MSI P35 Neo2-FR: Platinum performance for under $100

Disk Controller Performance

We have utilized the Intel iPEAK test for the past few years to measure "pure" hard disk or controller performance on Windows XP. Unfortunately, iPEAK is not compatible with Vista so we will utilize two sections of the HDD test suite within PCMark05 for comparative hard disk or controller scores until our Vista hard disk test suite is ready.

This particular test suite provides a mixture of actual application results and specific read/write percentages within these programs. The program utilizes the RankDisk application within the Intel iPEAK SPT suite of tools to record a trace of disk activity during usage of real world applications. PCMark05 replays these traces to generate performance measurements based upon the actual disk operations within each application. The HDD test suite contains 53% read and 47% write operations with each trace section utilizing varied amounts of read or write operations. Additional information about the test suite is available in PDF format.

The performance pattern in these tests indicates what we witnessed in actual application testing. In tests that are heavily dependent on the storage system, the Neo2-FR board performs well and generates consistent results in each test. However, the board finishes near the top as it excels in the Write and Window's XP startup tests when compared to the boards.

Ethernet Performance

LAN performance is also an area worth looking at, as these boards might be serving up media to the rest of the house. All of these boards utilize PCI or PCI Express based controllers with the only difference being the supplier of the core logic.

The Windows 2000 Driver Development Kit (DDK) includes a useful LAN testing utility called NTttcp. We use the NTttcp tool to test Ethernet throughput and the CPU utilization of the various Ethernet Controllers. We set up one machine as the server - in this test, an Intel system with an Intel CSA Gigabit LAN connection. Intel CSA has a reputation for providing fast throughput and is a logical choice for our Gigabit LAN server.

On the server side, we use the following Command Line as suggested by the VIA whitepaper on LAN testing:

Ntttcpr -m 4,0,‹server IP› -a 4 -l 256000 -n 30000

On the client side (the motherboard under test), we use the following Command Line:

Ntttcps -m 4,0,‹client IP› -a 4 -l 256000 -n 30000

At the conclusion of the test, we capture the throughput and CPU utilization figures from the client screen.

The throughput performance and CPU utilization numbers of the onboard Realtek RTL-8111B are in alignment with the other boards utilizing this chipset. However, any performance differences are slight and not noticeable under normal operating circumstances.