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TESTING
Test Setup:
- AMD X2 3800+ - with stock AMD heatsink/fan
@ 8V (2.0Ghz, 65W)
- Albatron KI690-AM2 - 128MB allocated to integrated
graphics*
- AData 512MB PC2-5300 memory
- Corsair ValueSelect 1024MB PC2-5300 memory
- Fujitsu MHT2080BH hard drive (2.5", 80GB,
5400RPM, SATA)
- Seasonic
SS-300SFD 80 Plus power supply
- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium - 32-bit
*The Aero Glass feature in Vista was disabled during testing. To enabled
Aero, more than 128MB needed to be assigned to video memory. This was not a
huge issue for us, but we feel it is worth mentioning.
The KI690-AM2 was tested in various states: Off, sleep, idle (with Cool N'
Quiet enabled), video playback, and full load using two instances of
CPUBurn K7. System power
consumption was measured at the wall using a Seasonic
Power Angel. We also examined CPU usage during video playback to see
how well the integrated graphics handled different clips encoded with the popular
H.264 codec, and the up and coming VC-1 codec. Clips were played with Windows
Media Player 11 and CPU usage was measured using the Windows Task Manager for
the duration.
The open testbed measured 25 dBA from a distance of one meter. The primary
cause of noise was obviously the AMD stock fan (unmistakable, even at 8V), with
the power supply fan coming in second. If used as a HTPC, it should be easily
drowned out by a movie even playing at low volume. For a compact desktop replacement,
this noise level may not be acceptable. SpeedFan reported Core temperatures
of 33°C idle and 53°C load (20°C ambient). These are not great numbers,
but not bad either; a third party heatsink would be ideal, but choices could
be limited due to the somewhat restrictive area, especially in a low height
horizontal HTPC case. The chipset heatsink on the other hand was lukewarm to
the touch, even during load.
Video Playback Test Suite
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BBC's HD in Full Bloom is a 720p clip encoded
with H.264. It features time-lapsed photography, mainly of various flowers
blooming with vibrant colors and high contrast.
(H.264, 1280x720, 24fps, ~6200kbps)
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The Rush Hour 3 trailer is a 1080p clip encoded
with H.264. It has a good mixture of light and dark scenes, interspersed
with fast-motion action and cutaways.
(H.264, 1920x816, 24fps, ~10100kbps)
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The Coral Reef Adventure trailer is a 1080p
clip encoded in VC-1 using the WMV3 codec (commonly recognized by the
moniker, "HD WMV"). It features multiple outdoor landscape and
dark underwater scenes.
(VC-1 (WMV3), 1440x1080, 24fps, ~7700kbps)
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The Microsoft Flight Simulator X trailer is
a 720p clip encoded in VC-1. It's a compilation of in-game action from
a third person point of view. While the source image quality is poor compared
to the other videos in our test suite, it was one of the few decent length
clips we could procure encoded using the Windows Media Video 9 Advanced
Profile aka WVC1 codec, a more demanding implementation of VC-1.
(VC-1 (WVC1), 1280x720, 60fps, ~12200kbps)
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