The IGP Chronicles Part 1: Intel's G45 & Motherboard Roundup
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Gary Key on September 24, 2008 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
The Test-
| Standard Test Bed - Intel Configuration | |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Quad - Q9300 |
| RAM | Patriot PUS24G6400LLK - 4GB DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 (DDR2-800) G.Skill F2-8800CL5Q-8GBPI 4GB DDR2-1150 5-5-5-18 (DDR2-1066) Corsair CM3X2G1600ZC9DHXNV 4GB DDR3 6-6-6-18 (DDR3-1333) |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB |
| System Platform Drivers | Intel - 9.0.0.1011 |
| Storage Drivers | Intel - 8.5.0.1032 |
| Video Drivers | Intel - 15.11.2.1554 |
| CPU Cooling | Intel - Retail |
| Power Supply | Corsair - HX-520W |
| Optical Drives | Sony BDU-X10S, LG GGC-H20L |
| Case | Thermaltake Bach Media Lab VB8000BNS, stock case fans |
| Motherboards | ASUS P5E-VM HDMI (Intel G35) - BIOS 0604 ASUS P5Q-EM (G45) - BIOS 0402 Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H (G45) - BIOS F3F Super Micro Super-C2SEA (G45 DDR3) - BIOS R1.0a Intel DG45ID (G45) - BIOS 079 |
| Operating System | Windows Vista 32-bit Ultimate (Benchmarks), Vista 64-bit Memory Compatibility Testing |
| . | |
Our test bed today features the Q9300 quad-core processor. This is a processor that we believe offers terrific performance with very good power consumption and thermals for the cost. We will have results in the next article with the E1200, E5200, E7200, and Q8200 processors to compare against several AMD processors in the same price and speed ranges. Our Patriot DDR2-800 Viper 4GB memory kit has served us well for the past few months and we highly recommend it. We chose Corsair for our XMS2 DDR3 4GB kit and the HX-520W power supply. Our favorite mid-range HD continues to be the Western Digital SE16 640GB that provides the near perfect balance of price, performance, and capacity.
General Performance-
We ran all of our tests with a Core 2 Quad Q9300, however the Mini ITX G45 board from Intel doesn't support quad-core processors so we included E5200 scores from Intel's own micro-ATX and mini-ITX boards for comparison.
You'll notice that these boards all perform about the same, which is to be expected these days with same-chipset performance. In Part 2 of this series we'll compare the equivalent AMD offerings along with several different processors, but if you're looking for an Intel platform you'll find that G45 boards are on equal performance footing.
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kilkennycat - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
Anand and Gary,Seems as if an important candidate is MIA in your 3-part review of integrated chip-sets/uATX motherboards, the LONG-promised nVidia MCP7A chip-set for Intel processors with integrated 9400/9300 graphics. The only potential integrated-graphics competitor to the G45 in the Intel-processor world. When is the MCP7A due to be released? Most recent speculation (in DigiTimes, iirc) was the end of this month (September). In time to add a review of one or more uATX motherboards based on this chipset as Part 4 to this group of three reviews?
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
By the time this series is over the MCP7A won't be out, but we'll have a standalone review of that product to coincide with availability :)-A
yehuda - Thursday, September 25, 2008 - link
Ok, when will this series be over? I ask because the last news on MCP7A said that it should be out before the end of this month and your statement makes me wonder if there's another delay ahead.kilkennycat - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
Anand, thanks for the reply.NDA gag on projected-availability information from nVidia ??
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
Yep, it won't be too much longer and NV is quite excited about it but specifics I can't give out unfortunately.*If* I were in NVIDIA's shoes I'd want to capitalize as best as possible on Intel's handling of G45. I'd make sure that the first products worked *perfectly* and availability was immediate and at competitive prices.
If NVIDIA blows this opportunity I'll be quite disappointed, especially given how much crap it has given Intel about Larrabee.
We'll know soon enough, but after the IGP Chronicles are over :)
-A
Pederv - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
From what I read, the G45 can be summed as, "It has a few good points but over all it sucks."kevinkreiser - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
I was hoping there would be mention of the graphics problems when putting nvidia cards in these boards. I was very vocal about this over at the AVS forums. Did any one notice any mention of this in the article? Also will there be coverage of the new nvidia boards MCP7A?Gary Key - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
Our final article will feature the discrete cards like the 9600GT and HD 4670. In testing so far, I have not had the problems that have been reported. I do have some additional NV cards coming to test. We will have coverage on the GeForce 9400 series when it launches. ;)kevinkreiser - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
Thanks for the quick reply. I appreciate you guys keeping an eye out for the aforementioned problem. And also thanks for the heads up on the forthcoming MCP7A article.sprockkets - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...Shame it costs $100 though. Shame too that Intel boards work so poorly, since I like that mini-itx board. The one from Jetway for the 8200 chipset probably doesn't work any better.