Intel 925X & 915G Express Chipsets Review - Page 3

Performance

These 925X and 915G Express LGA775 platforms are taking over the top-end of the Intel line, so this particular benchmark session will be Intel-centric in nature and compare the new kids on the block to the venerable Intel 875P. We're matching these up with corresponding hardware, including Intel 925X and 915G Express motherboards, while the Intel 478-pin CPUs use the high-end i875P chipset.

The default hard disk configuration is set for RAID 0 striping, using dual-Maxtor 250-GB SATA 7200 RPM drives for the system testing. The operating system is Windows XP Pro SP1, along with DirectX 9.0b installed. The actual benchmark testing is separated into three main sections, with the 925X vs. 915G vs. 915G/GMA 900 comparison using the 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 560, a straight-up Pentium 4 3.4 GHz benchmark run, using the Pentium 4 550, Pentium 4-3.4E and 3.4C GHz models, along with 3D game tests that include Intel 925X, 915G, and 915G with GMA 900 scores.

The benchmark list includes a wide range of system, CPU, memory, and gaming tests. These include the new revisions of Business Winstone 2004, Content Creation Winstone 2004, PCMark 2004 and SiSoft SANDRA 2004 SP1, along SPECviewperf, CINEBENCH 2003, and TMPGEnc Plus for MPEG-1 and -2 encoding. We also include popular 3D game tests like Halo, AquaMark 3, Unreal Tournament 2004/2003, Final Fantasy XI, 3DMark 2003, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. X2 Demo, Quake 3, and Comanche 4. Our default game benchmark setting is 1024x768x32, which is demanding enough for comparisons and more realistic as an actual gameplay resolution.

* Please note that unless otherwise stated, all performance graph results equate to the standard "higher is better" routine.

Test Systems

Pentium 4 LGA775 Reference System:
Processors: Pentium 4 560 (3.6 GHz) & Pentium 4 550 (3.4 GHz)
Memory: 2 x 512-MB Micron DDR2-533
Motherboard: Intel D925XCV
Motherboard chip set: Intel 925X
ATI reference drivers: Catalyst 4.7
Video Cards: ATI Radeon X600 & Intel Media Accelerator 800 (915G)
Hard-Drive: Dual Maxtor MaXLine II in RAID 0 Mode
IDE Interface: Serial ATA-150
CD/DVD: AOpen Combo Drive
Power Supply: Sparkle 400 Watt
DirectX 9.0b
Operating System: Windows XP Pro SP1

Pentium 4 Socket 478 Reference System:
Processors: Pentium 4-3.4E GHz, and 3.4C GHz
Memory: 2 x 512-MB Corsair PC3200LL DIMM
Motherboard: Intel D875PBZ
Motherboard chip set: Intel 875P
ATI reference drivers: Catalyst 4.7
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800XT 256-MB
Hard-Drive: Dual Maxtor MaXLine II in RAID 0 Mode
IDE Interface: Serial ATA-150
CD/DVD: AOpen Combo Drive
Power Supply: Sparkle 400 Watt
DirectX 9.0b
Operating System: Windows XP Pro SP1

General Settings:
Desktop Resolution: 1024x768
Color Depth: 32-bit
V-Sync: Disabled

Quake III Arena Specifics
Version: 1.30 (retail)

Halo: Combat Evolved Specifics
Version: 1.04 (retail)

3DMark 2003 Specifics:
Patched 340

SiSoft SANDRA 2004 Specifics:
SP1

Content Creation: Winstone 2004 Specifics:
Version: 1.0.1

Business Winstone 2004 Specifics:
Version 1.0.1

PCMark 2004 Pro Specifics:
Patched 120