ATI 9100 IGP PRO: Optimized for Prescott

Integrated Graphics: Memory Bandwidth Performance

In earlier reviews, the memory bandwidth of the RS300 trailed the Intel 865/875 chipsets. As you can clearly see, ATI has significantly enhanced the performance of the memory controller in the 9100 IGP PRO. In both Sciencemark 2 and SiSoft Sandra 2004 Buffered Memory Test, the performance of the RS350 is as good as or better than the outstanding Intel 865 memory performance. While the 865G and RS350 were tested with Integrated Graphics, the 875P was tested with a Radeon 9800 PRO. It is amazing to see that the 9100 IGP PRO even keeps up completely with the even faster 875 in Sandra 2004.

There are some test concerns in memory. The results we found with the Sandra Unbuffered Memory Test used in our Memory benchmarking are much lower with the RS350 than with Intel chipsets. Since there are no other indications of memory anomalies in our other benchmarks, we suspect that the problem is with the Sandra unbuffered memory test on the RS350 chipset. Until we find out more, we would suggest that you ignore Sandra unbuffered test results on the RS350 as a comparative chipset benchmark. Frankly, we don't believe that Unbuffered Dual-Channel memory is 1900MB/sec on the RS350 and 2800MB/sec on the Intel 865 when no other benchmarks show this pattern. This is why the unbuffered benchmarks are not charted in the memory tests.