Testing out the GeForce 8200 chipset...(ASUS M3N78-EMH HDMI)
Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:47 am
Okay, as I said a few days ago, I have bought an ASUS M3N78-EMH HDMI which is equipped with the massively delayed GeForce 8200 chipset. I don't know what promted ASUS to release their boards ahead of most others, but they've been available for some time and I decided to have a go at it.
I will not test HD playback capabilites and I will not go over the board's features. HD playback has been tested by Anandtech and the features are available on ASUS' site. What I will do is measure the power consumption of the system, compare it to the Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H (Intel G33) and also provide 3DMark06 scores for both setups. Let's roll...
Setups
Both setups are identical, except for the motherboards and CPUs.
AMD
Corsair HX520W
ASUS M3N78-EMH HDMI (beta BIOS 222)
Athlon64 X2 4400+ Brisbane rev G2 (default VID 1.300V)
2GB DDR2-800 5-5-5-15-2T
Samsung SpinPoint HD321KJ 320GB
Netgear WG311v3 WLAN PCI card
Scythe S-Flex 120mm 1200RPM
Intel
Corsair HX520W
Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H (BIOS F3)
Pentium Dual Core E2160
2GB DDR2-800 5-5-5-15-2T
Samsung SpinPoint HD321KJ 320GB
Netgear WG311v3 WLAN PCI card
Scythe S-Flex 120mm 1200RPM
NOTE: SpeedStep and C'n'Q disabled for all tests.
Power consumption tests
The best result in each test will be marked green.
Both setups stock
AMD: 2.3GHz (11.5*200) (1.312V idle, 1.344V load)
Intel: 1.8GHz (9*200) (1.280V idle, 1.264V load)
Idle:
AMD: 67W
Intel: 61W
Load (Orthos):
AMD: 109W
Intel: 91W
Load (3DMark06):
AMD: 107W
Intel: 83W
Load (3DMark06+Orthos):
AMD: 115W
Intel: 93W
Both setups on stock clocks and max undervolt
AMD: 2.3GHz (11.5*200) (0.992V idle, 1.008V load)
Intel: 1.8GHz (9*200) (1.072V idle, 1.056V load)
Idle:
AMD: 56W
Intel: 59W
Load (Orthos):
AMD: 79W
Intel: 79W
Load (3DMark06):
AMD: 79W
Intel: 77W
Load (3DMark06+Orthos):
AMD: 83W
Intel: 83W
Both setups overclocked to ~2.7GHz
AMD: 2.66GHz (11.5*230) (1.10V idle, 1.10V load)
Intel: 2.7GHz (9*300) (1.312V idle, 1.280V load)
Idle:
AMD: 60W
Intel: 67W
Load (Orthos):
AMD: 92W
Intel: 109W
Load (3DMark06):
AMD: 88W
Intel: 99W
Load (3DMark06+Orthos):
AMD: 99W
Intel: 109W
Minimum power settings
Note: The Intel couldn't run on lower voltage, but the AMD possibly could. The CPU voltage used for the 4400+ was the lowest available in Crystal CPUID.
AMD: 1.0GHz (5*200), DDR2-400, (0.816V idle, 0.832V load)
Intel: 1.2GHz (6*200) (0.960V idle, 0.960V load)
Idle:
AMD: 52W
Intel: 55W
Load (Orthos):
AMD: 60W
Intel: 69W
Power consumption tests conclusions
Intel wins easily at stock settings, it's a tie with stock clocks and undervolting and AMD wins easily at the overclocked settings. Now, the overclocked results aren't entirely fair, since the Intel CPU is considerably faster, but they're still interesting. It's also interesting to see how much the power consumption of the AMD system is affected by the undervolt. This 4400+ seems to be an unusually good undervolter, though.
Although hard to tell from these figures, the GeForce 8200 chipset doesn't seem all that power hungry under graphics load. The full load figures with the undervolted (stock clock) setup are pretty impressive, I think. It should also be mentioned that the heatsink gets hot, but not extremely so. At the end of the 3DMark test, I could still keep my fingers on the heatsink indefinitely, although it was a bit uncomfortable. The test system was not assembled in a case, though, so actual temps in a closed system may be a bit different.
Performance in 3DMark06
Please note that the Intel G33 doesn't support Shader Model 3.0, so the final 3DMark score isn't directly comparable to the GeForce 8200.
Both setups stock
AMD : 2.3GHz (11.5*200) (1.312V idle, 1.344V load)
Intel: 1.8GHz (9*200) (1.280V idle, 1.264V load)
AMD:
3DMarks: 840
3DMark06 SM2.0: 294
3DMark06 SM3.0: 294
3DMark06 CPU: 1761
Intel:
3DMarks: 304
3DMark06 SM2.0: 140
3DMark06 SM3.0: N/A
3DMark06 CPU: 1507
Both setups overclocked to ~2.7GHz
AMD : 2.66GHz (11.5*230) (1.10V idle, 1.10V load)
Intel: 2.7GHz (9*300) (1.312V idle, 1.280V load)
AMD:
3DMarks: 972
3DMark06 SM2.0: 339
3DMark06 SM3.0: 342
3DMark06 CPU: 2030
Intel:
3DMarks: 400
3DMark06 SM2.0: 183
3DMark06 SM3.0: N/A
3DMark06 CPU: 2249
Final conclusions
Neither drivers nor BIOS are finalized for the GeForce 8200 yet, so performance may change down the line. All-in-all it looks good and the board works quite well. The BIOS is lacking a little at the moment, having some quite cryptic features and no CPU vcore setting. The voltage can however be changed using Crystal CPUID, which is what I used during my tests.
