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TEST RESULTS
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Power Consumption & CPU Usage
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Test State
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Mean CPU Usage
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Peak CPU Usage
(Either Core)
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System Power (AC)
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Core 0 / 1
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Average
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Off
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N/A
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N/A
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N/A
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2W
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Sleep (S3)
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N/A
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N/A
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N/A
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3W
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Idle
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0%
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0%
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0%
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52W
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720p H.264
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18% / 11%
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14.5%
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44%
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~55W
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1080p H.264
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15% / 35%
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25.0%
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60%
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~58W
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WMV3 VC-1
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32% / 25%
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28.5%
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60%
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~58W
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WVC1 VC-1
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51% / 53%
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52.0%
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79%
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~71W
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Prime95
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100%
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100%
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100%
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96W
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Impressively, the system plowed through the video tests with ease. CPU usage
remained under 50% for the majority of playback. The most stressful video, the
WVC1 clip caused CPU usage to peak at 79% on Core 1 — still plenty of headroom
for even more complex decompression. It may be that the Core 2 Duos are simply
very efficient at decoding high definition videos. We would have liked to lower
the CPU speed to see what effect it would have had on our test results, but
due to the Orwellian BIOS, this just wasn't possible.
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Comparison: System Power Consumption (AC)
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Test State
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M2A-VM +
X2 BE-2400+
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DG33TL + C2D E6400
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Idle
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35W
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52W
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720p H.264
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~52W
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~55W
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1080p H.264
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~57W
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~58W
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WMV3 VC-1
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~58W
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~58W
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WVC1 VC-1
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~65W
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~71W
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CPUBurn / Prime95
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84W
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96W
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The last motherboard we reviewed, the Asus M2A-VM HDMI paired with a X2 BE-2400+
processor, idled at only 35W, a difference of 17W, so the overall power consumption
during idle on this platform was quite a bit higher. When you take into account
that the Intel E6400 processor has a TDP of 65W compared to 45W for the AMD BE-2400+, it isn't surprising. During video playback however, power
consumption, the Intel setup managed to close the gap, with only a 6W difference
during the WVC1 clip.
As expected, the massive northbridge heatsink stayed lukewarm throughout testing,
but the southbridge heatsink was definitely put to task, getting very hot to
the touch. This isn't too surprising as most passive chipset coolers we've seen in the past heat up just as much.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Intel DG33TL has a good set of features including eSATA, which is
usually found on premium boards. Power consumption is relatively low and high
definition playback was surprisingly excellent — the best we've seen so
far for integrated graphics. It has an enormous northbridge heatsink and a well-designed,
low-profile southbridge heatsink. Everything it does, it does well. You could even turn it into a gaming rig by tossing on a good 3D graphics card but...
...with a stripped down BIOS, and atrocious fan control, it's hard for
us to recommend it to either gamers or silent PC users. Not to get too metaphysical, but the
board lacks personality — it simply has no soul. There's no doubt it is
a good performer, but throughout the review we never felt excited playing with
it as there were no points of intrigue or interesting features that made it
stand out. The DG33TL (along with the majority of Intel boards)
is more suitable for business or workstation environments, where no tinkering
is expected where it simply has to work, and absolutely nothing else. You could toss on a gaming graphics card and turn it The price
also makes it one of the most expensive mATX boards. For $120 we would like
HDMI to be included seeing as there are AMD 690G and nVidia-based Geforce 7150 motherboards
with HDMI retailing for $30~50 less.
It's a shame but the DG33TL could have been so much more — the design
of the board is great and physically it has almost everything in needs to be
a champion. Sadly, it takes itself so seriously that it makes it hard for us
to appreciate it. In the end, the DG33TL is a robot, a grunt, a simple but extremely
effective soldier. Welcome to Sparta.
PROS
* Impressive set of features (including eSATA)
* Excellent high definition playback
* Low power consumption
* Large northbridge heatsink
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CONS
* BIOS is locked down tight
* Severely limited fan control
(that requires a PWM fan)
* High price
* Lacks HDMI
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Our thanks to Intel
for this motherboard sample.
* * *
Articles of Related Interest
Intel D201GLY2 Mini-ITX mainboard
Asus M2A-VM HDMI: AM2 mATX motherboard
Hiper Media Center Barebones PC
Albatron KI690-AM2: A Mini-ITX Powerhouse
AOpen i945GTt-VFA m-ITX C2D motherboard
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