by Ilya Gavrichenkov
12/08/2006 | 10:38 AM
Everyone has already got used to endless rivalry between ATI and Nvidia in the graphics accelerators market. Xbit labs (as well as some other sites) are regularly publishing reviews comparing performance of the graphics solutions based on the chipsets developed by these manufacturers. Nevertheless, neither ATI nor Nvidia are the real leaders of the graphics market. These companies deal mostly with the development of high-performance graphics solutions that are targeted at gamers or professional users working with 3D modeling applications in the first place.
<%BANNER[article]%>At the same time gamers and 3D designers are far not the majority. There are much more systems that work in traditional office or multimedia home environments. As a result, over 60% of today’s PCs have no discrete graphics solution onboard and use integrated chipsets instead. Although these solutions cannot compete with fully-fledged graphics cards from the performance prospective, they are much cheaper and ensure sufficient performance level for most mainstream applications. Therefore, ATI and Nvidia, who do not devote enough time and effort to promoting their integrated solutions, are still behind Intel that owns over 40% of the graphics market today. It is important to understand though that Intel doesn’t offer any discrete graphics cards at all, and retains the leadership in this market solely due to its chipsets with integrated graphics core.
Unfortunately, most computer publications do not pay due attention to integrated chipsets despite the huge market of these solutions. This is mostly explained by the fact that most computer users of the systems on integrated chipsets are pretty indifferent to their features and performance. However, I have to admit that the overall performance level of the chipsets with integrated graphics core has significantly increased lately, and besides, most integrated core logic sets can now boast very decent features and capabilities. In other words, it’s time we gave up our traditional snobbism and give due credit to integrated chipsets. Our today’s article will be devoted entirely to these solutions: we will discuss in great detail some of the latest chipsets with integrated graphics that are available in the market. Moreover, we will not stick to only one single platform, but will test both: integrated solutions for AMD and Intel processors.
Integrated chipsets are very attractive these days not only because they allow saving some money during PC assembly. Platforms using integrated graphics are much more economical, which has become a very important criterion lately, almost as important as the overall system performance. Especially since the computer power consumption is not only directly connected with the ever growing power costs, but is also proportional to the amount of heat that needs to be taken off the system. Since the power consumption of most graphics cards keeps increasing, integrated systems may become a really great choice for those tasks that do not require high-end 3D performance. In our today’s article we will try to answer the question: what integrated chipsets available today offer the best set of consumer features and capabilities.
Before we start discussing each of our today’s testing participants separately, I would like to say a few words about our selection of testing participants in general and what integrated chipsets are of most interest to the today’s users. Of course, the mainboards equipped with integrated graphics core that are intended for contemporary platforms should support the widely spread processor models and popular graphics technologies. So, we will focus primarily on the chipsets supporting Intel Core 2 Duo and AMD Athlon 64 X2 (in Socket AM2 form-factor) processors as well as DirectX 9 (and even better - Shader Model 3.0).
I have to admit that this criterion immediately eliminates a number of obsolete integrated solutions, including the chipsets from Taiwanese developers and the Canadian ATI. At the same time, we shouldn’t think that this manufacturer of popular graphics solutions is going to leave the promising integrated graphics market. Very soon the company is planning to announce new RS690 chipsets for AMD platform and RS600 chipsets for Intel platform that will acquire a graphics core of Radeon X700 class with 8 pixel pipelines. Of course, these solutions will be quite competitive integrated chipsets and we will certainly review them thoroughly as soon as the corresponding mainboards appear in the market.
And now that we have applied the above mentioned criterion, our article is going to include only four integrated core logic sets from Intel and Nvidia. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
i945G chipset is an integrated version of the popular i945P chipset for Intel Pentium 4, Pentium D and Celeron processor families. Although Intel is currently offering the users a more up-to-date replacement for the i945G – the iG965 chipset – the old solution is still enjoying quite a demand. To illustrate this fact I would like to point out that mainboard manufacturers have been quite successful in designing i945G based mainboards for the new LGA775 Intel Core 2 Duo processors. And the most important thing here is that the price of these solutions is about $30-$40 lower than that of the corresponding platforms on iG965.
