915 Motherboard Roundup: Socket 775 for the Rest of Us
by Wesley Fink on December 7, 2004 12:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Soltek SL-915GPro-FGR: Overclocking and Stress Testing
FSB Overclocking Results
| Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed | |
| Processor: | Pentium 4 Prescott LGA 775 560 ES (2.8GHz-3.6GHz) |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.425V (1.3875V default) |
| Cooling: | Thermaltake Jungle 502 |
| Power Supply: | OCZ Power Stream 520 |
| Maximum CPU OverClock: | 218 x 18 (3996MHz) +9% |
| Maximum FSB OC: | 218FSB x 14 (+9%) |
Overclocking on the Soltek was quite an adventure, mainly because Soltek has done nothing to overcome problems created by the Intel design that limit overclocks to about 10%. The 9% overclocks that we achieved were typical of boards which still have lock issues. Above 218, the board's watchdog feature reset the FSB to 200. Clearly, the actual overclocking of the Soltek falls short of the promise of the BIOS options, and Soltek has work to do on the 915GPro-FGR if it is to compete effectively in the $130 price segment.
Memory Stress Test Results:
The Soltek 915GPro-FGR uses DDR memory, so the memory stress test measures the ability of the Soltek to operate at its officially supported memory frequency of DDR400, at the best performing memory timings that OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 will support. Memory stress testing was conducted by running DDR at 400MHz (stock 1:1 ratio) with 2 DIMM slots operating in Dual-Channel mode.| Stable DDR400 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/4 DIMMs - 1 Dual-Channel Bank) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 166MHz |
| Timing Mode: | 3:2 (200:166 - Forced in BIOS) |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| Bank Interleave: | Auto |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2 |
| RAS Precharge: | 2 |
| Cycle Time (tRAS): | 5 |
The Soltek 915GPro-FGR was completely stable with 2 DIMMs in Dual-Channel at the DDR timings of settings of 2-2-2-5 at 2.5V default voltage. We can only say that we would hope so, since the test results were slower than what we would expect at DDR400. In fact, the board was overriding our setting of DDR400 and setting DDR333 instead. When we asked Soltek what was going on, they told us that the Intel spec for DS DIMMs was 2.5 at DDR400, and that our choice of CAS 2.0 was forcing the board to set DDR333. Our reply to this was, "no other board does this, so why is yours doing this?" Almost 2 weeks later, we still do not have an answer from Soltek as to why the 915GPro-FGR insists on setting DDR333 when we select CAS2 in memory.
Until we get credible answers to questions about Soltek memory timing with 2 DIMMs, any tests with 4 DIMMs are really next to useless. If we get answers to the memory questions and concerns form Soltek in the near future, we will post updated information in this review. For now, we can only warn that the Soltek benchmarks were all run at DDR333 instead of the DDR400, which was used when benchmarking other boards using DDR memory.
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krelian - Wednesday, December 8, 2004 - link
I been a Intel user since the first Pentium 3 came out now I have a Intel P4 3.0C I refused to spend more money on things I had already bought so I stayed with the 478 socket, seeing as Intel wants me to move to an expensive platform, I say I'll ditch Intel head with the AMD crowd, I'm sure I won't be the only one, maybe legions of intel campers will leave.ChineseDemocracyGNR - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
About the config I put together in the previous post; does anyone know if the overclock lock on the 915P chipsets apply to lower FSB's too? Could I overclock the 133MHz Celeron D to 200MHz on any 915P motherboard?ChineseDemocracyGNR - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
The 915P chipset provides good value for the money. For example:ECS 915P-A $79
Intel Celeron D 325J 2.53GHz $88
Albatron GeForce 6600 128MB $120.50
or
Albatron GeForce 6600GT 128MB $190.50
(newegg prices)
The processor can be overclocked to 3.6+GHz very easily, much like the Athlon Mobiles.
That makes a good budget gaming rig, better than anything you could put together with an AMD processor for the same money. So, at least in my opinion, AMD has a better mainstream/high-end processor, and Intel wins the value segment. Who would say?
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I have now read the entire article, and oh boy! Though I prefer to read about socket 754/939 motherboards, this has to be the best motherboard roundup I ever read. Ever. Well done.
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#22,
thank your fixing it. The typo I wrote about on page 10:
"The fact that Asus manages a higher OC than more recognized OC boards like DFI and Asus "
Don't you mean ABIT in the last word there?
ocyl - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Wesley > Thank you for paying attention to the audio features/components of these motherboards, particularly Dolby Digital Live :)Wesley Fink - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#21 - The Foxconn results have been corrected on p.20. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.ChineseDemocracyGNR - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
A few typos:"The fact that Asus manages a higher OC than more recognized OC boards like DFI and Asus "
page 10.
On page 20, the "Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed" table is probably wrong.
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Good article.
LeadFrog - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Why does only the socket 915 get a 16mb cache Hard Drive?danidentity - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Wes, I said thanks before but I'll say it again, great roundup. We appreciate your hard work, always.danidentity - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
Live -The P5GD2 is expensive compared to most boards, but it includes a ton of stuff, like 8 SATA ports, dual gigabit LAN, on-board 802.11g/b, and on-board hi-def audio with Dolby Digital Live (realtime encoding, like SoundStorm).
Most 915P boards aren't as close to as expensive as the Asus. The Abit AG8 is ~ $130, equal or cheaper in price than the K8N Neo2.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - link
#16 - After I did the price analysis today I changed "outstanding value" to "good value". Thanks for the comment about the review being good reading. It is appreciated as a huge amount of work went into this roundup.