Asus P5WD2 Premium: DDR2-1066 and the Promise of 955x SLI
by Wesley Fink on May 11, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Test Setup
The new 955x fully supports dual core Pentium D processors as you would expect. So does the Asus version of the nForce4 Intel chipset. We confirmed that both boards worked as they should with an Intel 840 processor, and there were no problems with either board recognizing the two cores and four logical processors that are created with the Hyperthreading feature on this EE processor. However, dual core really makes a difference in multi-tasking, as was demonstrated in the dual core platform shootout. If you are interested in how the two chipsets perform in a multitasking set up, please take another look at that review.For this review, we were more interested in how the Asus boards compared in benchmarks of the games and applications that we have tested in other motherboard reviews. We also found memory operated at both DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 on both motherboards, so the standard single core hyperthreaded Pentium 4 that we have used in other Socket 775 reviews provided the headroom and multipliers needed for these benchmarks. The ES Pentium 4 560 runs at 3.6GHz and has the lower multipliers necessary to better test overclocking on both Asus Socket 775 motherboards.
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | Intel Pentium 4 560 ES (3.6GHz, 800FSB, 1MB L2, HT) Intel 3.46EE (3.46GHz, 1066FSB, HT)-DDR2-1066 Testing Intel Pentium EE 840 (3.2GHz, 800FSB, Dual-Core, HT, 2x1MB L2)-Dual-Core Verification |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB Corsair CM2X512A-5400UL 2 x 512MB OCZ PC2 5400 EB |
| Hard Drive(s): | Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM SATA (8MB Buffer) |
| Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers: | Intel 7.0.0.1019 (4/18/2005) NVIDIA nForce Platform Driver 6.53 |
| Video Cards: | NVIDIA 6800 Ultra (PCI Express) |
| Video Drivers: | NVIDIA nForce 71.89 NVIDIA nForce 66.75 (Semi-SLI Verification) |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| Motherboards: | Asus P5WD2 Premium (Intel 955x) Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe (NVIDIA nForce4 Intel) Asus P5AD2 Premium (Intel 925x) Intel 925x Reference Board |
Tests with the new Asus boards used either of two memories based on Micron DDR2 memory chips. OCZ PC2-5400 EB and Corsair CM2X512A-5400UL are both low latency memories designed to run at DDR2-667 or higher speeds. DDR2-667 tests were run at 4-2-2-4 timings and DDR2-800 benchmarks were run with 4-3-2-4 timings.
The PCI Express 6800 Ultra was used for all video testing. Two 6800 Ultra video cards were used to verify SLI and semi-SLI performance. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1024x768x32 unless noted otherwise.
Results are color-coded for DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 for the Asus 955x and nForce4 Intel motherboards. The P5DW2 is gold for 667 and dark gold for 800, while the P5ND2-SLI is light green for 667 and dark green for DDR2-800.
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chawkfan2002 - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link
In reading your article you indicate the “Corsair CM2X512A-5400UL could reach DDR2-1066” I am trying to determine how the memory speed is actually DDR2-1066? Your illustration indicates the FSB at 1068MHz (1066MHz) do you have any screenshot that shows the memory speed at 1066MHz? If the FSB is at 1066MHz then the memory bus is only at 534MHz (FSB 1066/4=266 actual speed… Memory bus 266x2=533 Double Data Rate) I have tried the FSB at 266 and manually changed the memory speed to DDR2-800, Memtest+ still shows actual speed at 534MHzAny information you can provide on how to achieve the 1066MHz actual memory speed will be most graciously accepted.
Makyla - Friday, May 20, 2005 - link
pwnedElFenix - Monday, May 16, 2005 - link
kristopher:just because a lot of people got it wrong doesn't mean it's right. the first definition is the only proper one. that is like saying that because it is popular, on the internet, to say "he should of done that" means that 'of' is a proper substitute for 'have.'
as for heat sink, much of that is the same. i suggest you take a look here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=heatsink
ElFenix - Monday, May 16, 2005 - link
""a fan doesn't actually cool anything, it just pushes air around"Try disabling the fans in your rig and A/C, take temp readings before and after and get back with us. Moving same temp to same temp isn't cooling. Moving cooler air (or water or other) to something that is hotter (chip, compressor, radiator, etc) most definitely actively cools it."
no, the conducting of heat from the radiator to the air through natural processes cools it. an air conditioner actually moves the heat against the temperature gradient. a fan cannot do that. a fan, again, isn't actually cooling anything. just because there is a moving part moving the air at a faster than natural current does not mean that the cooling is active. it is not. you're still relying on the normal radiator-air interaction. now a peltier actually moves the heat. that is active cooling. a fan only passively cools.
Viditor - Thursday, May 12, 2005 - link
How about this boardhttp://www.rackmountpro.com/productpage.php?prodid...
SUPER H8DCE Serverboard ( OEM White Box ) for System only
Dual AMD Opteron 200 series Processor supported-940 pin ZIF Socket
nVIDIA nForce Pro 2200 & 2050 Chipset
Up to16/16/32 GB of ECC Registered DDR 400/333/266 SDRAM
nVIDIA nForce Pro 2200 & 2050 SATA II controller for 8 SATA ports
Dual nVIDIA nForce Pro 2200 & 2050 Gigabit Ethernet
AC'97 audio CODEC high quality 6-channel sound
2 X PCI-Express x16 + 2 X PCI-Express x4 + 3 X 32 bit PCI
Dual dual Opterons with SLI...
Darth Farter - Thursday, May 12, 2005 - link
Wesley Fink,do you know at what msrp Intel puts them (955/945)?
also for the nf4(&ati) dual core compatible boards?
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - link
#26 - As we said in the review, we were able to enable SLI on the 955x using the old, almost unavailable nVidia 66.75 drivers. However, none of our SLI-enabled games worked properly. It was our original intention to compare the SLI performance (and we have P5ND2-SLI benchmarks), but the "Semi-SLI" was not completely working. Until the P5WD2 SLI works, and works with readily available drivers, the fact there are 2 x16 slots on the Asus 955x is academic for SLI - a promise for the future.Capt Caveman - Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - link
Small Win. If you go to Asus's website, they have updated it. They now list two editions of the P5WD2 Premium board and list the Wifi-TV Card as either bundled or optional. Of course, they have yet to email me back. Or offer the Wifi-TV Card.http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l...493&mode...
niz - Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - link
Its a shame that they didn't bother to benchmark comparative SLI performance between the two motherboards.I'd like to know whether the diffrerence between the PciE slot timings (x8/x8 and x16/x2-4) really makes any difference to SLI performance.
HardwareD00d - Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - link
They will probably be able to reach DDR2-4096 speeds pretty soon by setting timings to 20-20-20-60 and hooking up a 9v battery to it.