Finally, I should mention that my board exhibits a slight buzzing during certain CPU loads. This buzzing seems to increase in volume as CPU power consumption increases. Due to this, I will ask for a replacement or possibly a refund. We'll see how things work out.
I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek of the GeForce 8200.
I will not test HD playback capabilites and I will not go over the board's features. HD playback has been tested by Anandtech and the features are available on ASUS' site. What I will do is measure the power consumption of the system, compare it to the Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H (Intel G33) and also provide 3DMark06 scores for both setups. Let's roll...
Setups
Both setups are identical, except for the motherboards and CPUs.
AMD
Corsair HX520W
ASUS M3N78-EMH HDMI (beta BIOS 222)
Athlon64 X2 4400+ Brisbane rev G2 (default VID 1.300V)
2GB DDR2-800 5-5-5-15-2T
Samsung SpinPoint HD321KJ 320GB
Netgear WG311v3 WLAN PCI card
Scythe S-Flex 120mm 1200RPM
Intel
Corsair HX520W
Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H (BIOS F3)
Pentium Dual Core E2160
2GB DDR2-800 5-5-5-15-2T
Samsung SpinPoint HD321KJ 320GB
Netgear WG311v3 WLAN PCI card
Scythe S-Flex 120mm 1200RPM
NOTE: SpeedStep and C'n'Q disabled for all tests.
Power consumption tests
The best result in each test will be marked green.
Both setups stock
AMD: 2.3GHz (11.5*200) (1.312V idle, 1.344V load)
Intel: 1.8GHz (9*200) (1.280V idle, 1.264V load)
Idle:
AMD: 67W
Intel: 61W
Load (Orthos):
AMD: 109W
Intel: 91W
Load (3DMark06):
AMD: 107W
Intel: 83W
Load (3DMark06+Orthos):
AMD: 115W
Intel: 93W
Both setups on stock clocks and max undervolt
AMD: 2.3GHz (11.5*200) (0.992V idle, 1.008V load)
Intel: 1.8GHz (9*200) (1.072V idle, 1.056V load)
Idle:
AMD: 56W
Intel: 59W
Load (Orthos):
AMD: 79W
Intel: 79W
Load (3DMark06):
AMD: 79W
Intel: 77W
Load (3DMark06+Orthos):
AMD: 83W
Intel: 83W
Both setups overclocked to ~2.7GHz
AMD: 2.66GHz (11.5*230) (1.10V idle, 1.10V load)
Intel: 2.7GHz (9*300) (1.312V idle, 1.280V load)
Idle:
AMD: 60W
Intel: 67W
Load (Orthos):
AMD: 92W
Intel: 109W
Load (3DMark06):
AMD: 88W
Intel: 99W
Load (3DMark06+Orthos):
AMD: 99W
Intel: 109W
Minimum power settings
Note: The Intel couldn't run on lower voltage, but the AMD possibly could. The CPU voltage used for the 4400+ was the lowest available in Crystal CPUID.
AMD: 1.0GHz (5*200), DDR2-400, (0.816V idle, 0.832V load)
Intel: 1.2GHz (6*200) (0.960V idle, 0.960V load)
Idle:
AMD: 52W
Intel: 55W
Load (Orthos):
AMD: 60W
Intel: 69W
Power consumption tests conclusions
Intel wins easily at stock settings, it's a tie with stock clocks and undervolting and AMD wins easily at the overclocked settings. Now, the overclocked results aren't entirely fair, since the Intel CPU is considerably faster, but they're still interesting. It's also interesting to see how much the power consumption of the AMD system is affected by the undervolt. This 4400+ seems to be an unusually good undervolter, though.
Although hard to tell from these figures, the GeForce 8200 chipset doesn't seem all that power hungry under graphics load. The full load figures with the undervolted (stock clock) setup are pretty impressive, I think. It should also be mentioned that the heatsink gets hot, but not extremely so. At the end of the 3DMark test, I could still keep my fingers on the heatsink indefinitely, although it was a bit uncomfortable. The test system was not assembled in a case, though, so actual temps in a closed system may be a bit different.
Performance in 3DMark06
Please note that the Intel G33 doesn't support Shader Model 3.0, so the final 3DMark score isn't directly comparable to the GeForce 8200.
Both setups stock
AMD : 2.3GHz (11.5*200) (1.312V idle, 1.344V load)
Intel: 1.8GHz (9*200) (1.280V idle, 1.264V load)
AMD:
3DMarks: 840
3DMark06 SM2.0: 294
3DMark06 SM3.0: 294
3DMark06 CPU: 1761
Intel:
3DMarks: 304
3DMark06 SM2.0: 140
3DMark06 SM3.0: N/A
3DMark06 CPU: 1507
Both setups overclocked to ~2.7GHz
AMD : 2.66GHz (11.5*230) (1.10V idle, 1.10V load)
Intel: 2.7GHz (9*300) (1.312V idle, 1.280V load)
AMD:
3DMarks: 972
3DMark06 SM2.0: 339
3DMark06 SM3.0: 342
3DMark06 CPU: 2030
Intel:
3DMarks: 400
3DMark06 SM2.0: 183
3DMark06 SM3.0: N/A
3DMark06 CPU: 2249
Final conclusions
Neither drivers nor BIOS are finalized for the GeForce 8200 yet, so performance may change down the line. All-in-all it looks good and the board works quite well. The BIOS is lacking a little at the moment, having some quite cryptic features and no CPU vcore setting. The voltage can however be changed using Crystal CPUID, which is what I used during my tests.
Finally, I should mention that my board exhibits a slight buzzing during certain CPU loads. This buzzing seems to increase in volume as CPU power consumption increases. Due to this, I will ask for a replacement or possibly a refund. We'll see how things work out.
I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek of the GeForce 8200.