio).
2. Memory stress testing was conducted by running RAM at 333MHz with one bank filled as well as as many as was possible from that point on with the most aggressive timings available.

During our FSB overclocking stress tests, we were able to reliably run the L4S8A for 24 hrs straight with Prime95 torture tests running in the background. In addition to the Prime95 stress tests, we reran our entire benchmark suite several times over at 152MHz FSB with great success. Recently, we decided to share some of the general application usage data we've experienced with our motherboards. That is, we simply use the L4S8A like any other computer system; so we run a bunch of pretty common tasks, such as data compression, Word, IE, Outlook, etc. We're happy to report that at 152MHz FSB (1:1 divider), everything ran happily.

We haven't encountered an officially supported DDR333 motherboard that hasn't been able to run one DIMM at 333MHz at aggressive memory timings. The L4S8A is no exception. Here were our results in this conservative DDR333 situation with one Corsair DIMM running at 333MHz with the most aggressive timings possible:

These are great timings, and certainly nothing surprising. We would have like to have seen better options as far as adjusting DRAM timings like Precharge to Active and other such settings, but in general these are very aggressive timings. Besides, timings like Precharge to Active really don't make much of a performance difference on most motherboards, although they are great for stress testing.

A single DIMM operating at 333MHz, CAS 2, CR 1T, and Ultra mode was very easy for the L4S8A. So we moved on to a more aggressive situation, this time with 2 of 3 banks filled. We were able to achieve the following DRAM settings:

These are decent DRAM timings for two DIMMs; most users should be happy with these results. Disappointingly enough, we did not have as much success with all three banks filled. With all memory banks occupied, we were able to run the following:

These are certainly very poor timings. In fact, it's not even worth it to run three sticks of memory at these timings, as we discovered that performance was approximately 5-10% lower across the board with most of the programs we ran.

As we normally do, we like to make sure our most aggressive DRAM settings are as stable as possible. Therefore, we ran our usual array of stress tests on the L4S8A, including 24 hrs of Prime95 torture tests at the timings listed in the above three charts. During the time this board was being stressed, we also ran some everyday apps like Word, Outlook, IE, and some data compression here and there. Several runs of SuperPi were tested as well. All in all, we encountered no problems whatsoever.