Besides, the features of the i945G don’t look outdated at all. Compared with the newer solutions, this chipset doesn’t support DDR2-800 SDRAM (although it works just fine with DDR2-667 SDRAM), has four Serial ATA ports instead of six and supports only eight USB 2.0 ports. In other words, I don’t think these differences are that dramatic at all.
As for the most important part of the i945G chipset for us today, the integrated graphics core, we have to go in a little bit more details here. This core has its own name – Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (GMA 950) and although it doesn’t fully support Shader Model 3.0, we decided that it should be included into our today’s test session thanks to its relatively high performance compared with the competitors.
So, GMA 950 is a second-generation integrated graphics core featuring Intel’s proprietary T&L (Transform & Lighting) functionality. However, when working on this core the developed paid most attention to video encoding having added all the necessary hardware functions. GMA 950 sped up to 400MHz, which ensures 1600Mpixels/s fillrate thanks to its four pixel pipelines. GMA 950 can also use up to 224MB of memory (shared RAM).
The implementation of T&L in GMA 950 implies that this graphics core supports one vertex pipeline compatible with Shader Model 3.0. As a result, the core complies with DirectX 9 specifications and, moreover, can work in the upcoming new-generation Windows Vista operating systems (even with Aero interface). However, GMA 950 doesn’t have a hardware T&L engine, its functionality is ensured in the drivers using the CPU for shaders emulation.
The integrated RAMDAC works at 400MHz frequency that allows GMA 950 to support up to 2048x1536 resolutions at 75Hz vertical synchronization rate. The core also features DVI interface support, although you will need a special daughter board to go into the PCI Express x16 slot on the mainboard if you want this DVI to work in your system.
The latest Intel chipset with integrated graphics is iG965 that was announced together with the Core 2 Duo processors. It formally supports all these processors, which means that any mainboards built around this core logic set should be compatible with them, too. In fact, there is nothing revolutionary about the iG965. The chipset acquired unofficial support for DDR2-800 SDRAM and a new ICH8 South Bridge that allows implementing 10 USB 2.0 ports and 6 Serial ATA ports. Moreover, ICH8 has no Parallel ATA interface support, so all the iG965 based mainboards can only have this interface implemented via additional onboard controllers.
The major innovation in iG965 is the completely new graphics core aka Graphics media Accelerator X3000 (GMA X3000). This is not an evolutionary development of the GMA 950. This core features some drastic architectural changes compared with the predecessors. First of all, we should point out the fact that GMA X3000 has finally acquired hardware pixel and vertex shaders. Intel claims that this makes GMA X3000 compatible with Shader Model 3.0 and compliant with Microsoft’s hardware requirements for Vista Aero Premium Interface. Moreover, the changes have also touched upon the video encoding capabilities. In particular, GMA X3000 got hardware WMV9 acceleration that was absent in the previous chipset models.
The architecture of GMA X3000 is built as an array of programmable units, each of which can be programmed to work as a pixel or vertex pipeline or to serve for video playback acceleration. The units get assigned the appropriate function depending on the workload falling on the core and there is a unified arbiter responsible for this management. This flexible GMA X3000 architecture allows us to believe that the core may eventually become compatible with DirectX 10 with only driver enhancement.
The GMA X3000 graphics core built into the iG965 chipset works at 667MHz frequency and features 8 programmable pipelines. To compare this core against the traditional graphics core designs Intel declares the fillrate of 1333Mpixels/s. In other words, this characteristic of the new core is lower than that of the older GMA 950. This may cause iG965 to fall behind i945G in some benchmarks, although GMA X3000 boasts higher shader processing speed.
