Asus A8N-VM CSM: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Finally Arrives
by Wesley Fink on December 1, 2005 12:04 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Test Setup
Tests used OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, which uses Samsung TCCD chips. All memory ran at 2-2-2-7 timing in all benchmarks.
Resolution in all benchmarks is 800x600x32 unless otherwise noted. 3DMark03 and 3Dmark05 default to a standardized 1024x768 resolution. In all games, detail was set to minimum where possible to try to provide frame rates that might be playable at 800x600. Game options were set exactly the same for tests on the Asus A8N-VM, the Biostar NVIDIA 6100 and ATI RS482 platforms. ATI has announced an RS485 chipset that is clocked higher than the current RS482. It is designed to compete with the new NVIDIA GeForce 6150.
| 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) |
| Platform and Integrated Video Drivers: | NVIDIA 8.22 Platform 81.95 Video ATI 5.10 Catalyst |
| Video Cards: | NVIDIA 6150 Integrated NVIDIA 6100 Integrated ATI RS482 Integrated |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP2 Direct X 9.0c |
| Motherboards: | Asus A8N-VM CSM (6150/430) BIOSTAR TForce 6100-939 (6100/410) ATI Grouper Reference Board (RS482) |
Tests used OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, which uses Samsung TCCD chips. All memory ran at 2-2-2-7 timing in all benchmarks.
Resolution in all benchmarks is 800x600x32 unless otherwise noted. 3DMark03 and 3Dmark05 default to a standardized 1024x768 resolution. In all games, detail was set to minimum where possible to try to provide frame rates that might be playable at 800x600. Game options were set exactly the same for tests on the Asus A8N-VM, the Biostar NVIDIA 6100 and ATI RS482 platforms. ATI has announced an RS485 chipset that is clocked higher than the current RS482. It is designed to compete with the new NVIDIA GeForce 6150.
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highlandsun - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
Yes, Googer is missing the point that this is supposed to be a complete *Media Center*, that means audio too. I need SPDIF in/out for my minidiscs and other audio devices. I have a multichannel amplifier but I'd prefer to feed it with a pure digital signal. And yes, the PCI slots are already spoken for (Fusion HDTV tuner).BigLan - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
Actually, spdif and HD audio are pretty much mutually exclusive. The main benefit of spdif is to pass a dolby digital or dts audio stream untouched to a receiver from the dvd disk (or .avi file.) HD audio allows the motherboard to do 7.1 sound on the motherboard, which is then sent out of the analogue outputs - the 7.1 sound in games etc doesn't use spdif unless you have a soundstorm2 board or certain soundcards which do dolby digital encoding.For most HTPCs, HD audio doesn't actually do anything.
Googer - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
If i am not mistaken, ATI's chipset allows for 32 or 64MB of dedicated video RAM to be soldered in to the motherboard. This prevents it from having to resort to system memory.USAF1 - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
Hmm... I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that the Marvell 88E1111 "Alaska" chip is just functioning as the PHY for the GbE resident in the nForce 430 southbridge chip. I don't see anything in the 88E1111 tech docs that indicate that it's a fully functional PCIe GbE controller - for that you'd need something like the Marvell's 88E8050 "Yukon" chip. Here are some links:http://www.marvell.com/products/transceivers/singl...">http://www.marvell.com/products/transceivers/singl...
http://www.marvell.com/products/transceivers/singl...">http://www.marvell.com/products/transce.../Alaska_...'marvell%2088e1111'
http://www.marvell.com/products/pcconn/yukon/index...">http://www.marvell.com/products/pcconn/yukon/index...
Wesley Fink - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
The Marvell is a Gigabit PHY, just as in other nForce4 chipsets. As our benchmarks show, it is definitely operating at PCIe speeds.USAF1 - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
The fact that a certain PHY (Marvell 88E1111, Vitesse VSC8201RX, etc) and nForce4 MAC combo runs at speeds similar to a dedicated PCIe controller, doesn't make it a PCIe-based solution. Your article would lead one to believe that the Marvell 88E1111 is a PCIe-enabled GbE controller, which in fact it is not.Wesley Fink - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
We stated clearly in the Features Chart that the Marvel is a PHY (Physical Layer) chip. This is what we have been seeing in nF4 chipsets for quite a while.USAF1 - Thursday, December 1, 2005 - link
Sorry Wesley, but I still think that your article is misleading. The quote "Asus used the PCIe Gigabit hooks in the 430 Southbridge to provide PCIe Gigabit LAN on the A8N-VM." is just not factual. Neither are the "PCIe" labels next to "Marvell 88E1111" on your graphs. The fact of the matter is that there is no PCIe GbE on this board, yet it's plastered all over the "ethernet performance" section of your article. Why don't you just fix the mistake? Where is Anandtech's vaunted journalistic integrity???Wesley Fink - Friday, December 2, 2005 - link
Upon further research, it does look like the 88E1111 does use a different approach to Gigabit LAN than the PCIe solutions. Marvell refers to the chip as a "Single Port Transceiver". From a users perspective, the performance was found to be the same as PCIe Ethernet, but we have made a few changes in the wording and graphs to more accurately describe the Gigabit LAN used on this board.USAF1 - Friday, December 2, 2005 - link
Thank you very much, Wesley. Now I can stop talking bad about you and your extended family. ;)