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: ATI Catalyst Platform 5.7
Video Cards: ATI X850XT PE
NVIDIA 6800 Ultra
MSI NVIDIA 7800GTX
Video Drivers: ATI Catalyst 5.7
NVIDIA nForce 77.79
Operating System(s): Windows XP Professional SP2
Direct X 9.0c
Motherboards: Sapphire PURE Innovation (ATI RX480/SB450)
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)
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR
Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI Platinum

Tests used OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, which uses Samsung TCCD chips. All memory ran at 2-2-2-7 timing in all benchmarks.

We tested with our standard NVIDIA 6800 Ultra to allow the best comparisons to benchmark results with other motherboards. To demonstrate performance with various current video options, we also tested with the ATI X850XT PE and the MSI NVIDIA 7800GTX. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1280x1024x32 unless otherwise noted.

Results for the Sapphire ATI with the ATI X850 XT PE are color-coded red in all graphs; results for the Sapphire ATI/NVIDIA 6800 Ultra are in orange; and, Sapphire ATI/MSI NVIDIA 7800 GTX are in gold. Results for the other boards, all tested with the NVIDIA 6800 Ultra, are color-coded blue.

tRAS and Memory Stress Testing General Performance
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  • QueBert - Saturday, July 30, 2005 - link

    I like the white, but not a big fan of red. As for it being the "first white motherboard we've seen" There was a really sweet looking one by I believe, Epox. Platinum colored PCB with blue and gold on the board. The color scheme of this Sapphire is different, and different is good. I hate green/red PCB's.
  • beorntheold - Saturday, July 30, 2005 - link

    Under Gaming Performance:
    "... If you keep in mind that the orange bar represents the same NVIDIA 6800 Ultra used to test the other boards in this review, you can clearly see that the Sapphire ATI is at or near the top in most game tests..."
    There is either an error in the graph or in the text - because the orange bar clearly says
    nV 7800 GTX.
  • Olaf van der Spek - Saturday, July 30, 2005 - link

    > This number is meaningless as far as hard disk performance is concerned as it is just the number of IO operations completed in a second.

    What exactly is meant here?
    Isn't more completed operations per second better?
  • Wesley Fink - Saturday, July 30, 2005 - link

    I meant that the operations per second is meaningless as a SPECIFICATION of hard drive performance. Yes, more operations per second is better, but you will never see iPeak ops/sec quoted as a specification.
  • roel - Saturday, July 30, 2005 - link

    And what about support for linux?
    Will it boot? Will it be fast as well?
    I'd like to know.

    roel
  • kevykev - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    What is with the stupid fish names though? How ridiculous.
  • TheInvincibleMustard - Saturday, July 30, 2005 - link

    Actually, that was one of the first things to catch my eye ... Not the fish, but the jaguar, with the silkscreened logo looking almost exactly the same as the automobile company (Google Images if you're curious). The actual leaping cat is positioned slightly differently between the two, but the similarity is remarkable.

    If I had better image manipulation on this machine I'm at, I'd whip up a side-by-side comparison to better illustrate (hehe) my point.
  • shoRunner - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    All i can say is drool, this definately looks like a very promising board, if they can fix the issue with the USB transfer rates(even without a fix its will still be very competative, how often do most ppl transfer huge amounts of data over USB?). What i still want to see is one of these boards with the integrate graphics and a DVI port.
  • Stas - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    Just as I expected: nVidia is whooped. ATi + AMD = Performance
  • Zebo - Friday, July 29, 2005 - link

    Looks great Wes..cept for memory is to close together and not staggard and may present cooling problems between the sticks...plus the board looks like green snot, much prefer blacks, reds and blues.

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