Disk Controller Performance
The normal AnandTech iPeak test for measuring storage controller performance is designed to keep the hard drive as consistent as possible while varying the hard drive controller. The idea is to measure the performance of each hard drive controller with the same hard drive. Unfortunately, we discovered that iPeak does not work properly under Microsoft Vista at this time. We are currently looking at alternative test methods but will present HD Tune 2.53 results today.
The performance pattern according to these results would lead one to believe that the NVIDIA 6150/430 offers the worst disk performance as its minimum, maximum, and average transfer rates are the worst in the group, but it does have the best burst rates. The G965's ICH8 and 690G's SB600 Southbridge designs score identically in the first series of tests with the SB600 providing a higher burst rate at the expense of CPU utilization. In actual application testing, we generally found the NVIDIA 6150/430 offered the best overall disk performance.
Power Consumption
We measured power consumption at two states: at idle sitting at the Vista desktop and under load while running our 3DMark06 test. At both settings, Cool 'n Quiet/EIST were enabled to keep power consumption down to a minimum, although the biggest difference is made at idle.
In our idle tests we see that both AM2 platforms have an advantage over the Intel platform with or without power management turned on. In previous testing we know the Intel Core 2 Duo consumes less power than our 90nm 5200+ X2 samples, which indicates the G965 chipset is a power hog when compared to the AM2 solutions. The 690G scores extremely well in both our Idle and Load tests.
The normal AnandTech iPeak test for measuring storage controller performance is designed to keep the hard drive as consistent as possible while varying the hard drive controller. The idea is to measure the performance of each hard drive controller with the same hard drive. Unfortunately, we discovered that iPeak does not work properly under Microsoft Vista at this time. We are currently looking at alternative test methods but will present HD Tune 2.53 results today.
The performance pattern according to these results would lead one to believe that the NVIDIA 6150/430 offers the worst disk performance as its minimum, maximum, and average transfer rates are the worst in the group, but it does have the best burst rates. The G965's ICH8 and 690G's SB600 Southbridge designs score identically in the first series of tests with the SB600 providing a higher burst rate at the expense of CPU utilization. In actual application testing, we generally found the NVIDIA 6150/430 offered the best overall disk performance.
Power Consumption
We measured power consumption at two states: at idle sitting at the Vista desktop and under load while running our 3DMark06 test. At both settings, Cool 'n Quiet/EIST were enabled to keep power consumption down to a minimum, although the biggest difference is made at idle.
In our idle tests we see that both AM2 platforms have an advantage over the Intel platform with or without power management turned on. In previous testing we know the Intel Core 2 Duo consumes less power than our 90nm 5200+ X2 samples, which indicates the G965 chipset is a power hog when compared to the AM2 solutions. The 690G scores extremely well in both our Idle and Load tests.
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Gary Key - Wednesday, March 7, 2007 - link
The board will not do 1080P over the HDMI port at this time. 720P is working fine. The mATX will be up on the 19th, provided my heart is still working by that time, have to say that testing under Vista is not a pleasant experience. ;)dmce - Friday, March 9, 2007 - link
Gary, thanks for the info. Is the lack of ability to do 1080p related to Vista or will it just not do it at this stage. Is it likely bios/driver updates will improve this?chucky2 - Thursday, March 8, 2007 - link
Man, to me it sounds like - other than having video and audio in one cable - HDMI is not the way to go.Better to have DVI w/ HDCP it sounds like...plus, the connector is more beefcake, no falling out accidentally with DVI.
Chuck
Gary Key - Tuesday, March 6, 2007 - link
The platform will no do 1080P playback at this time in a consistent matter. As stated, we normally would end up with a slide show or a blank screen. AMD has told us 1080P will be possible with a driver update, proper playback support (PowerDVD or WinDVD), and a processor along the lines of a 5200+. We received a new driver update to address video quality issues we found late in testing but 1080P was not addressed yet. I am just as anxious as everyone else to see if it will do 1080P. ;)savantu - Tuesday, March 6, 2007 - link
This has to be one of the worst review ever done at Anandtech , almost makes you think somebody was paid to do it this bad.we fully believe the majority of the performance difference lies in the chipset selection.
Is this a joke or what ? The 2.6GHz 5200+ against a 1.86GHz Core 2 in media encoding and you think it is the chipset?! Every other test you made put the E6300 in between the 3800+ and 4200+.
goinginstyle - Tuesday, March 6, 2007 - link
Have you ever run a Conroe on a VIA or 945P chipset, if you have then you know what was meant by his statement.JarredWalton - Tuesday, March 6, 2007 - link
Try reading it in context:Nero Recode 2 performance:
AnyDVD Rip = 3-way tie more or less
Shrink = 6150 leads, G965 second, 690G last (despite 6150 and 690G using the same CPU)
Shrink/Burn = G965 first, 6150 and 690G virtually tied.
Full quote, instead of your selected text: "Of course, we are using a mid-range AM2 processor against the budget C2D part (the AMD price cuts have helped matters there, as the price difference is currently only about $35) but we fully believe the majority of the performance difference lies in the chipset selection. It is only in the shrink and burn tests that we see the Intel platform flexing its muscles...."
In other words, the difference we saw in the Shrink test indicates that the 6150 chipset is better for this task than 690G. We definitely know that the Core 2 Duo is faster at equivalent CPU prices than X2 chips, but we're looking at platforms and chipsets and not just CPUs.
UserNO - Tuesday, March 6, 2007 - link
Gawd, people, if you're going to tell us that we'll "have to play at 800x600" if we use these integrated graphics, why not test the games at 800x600 and report framerates? Find the highest (lowest) settings necessary to get a playable experience and tell us that. No one's going to run a game at 1024x768, get 15fps, and then give up; they're going to crank the settings and res down until they can play the game.It's not enough to just say "integrated graphics are unsuitable for even casual gamers, buy a discrete card" and then not quantify the difference.
Gary Key - Tuesday, March 6, 2007 - link
We tested the games at 800x600 and the results will be in our mATX roundup along with dedicated video scores.In the meantime-
800x600- HQ settings
690G 6150 G965
BF2 20.68 17.4 DNF
HL2 35.7 28.8 5.3
CoH 26.4 21.7 24.9
Calin - Wednesday, March 7, 2007 - link
I just wanted to say I'm looking forward to the mATX roundupNice article overall, thanks. And you might want to invest in some cheap Intel and AMD processors (the low-end, for $100 both), just to be able to compare them (I'm not suggesting complete testings on every processor possible)