System Specs & Subsystem Tests

Hardware
AMD Athlon64 3800+ Socket (AM2)
AMD Athlon64 3800+ Socket (939-pin)

 

2GB Corsair XMS DDR2-800 (CAS4)
2GB Corsair XMS DDR400 (CAS2)

 

ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe (nForce 590 SLI)
Gigabyte M59SLI-S5 (nForce 590 SLI)
Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI (nForce4 SLI)

 

Seagate 250GB 7200RPM (Serial ATA II)

 

Gigabyte Radeon X1900XTX (512MB)

 

Software
- WinXP 32bit - Microsoft Windows XP Pro (SP2)
- ATI Catalyst (6.6)
- NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI (9.35)
- NVIDIA nForce4 AMD (6.70)

 

The SiSoft2007 hard drive performance is much the same on all three motherboards, as was the USB 2.0 performance. The 3Dmark2003 audio results showed both the Gigabyte and ASUS nForce 590 SLI boards dropping roughly 18% of their initial average frame rate once audio is enabled.

The Gigabyte M59SLI-S5 was significantly faster than the older K8NXP-SLI which is also a Gigabyte motherboard, though this older board offers the 939-pin socket.