|
Next up, we have tests for the
serious side of computing with ZD Content Creation and
Business Winstones. We've tested the MSI and DFI
boards against the Intel reference i845D board, an i850 with
RDRAM combination and a VIA based P4X266A board.
 |
|
Ziff Davis Content Creation and Business
Winstones, Video 2000, 3DMark |
|
All work and
no play |
|
|
Clearly, under
the light load of the Business Winstone test, all the boards
were neck and neck, in terms of raw performance.
However, these scores are well within the margin for error.
Under Content Creation, we see a different picture with the
P4X266A reference system leading the pack by a decent margin
but most likely indistinguishable to the user and within 5%
of the average i845 DDR solution. The addition of
ATA133 RAID support for the MSI 845Ultra, certainly goosed
those scores up a notch as well.
Let's look at
something more strenuous.
Here we see a
very similar outcome as was seen in the Winstone tests.
All boards are within close striking distance of each other.
On the 3D Gaming
side of things, we bring you our
MadOnion
3DMark scores.
The i845 DDR
solutions certainly posted respectable numbers within 4 - 5%
of the lead P4X266A board. We also need to remember
that this is the initial release of the i845D chipset and
Intel is surely going to optimize performance further with
new chipset drivers. Don't forget that this is the
"second coming" of the P4X266 chipset from VIA, so that
platform is slightly more mature in this regard.
Let's Quake and
call it a day...
| 
