Windows XP Pro + SP1
512MB Corsair XMS3500CAS2
Maxtor 80GB ATA133
Radeon 9700 Pro Video
Athlon XP 2100+ CPU
Foreword :
The original plan was to
run the KX400-8X up against the DFI AD77 Infinity (KT400). Unfortunately
I ran into a few snags with the DFI board which bizarrely refused
to complete any 3D benchmark with the memory ruining at 333MHz.
It would however run perfectly at both 266MHz and also 400MHz
even at the most aggressive memory timings. Something certainly
seems a little off track as the results I was getting from the
AD77 at 400MHz DDR are around what I'd expect to see from running
at 333MHz. This I feel is probably a Radeon 9700 compatibility
problem that will no doubt be addressed in a BIOS update but
for now I've just included the AD77 results for 3DMark and PCMark.
I will be returning to the AD77 shortly as I find it a very
interesting product and I'd like to see how a newer BIOS and
a bit of tweaking might help.
3DMark2001 SE Build 330 :
In the words of MadOnion.com, 3DMark®2001
SE (build 330) is the latest installment in the popular
3DMark series. By combining DirectX®8.1 support with completely
new graphics, it continues to provide benchmark results that
empower you to make informed hardware assessments. Love it or
hate it there's no doubting its value as a benchmarking tool,
particularly when used to make comparisons. This was run at
the default 1024x768.
KX800-8X @ 266MHz DDR
KX800-8X @ 333MHz DDR
KX800-8X @ 400MHz DDR(23361)
We should note that these are pretty respectable
scores and are not a million miles away from what we'd expect
from the KT333 chipset.
PCMark 2002 :
PCMark™2002
is a completely new, multipurpose benchmark, suited for benchmarking
all kinds of PCs, from laptops to workstations, as well as across
multiple Windows® operating systems. This easy-to-use benchmark
makes professional strength benchmarking software available
even to novice users. PCMark2002 consists of a series of tests
that represent common tasks in home and office programs. PCMark2002
also covers many additional areas outside the scope of other
MadOnion.com benchmarks.
After some initial reservations I'm becoming quite
fond of MadOnion.com's PCMark benchmark which has so far churned
out some very consistent results here.
KX800-8X @ 266MHz DDR
KX800-8X @ 333MHz DDR
KX800-8X @ 400MHz DDR(2-3-3-6-1)
Here we see the Albatron lose out to the DFI AD77
which scores considerable higher on the CPU and Memory results.
Not much use if it's not stable and the DFI isn't with this
BIOS but if you look at its 333MHz scores that's not surprising,
it seems to be working a little too hard! An interesting trend
that I haven't picked up on up until now, probably due to not
seeing too many KT400 boards yet, is the way the HDD performance
declines as the FSB increases, in the case of the DFI dropping
from 838 to 699 as the FSB changes from 266MHz to 333MHz! This
is quite a drop and is something we really need to look at in
more detail as other boards trickle through.
