Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe: First ATI RD580
by Wesley Fink on March 1, 2006 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Optimum tRAS
In past reviews, memory bandwidth tests established that a tRAS setting of 11 or 12 was generally best for nForce2, a tRAS of 10 was optimal for the nForce3 chipset, a tRAS of 7 was optimal for the nForce4/ATI RD480/ULi M1697 chipsets, and a tRAS of 10 produced the best bandwidth on the ULi 1695.
Since this is our first review of a board with the new ATI RD580 chipset, tRAS timings were first tested with memtest86, a free diagnostic program with its own boot OS that will boot from either a floppy disk or optical disk. Bandwidth of OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, based on Samsung TCCD chips, was measured from tRAS 5 to tRAS 15 to determine the best setting.
The tRAS setting that produced the highest memory bandwidth with the ATI RD580 chipset was 8. The tRas 8 setting was used for all memory testing on the Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe.
Memory Stress Testing
The Asus A8R32-MVP easily handles 2-2-2-8-1T timings at stock speed. The default setting for Command Rate in the Asus BIOS is 1T, which makes it much easier to assure that the A8R32-MVP consistently delivers top performance than the 2T default seen in the earlier A8R-MVP. We are pleased that Asus decided to implement the more sensible 1T timings in the update to the A8R-MVP.
Running four double-sided 512MB or 1GB DIMMs is much more demanding than running two DS DIMMs, and Asus did not have any special magic here. Like every board that we have tested, except the DFI RDX200, we needed to drop the Command Rate to 2T with 4 DS DIMMs. This really should not be a surprise, since the DIMM timing is primarily a function of the memory controller on the AMD processor. With 4 DIMMs, the A8R32-MVP remained stable with the same aggressive 2-2-2-8 timings that worked best for two DS DIMMs.
*8T was determined by MemTest86 benchmarks to deliver the widest bandwidth with the ATI RD580 chipset. While the board would operate at tRAS of 5T or lower all benchmarks were run at 8T.
In past reviews, memory bandwidth tests established that a tRAS setting of 11 or 12 was generally best for nForce2, a tRAS of 10 was optimal for the nForce3 chipset, a tRAS of 7 was optimal for the nForce4/ATI RD480/ULi M1697 chipsets, and a tRAS of 10 produced the best bandwidth on the ULi 1695.
Since this is our first review of a board with the new ATI RD580 chipset, tRAS timings were first tested with memtest86, a free diagnostic program with its own boot OS that will boot from either a floppy disk or optical disk. Bandwidth of OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2, based on Samsung TCCD chips, was measured from tRAS 5 to tRAS 15 to determine the best setting.
| Memtest86 Bandwidth Asus A8R32-MVP with Athlon 64 4000+ |
|
| 5 tRAS | 1879 |
| 6 tRAS | 1879 |
| 7 tRAS | 1999 |
| 8 tRAS | 2043 |
| 9 tRAS | 1999 |
| 10 tRAS | 1958 |
| 11 tRAS | 1958 |
| 12 tRAS | 1879 |
| 13 tRAS | 1870 |
| 14 tRAS | 1843 |
| 15 tRAS | 1807 |
The tRAS setting that produced the highest memory bandwidth with the ATI RD580 chipset was 8. The tRas 8 setting was used for all memory testing on the Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe.
Memory Stress Testing
The Asus A8R32-MVP easily handles 2-2-2-8-1T timings at stock speed. The default setting for Command Rate in the Asus BIOS is 1T, which makes it much easier to assure that the A8R32-MVP consistently delivers top performance than the 2T default seen in the earlier A8R-MVP. We are pleased that Asus decided to implement the more sensible 1T timings in the update to the A8R-MVP.
Running four double-sided 512MB or 1GB DIMMs is much more demanding than running two DS DIMMs, and Asus did not have any special magic here. Like every board that we have tested, except the DFI RDX200, we needed to drop the Command Rate to 2T with 4 DS DIMMs. This really should not be a surprise, since the DIMM timing is primarily a function of the memory controller on the AMD processor. With 4 DIMMs, the A8R32-MVP remained stable with the same aggressive 2-2-2-8 timings that worked best for two DS DIMMs.
| Stable DDR400 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 DIMMs populated) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2T |
| RAS Precharge: | 8T* |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | 2T |
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
65 Comments
View All Comments
Spinne - Monday, March 6, 2006 - link
NewEgg still doesn't have them in stock, neither does Monarc Computers. Wonder how long it'll be before they get them and the prices drop.dennis hs - Sunday, March 5, 2006 - link
I've just gotten this mobo.. It's pretty sweet! I really like the ALC882 onboard sound! It's really crispy and all good :DOverall I don't have any issues with it. It's a damn good mobo!
[vietnamese hooker mode on]
" Me love it longtime :) "
[vietnamese hooker mode off]
tonser - Friday, March 3, 2006 - link
It is nice that manufactors listen, but why do they still bring out Motherboards for SLI and Crossfire, where the normal PCI cannot be used with their heigh end grafic cards - I am wondering ?yacoub - Thursday, March 2, 2006 - link
This board gets an official "daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, Gina!" rating.Holy crap it flies with an X1900XT!
theOracle - Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - link
In the table - "PEG Bugger Length"Wesley Fink - Monday, March 6, 2006 - link
Corrected the Brokeback Mountain referenceDigitalFreak - Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - link
No one has any RD580 boards in stock in the US. Hell, Newegg doesn't even have any listed! Looks like another classic paper launch to me.glynor - Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">Oh, and how about from Newegg hereSLIM - Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - link
http://www.antaresdigital.com/customer/product.php...">1or
http://www.atacom.com/program/print_html_new.cgi?&...">2
Please get a clue before posting. All these people complaining about not making proper comparisons because Anandtech went the extra step of testing the latest vid card from ati on their latest chipset in ADDITION to making a very fair comparison with what nvidia has to offer currently.
Nice article, too bad people don't pay attention to the graphs before they complain about them.
DigitalFreak - Thursday, March 2, 2006 - link
Moron. Did you happen to notice the "Out Of Stock" button?And what's with the bitching about proper comparisons, blah blah blah? Reply to the wrong thread, did we?