GMA X3000 supports maximum 384MB of graphics memory (shared with the system RAM). The integrated RAMDAC works at 400MHz, and the maximum supported screen resolution is 2048x1536 at 75Hz vertical refresh rate. Of course, GMA X3000 supports DVI interface, although it will still require special daughter cards installed for proper DVI implementation.
Note that iG965 is the only chipset with the integrated GMA X3000 graphics core. Some budget chipset from the 965 series, such as iQ965 and iQ963, use a slightly different core, GMA 3000, that has no hardware shaders and no special functions for accelerated video encoding, which appears closer to GMA 950 rather than GMA X3000.
Today we are going to discuss only GMA X3000, since GMA 3000 is targeted for low-end systems.
If Intel uses their own integrated chipsets for platforms with Intel processors, then AMD cannot yet offer us anything of their own design (at least until ATI RS690 comes out). Therefore, all integrated chipsets for Socket AM2 platform are currently supplied by Nvidia that has proven a great developer of graphics processors and discrete chipset solutions for AMD platforms. The integrated chipsets introduced a year ago are still very popular today, and the top model in the market is Nvidia GeForce 6150. In fact, this core logic set can be described as nForce 5 with the built-in GPU from a relatively old NV44 family. Nevertheless, Nvidia GeForce 6150 remains a very decent solution even today mostly thanks to the support of DirectX 9 with Shader Model 3.0.
GeForce 6150 for Socket AM2 mainboards consists of the North Bridge with the same name and in most cases also of the nForce 430 South Bridge. This microchip provides the support for 8 USB 2.0 ports, 4 Serial ATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet and HD Audio.
As for the graphics core, it yields to Intel’s solutions from the features standpoint. Nvidia GeForce 6150 has only two pixel pipelines, but boasts a fully-fledged hardware vertex pipeline compatible with Shader Model 3.0. The graphics core works at 475MHz frequency that translates into 950Mpixels/s fillrate. GeForce 6150 graphics core can engage 256MB of graphics memory, which is provided from the system RAM, just like by all other integrated chipsets. Note that despite relatively modest specifications, GeForce 6150 should be powerful enough to formally work just fine in Aero interface of the new Windows Vista.
GeForce 6150 also boasts special hardware video acceleration features: high-quality scaling and HD video decoding.
RAMDAC of GeForce 6150 works at 300MHz therefore the maximum supported resolution is 1920x1440 at 75Hz vertical refresh rate. This chipset also supports DVI interface and a lot of mainboard manufacturers equip their solutions with DVI right away.
Nvidia GeForce 6100 is a slightly cut-down version of GeForce 6150. The main difference between this chipset and its elder brother is the lower graphics core frequency of only 425MHz. As a result, GeForce 6100 provides the fillrate of only 850Mpixels/s.
Moreover, GeForce 6100 has no support for hardware HD video decoding and DVI ports.
However, Nvidia made a few changes this fall that made GeForce 6100 even more different from the GeForce 6150 + nForce 430 combination. Nvidia started shipping new microchips aka MCP61G that are a combination of GeForce 6100 and nForce 430 inside a single semiconductor package. As a result, some product features have also become different. For example, MCP61G acquired more USB 2.0 ports (ten instead of eight), fewer Parallel ATA ports (only one) and a faster integrated network controller.
Of course, these are mostly minor changes. Especially, since the graphics core capabilities haven’t really changed compared with those of the original GeForce 6100 graphics core. However, the mainboard makers could now design simpler and hence less expensive integrated platforms for AMD Socket AM2.
By the way, Nvidia is also offering even cheaper modifications of a single-chip integrated MCP61G chipset (with lower graphics core speed and limited functionality). These solutions could be used for the lowest-end platforms that do not require high graphics core performance.
* - Not for all mainboards
** - Supported by CPU memory controller
*** - Only with ICH7R or ICH8 South Bridge
Before we move on to the practical tests, we decided to take a closer look at the actual mainboards that will participate. We are going to talk about four solutions from ASUS.
