Test Setup
- Motherboards: MSI 845 ULTRA ARU - ASUS P4B - ASUS P4T-E
- CPU: Intel Pentium 4 1.7 GHz 478 Pin
- Cooler: Intel Boxed CPU Fan (Sanyo Denkin)
- Memory: 256 MB Crucial PC133 CAS-2 168 Pin SDRAM - 256 MB Corsair PC2400 CAS 2 DDR SDRAM - 256 MB SAMSUNG 800 RAMBUS
- Chipsets: Intel I82845 and I82850 North Bridge (MCH), Intel I82801BA South Bridge (ICH2)
- Video: Cardex GeForce 3 Golden Sample
- DVD: Pioneer 16X DVD Player
- CD-RW: Plextor 16x10x40 CD Rewriter
- Hard Drive: IBM Deskstar 7200 rpm UDMA100 IC35040AVER07
- Sound: Creative SoundBlaster Live Player
- Power Supply: Sparkle FPS350W
- Monitor: 24" Sony FW900
- Operating System: Windows XP Professional
- Chipset Driver: Intel 3.20.1008
- IDE Driver: Intel Application Accelerator 1.12
- VGA Driver: Detonator Version 23.11 for XP
- Desktop Resolution: 1024x768 32 Bit @85 Hz Vsync:Off
After the stability tests I uninstalled the TV Tuner and the network protocols because Sysmark 2001 requires no network connections or unnecessary TSR utilities. For Sysmark 2001 we need Patch 3 installed for Windows XP.
I always set detonator drivers to V-sync of and enable all quality settings and anisotropic filtering to maximum. I just let FSAA alone.
SpecViewPerf Scores
Asus P4B
Asus P4T
MSI 845 Ultra
Settings for Quake III Arena:
- Quake III Arena Patch Version: 1.16 (Newer Versions don't support standard demo tests)
- 1024x768 32 Bit
- Demo Test: demo1
- Geometric Detail: High
- Texture Detail: High
- Texture Quality: 32 Bit
- Color Depth: 32 Bit
- Texture Filter: Trilinear
- Settings for Open GL (Detonator Driver): Best Image Quality
- Console Settings
- set cd_nocd 1
- set s_initsound 0
- r_swapinterval 0
Quake Asus P4B
Quake Asus P4T
Quake MSI 845 Ultra
Performance summary
MSI 845 ULTRA was a good example for an Pentium 4 DDR Board. For SDRAM example, we tested ASUS P4B, and for Rambus, we tested ASUS P4T-E. Especially for Sysmark SDRAM motherboard scored pretty badly. It is hard to see the difference with the DDR MSI board and Rambus board. Rambus is just a little bit faster. But RAMBUS is double the price. Which one would you choose for Pentium 4? My vote goes to DDR and I definitely like MSI's performance.
