Foxconn MARS: Lab Update

by Gary Key on October 3, 2007 12:00 PM EST
Media Encoding Performance-

We are utilizing Nero Recode 2 and Sony Vegas 7.0e for our video encoding tests. The scores reported include the full encoding process and are represented in seconds, with lower numbers indicating better performance.

Our first series of tests is quite easy - we take our original Office Space DVD and use AnyDVD to rip the full DVD to the hard drive without compression, thus providing an almost exact duplicate of the DVD. We then fire up Nero Recode 2, select our Office Space copy on the hard drive, and perform a shrink operation to allow the entire movie along with extras to fit on a single 4.5GB DVD disc. We leave all options on their defaults except we uncheck the advanced analysis option.

Media Encoding Performance - Nero Recode 2

In this CPU and disk intensive test the boards fall within 2% of each other. The P06 BIOS with the memory set to DDR2-1066 is once again faster, but only by one second.

Our Sony Vegas 7.0e test converts several of our summer vacation files into a plasma-screen-pleasing 1080/24P format with a 5.1 audio stream. We ensure our quality settings are set to their highest levels and then let the horses loose.

Media Encoding Performance - Sony Vegas

In a test that really stresses the CPU and memory subsystem, we see the Foxconn MARS board finishing first with the P06 BIOS and DDR2-1066 memory, just slightly ahead of the previous results.

File Compression Performance-

In order to provide another CPU crunching utility, we utilize WinRAR 3.70 to perform compression tests. WinRAR fully supports multithreaded operations and should be of particular interest for those users with dual core or multi-processor systems. Our test folder contains 444 files, ten subfolders, and 602MB worth of data. All default settings are utilized in WinRAR and our hard drive is defragmented before each test.

File Compression Performance - WinRAR 3.70

Once again the Foxconn MARS board scores very well with the P06 BIOS in a test that stresses overall memory latencies and CPU/Memory throughput. We finally notice some separation between the DDR2-1066 and DDR2-800 scores on this board. The nature of file compression is such that memory is accessed almost constantly in a very random fashion, so page misses requiring additional time as memory banks are swapped is common.

3DMarks and Gaming Quick Thoughts
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  • BigDDesign - Monday, October 8, 2007 - link

    I really like the follow up articles that you are doing with the latest motherboard reviews. What the Foxconn has over most of the other P35 motherboards is a perfect layout. 3 PCI slots are still needed for some of us. And not one of them being blocked by an 8800GTX. TV Tuner Cards, Sound Cards, Raid Cards etc still need PCI. The Abit IP35-Pro looks good too, but one of the other tech sites found the firewire only got 17mb/sec transfer rate http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/07/12/abit_i...">http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/07/12/abit_i.... I do a lot of video work and this is unacceptable. Capturing video at this tranfer rate would be problematic. Foxconn has my vote for offering the best layout for any new motherboard for anyone that only needs one graphics card and likes to have the media center experience with high-end sound. I can only hope that the new 45nm quad cores this spring overclock as well as the Q6600 does in your article. Then I will buy one of these Foxconn boards and finally get rid of my Northwood system. Looking foward to playing some of the new games out there at high resolutions instead of a slide show.
  • mostlyprudent - Friday, October 5, 2007 - link

    In the context of a roundup? Please, when will the P35 roundup appear?
  • smut - Saturday, October 6, 2007 - link

    I am wondering the same thing as well! I am currently picking parts for a new build and the mobo and case has been the two parts I cannot decide on for the life of me. Anyone have any recommendations? Will be OCing a 6750 C2D cpu with 2x1GB of Ballistix DDR2800. I want a big roomy case, I like the CM stacker 832.

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