It turned out not that easy to find a mainboard on i945G chipset that would support contemporary Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Most mainboards on this chipset have been designed a while ago, long before the CPUs on Core micro-architecture appeared in the market. Therefore, the processor voltage regulator of most i945G based mainboards selling these days is not compatible with Intel Conroe processors.
Nevertheless, some mainboard makers believed not without reason that the old integrated Intel chipset is still too good to retire. One of these companies is ASUS, whose engineers have updated their entire i945G based product line by adding new processors support. However, you should still be attentive when purchasing an i945G based ASUS mainboard. Pay special attention to the revision number to make sure that the given mainboard supports Core 2 Duo. Take, for instance, ASUS P5LD2-VM mainboard we picked for our tests today: only starting from revision 2.0 of this mainboard you will get Conroe support.
Like many other similar solutions based on an integrated chipset, ASUS P5LD2-VM is designed in MicroATX form-factor. This allows installing this board into small system cases that can be designed specifically for consumer device application. The board features an LGA 775 socket compatible with any processors of the same form-factor (except the quad-core ones), so the board supports Quad Pumped Bus frequencies of 533MHz, 800MHz and 1067MHz.
The mainboard is equipped with four DDR2 DIMM slots that can accommodate up to 4GB of DDR2-533 or DDR2-667 SDRAM. Unfortunately, the chipset memory controller doesn’t support higher DDR2 SDRAM frequencies. The DIMM slots are color coded, so that the user could know right away how to install the memory modules in order to enable dual-channel mode. As I have already said the mainboard allows installing maximum 4GB of memory. However, note that if you install the maximum amount of supported memory, a part of it will still be unavailable because of the chipset limitations.
Although the i945G chipset of ASUS P5LD2-VM features Intel GMA 950 graphics core, the mainboard also has an additional PCI Express x16 slot that can be used to install an external graphics card.
The ICH7 South Bridge brings support for eight USB 2.0 ports, four of which are laid out on the mainboard rear panel, and another four exist in the form of onboard pin-connectors. The South Bridge is also responsible for four Serial ATA-300 ports (with NCQ support), that do not support RAID in this case. Besides that, the mainboard also features two Parallel ATA ports, one connected to the ICH7 and another one – to the additional ITE IT8211F IDE controller.
Also, ASUS P5LD2-VM features additional controllers for the Gigabit LAN. One of them is the corresponding Intel chip connected to the PCI Express x1 bus. There is also a spot for the IEEE1394 controller, however the mainboard model we had at our disposal didn’t have this controller installed. The 8-channel Realtek ALC882 HD codec is responsible for the integrated sound and an SPDIF Output port present as a PCB pin-connector.
Besides the four USB 2.0 ports, the mainboard rear panel features an RJ45 port, six audio jacks, PS/2 connectors for mouse and keyboard, D-Sub analog monitor connector, one serial and one parallel port.
The CPU voltage regulator is designed as a three-phase circuitry. Two thirds of the heating MOSFETs are covered with a small aluminum heatsink. The chipset components are also cooled down with passive aluminum coolers. The chipset North Bridge is equipped with a pretty massive heatsink, and the South Bridge – with a small low-profile heatsink.
The mainboard design is pretty decent overall, most connectors are located conveniently, despite the small PCB size. Moreover, there was even enough room for two PCI slots and a PCI Express x1 slot. Although if you decide to install a powerful graphics card into this system, one of the PCI slots will be blocked dead and you may also have some problems reaching for the memory modules, as the card may also block the DIMM slot clips.
Note that although ASUS P5LD2-VM is not positioned as a solution for hardware enthusiasts, it still features a few options for CPU overclocking. Namely, the board allows changing the CPU voltage and increasing the FSB frequency up to 400MHz. However, unfortunately, the mainboard doesn’t allow changing the memory voltage.
