High Resolution Gaming
We ran our benchmarks at a 1920x1200 resolution with 4x antialiasing and with 8x anisotropic filtering (if the game has support) enabled. We feel this resolution will be the best indicator of performance for users with a high-end CrossFire and CPU setup. Our performance update is based on how well R600 CrossFire works on the ASUS P5K3-Deluxe DDR3 motherboard with the current 8.37.4.3 drivers. The ASUS P5K-Deluxe board utilizes DDR2 memory as does the Intel 975X system.
We have completed testing with the latest beta ATI drivers and have seen improvements in several games by a couple of percent. However, the driver still does not work well under Vista with CrossFire enabled in OpenGL based games so we are withholding our results until the official drivers launch at the end of the month. Contrary to early reports across various forums we have not seen 20%~30% improvement in scores. Various 3DMark scores have improved up to 9% in cases but current game scores are showing improvements of 2% on average.
Company of Heroes
Prey
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
The P35 boards do very well in single card configurations at these higher detail settings and follow the same performance pattern we noticed in the 1280x1024 testing. The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. results surprised us as this was the only game where the P35 boards scored better than the 975X in CrossFire. Prey and Company of Heroes still show relatively poor CrossFire 2900 XT performance on the P35 chipset regardless of memory choice. This is an area that both the BIOS programmers and AMD are working to address, and we expect the next official Catalyst driver release to improve results on the P35 platforms. This is just another indication that the drivers and BIOS are still a work in progress, particularly in multi-GPU setups.
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eamon - Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - link
It's a bit of a shame there's nothing about the power consumption of the various motherboards.lopri - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
While reading this article I couldn't help but thinking "what for?". Summary of this article could be:1. Using Beta BIOS
2. and Beta Drivers
3. We didn't find anything significant.
What's more interesting is,
Then it goes on,
I went on to look through the comments section in previous P35 article, and I haven't seen ONE comment regarding DDR3 '1T' performance nor DDR3 CrossFire. Most users seem to take interest in performance increase over existing chipset (using DDR2) and overall usability of newly introduced features (eSATA with port multiplier, USB/RAID performance, Turbo memory(?), etc.), as well as the upgrade-ability to Penryn.
If AT thinks at this point DDR3 is the #1 topic in enthusiast community, I should say they are living in a different world. It could be a different story, though, if there is a different motif/agenda to 'push' DDR3 (1T is an icing on the cake). Is there? :)
When P965 just got mature after so many headaches that users go through, I suggest AT to take a cautious approach to P35. To many (all?) users, P35 is just a P965+ and DDR3 isn't even a factor. Instead of 1~2% of performance increase using DDR3, I'd like to see thorough testings on overall system stability and usability of newly introduced features from AT reviews. (I hope others would agree)
P.S. And what is this?
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/PenguinBell...">http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/PenguinBell...
yacoub - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
I'm also interested to know why they switched their testbed's GPU to something few people own instead of the more standard 8800GTX that offers at least as good performance but is also used by a wider percentage of readers and has a more mature driverset.Why does Anandtech seem to go out of their way to find the most incongruous system possible compared to their audience?
JarredWalton - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
P965 CrossFire is supported, and SLI is not, so that's one reason to use a 2900 XT. It's a feature that is touted as a selling point of the motherboards.yyrkoon - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
You guys sure are 'harping' heavily on this new fan dangled P35 chipset . . . Surely there are other, better things to write about in this day and age ? I am all for reading about impressive benchmarks, and new technology etc, but man, I think you guys have beat this horse to death.Personally, I would rather be reading about the possibilities of PCIe v2.0, more camera reviews, Virtualisation, or even what Linux people think about Vista.
Some new content for your readers would be appriciated . . .
yacoub - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
I was sorta with you until I read your list of alternatives. Then I immediately wanted to read more P35 reviews if those are the alternatives. =Ptungtung - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
" Considering the performance of the P35 chipset when set up correctly, we would love to see a manufacturer utilize a different PCIe controller chip setup and bring 8x8 CrossFire capability to this chipset. "Kinda confused by what this means. I mean isn't the PCIe controller built into the northbridge (or southbridge). So if someone were to use a different controller wouldn't it kinda defeat the purpose of having the P35 and ICH9 pairing in the first place? Or does it suggest adding an extra southbridge chip to get a better PCIe performance?
JarredWalton - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
I believe that a motherboard manufacturer could make an 2 x X8 PCIe configuration with P35 if they were so inclined. Gary can correct me if that's wrong.Nailer - Saturday, May 26, 2007 - link
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/pcuser/articles/0705/26...">Asus Blitz Extreme and Blitz Formula Computex Preview - Cross Link (2 x X8 PCIe)Haltech - Thursday, May 24, 2007 - link
How exactly can by switching motherboards can up FPS in games? Is it just one northbrige chip better then the other or just the layout.