Although ASUS P5B-VM based on iG965 chipset is somewhat similar to ASUS P5LD2-VM, it boasts much broader features range and sells at a much higher price. In some stores the price difference between these two mainboards may reach up to $40. This is the price you have to pay for the newer and more advanced integrated Intel GMA X3000 graphics core, as well as for the variety of onboard controllers that ASUS P5B-VM is stuffed with.
This mainboard is designed in MicroATX form-factor that is very popular for integrated solutions. However, besides P5B-VM, ASUS also has another similar product – P5B-V - with full-size ATX design, which is evidently positioned for advanced user systems. However, the simpler ASUS P5B-VM doesn’t yield to it that much, especially when it comes to supported CPUs. The mainboard is equipped with LGA 775 socket and can work with any contemporary Intel processor (including the quad-core Core 2 Quad), since it supports Quad Pumped Bus 533, 800 and 1067MHz and the processor voltage regulator complies with VRM 11 specification.
As for the memory, there are four DIMM slots with ASUS’ typical color coding. I would like to specifically stress that ASUS P5B-VM mainboard can support up to 8GB of memory thanks to iG965 chipset it is based on. Moreover, the mainboard can work with DDR2-533/667/800 SDRAM as well as with faster DDR2-1067 SDRAM, which is an unofficial feature implemented in the BIOS Setup of this particular mainboard (at 266MHz FSB frequency).
ASUS P5B-VM allows using external graphics cards instead of the integrated graphics core. There is a fully-fledged PCI Express x16 slot on the board for that. Besides, the mainboard features two PCI slots and one PCI Express x4 slot.
ASUS P5B-VM uses ICH8 South Bridge with limited RAID functionality. However, this South Bridge provides the board with 10 USB 2.0 slots, four of which are laid out on the read panel and the remaining six exist in the form of onboard pin-connectors. The South Bridge is also responsible for the four Serial ATA-300 ports.
The mainboard is also equipped with an additional JMicron JMB363 controller for hard disk drives. On the one hand, this controller provides a Parallel ATA-133 channel that allows using optical drives with ATAPI interface, and on the other – adds the fifth Serial ATA-300 and the sixth SATA on-the-Go ports on the mainboard rear panel.
External controllers on ASUS P5B-VM are also used for other additional functions. For example, the Texas Instruments chip provides two IEEE1394a ports, one on the rear panel and another one in the form of a PCB pin-connector. There is a Realtek chip responsible for Gigabit network support. As for the integrated sound solution, ASUS P5B-VM uses an eight-channel ADI AD1988 codec that also supports SPDIF out.
Besides the already mentioned USB 2.0, IEEE1394 and SATA On-the-Go ports, the mainboard rear panel carries a network RJ45 connector with built-in diagnostic LEDs, six audio-jacks, a D-Sub monitor connector, PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse and a Parallel port. Moreover, you can also get an additional serial port if you install a special bracket (it is not supplied with the mainboard).
The mainboard is designed in a pretty typical way for the products of this class, although it is not absolutely flawless. Namely, the installed graphics card will block the DIMM slots clips, and the 12V additional power connector has been moved almost to the very center of the PCB.
The processor voltage regulator is designed as a four-phase circuitry and features no cooling. The chipset North and South Bridges are covered with aluminum heatsinks. The North Bridge heatsink is relatively big, while the ICH8 chip does Ok with a low-profile pin heatsink.
Despite its relatively high price, ASUS P5B-VM cannot boast that many overclocking-friendly features as any other mainboard from the popular P5B series. Although the BIOS Setup offers some options to increase the FSB frequency up to 500MHz, to raise the processor Vcore and to adjust all major memory timings, Vdimm can only be increased to 1.95V, which prevents you from using fast overclocker memory on this platform.
The integrated GeForce 6150 chipset was initially announced as a Socket 939 solution for AMD processors. Today this socket has become pretty obsolete already and a more advanced Socket AM2 came to replace it. However, this didn’t require Nvidia to introduce any changes to the chipset, we see it today in mainboards supporting DDR2 SDRAM. It is explained by the fact that this chipset is only responsible for HyperTransport bus between the processor and the chipset, and this bus hasn’t changed during the transition to the new processor socket. The memory controller in AMD platforms I built into the CPU, which ensures that the chipsets for these processors live a long and happy life.
ASUS M2NPV-VM mainboard built on GeForce 6150 chipset is equipped with a Socket AM2 that accommodates any contemporary AMD processors including the dual-core Athlon 64 X2, single-core Athlon 64 and budget Sempron CPUs. There are four DIMM slots with standard color coding on the mainboard. The maximum amount of supported memory as well as its speed is determined by the memory controller in the CPU, the mainboard doesn’t impose any limitations on these parameters.
Just like the mainboards on Intel chipsets we have just discussed, ASUS M2NPV-VM allows installing an external graphics card into a PCI Express x16 slot. By the way, this slot is moved slightly away from the DIMM slots clips, so that the installed graphics card wouldn’t block them. Besides the graphics card slot, the mainboard also features three additional expansion slots: two PCI and one PCI Express x1.
Most other features of ASUS M2NPV-VM are provided by the chipset South Bridge – nForce 430 chip. It delivers four Serial ATA-300 and two Parallel ATA-150 ports. All hard disk drives connected to this board can be united into RAID 0, 1, 0+1 or 5 arrays. The South Bridge also provides support for 8 USB 2.0 ports, half of which are already laid out on the mainboard rear panel and the other half is available as onboard pin-connectors. The chipset is also responsible for Gigabit LAN support, which can also be used together with the company’s brand name Nvidia Firewall software.
The sound on ASUS M2NPV-VM is implemented not only via the nForce 430 South Bridge but also via the 6-channel onboard ADI AD1986A codec supporting not only analog but also SPDIF output laid out as an onboard pin-connector. On the rear panel you can only see three audio jacks.
The only external PCI controller on this mainboard is a Texas Instruments chip providing support for IEEE1394a ports: one on the rear panel and another one as a PCB pin-connector.
Beside the ports and connectors already listed above, there are two PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse and a parallel port. The board also carries two onboard pin-connectors for serial ports, although you will have to find and install special brackets if you want to use them.
The rear panel carries two monitor connectors: a D-Sub and a DVI, which we haven’t yet seen on any Intel based mainboards. However, I have to point out that the DVI connector on this mainboard doesn’t work with DVI-to-D-Sub adapters. Therefore, if you are planning to use ASUS M2NPV-VM in configuration with two monitors (which is theoretically possible), one of them should have digital and another – analog interface. As an additional bonus to the two monitor connectors, ASUS also includes a small daughter card with an HDTV-out.
Thanks to very few additional onboard chips, ASUS M2NPV-VM boasts very well-organized PCB layout, despite its MicroATX form-factor. It will most likely feel very convenient even in small system cases.
The processor voltage regulator features a three-phase design and no additional cooling. The chipset North Bridge is equipped with a small aluminum heatsink, and the South Bridge has no cooling at all. However, it doesn’t at all mean that the mainboard components work in favorable thermal conditions. The CPU voltage regulator warms up moderately, while the chipset components get pretty hot. You can even burn your fingers if you dare touch the chipset South Bridge or the heatsink on the chipset North Bridge during work. However, it doesn’t affect the mainboard stability, overheating seems to have no negative effect on the chipset operation.
Just like in the previous two mainboards on i945G and iG965, ASUS M2NPV-VM boasts very scarce overclocking friendly options. Even though the board allows playing with the clock generator frequency, the processor Vcore and Vmem cannot be altered. As a result, not much CPU overclocking is possible on this platform.
Although GeForce 6150 and GeForce 6100 based mainboards usually use the same PCB design, ASUS M2N-MX built around GeForce 6100 chipset is very different from the ASUS M2NPV-VM, which we have just discussed. In fact, this is not surprising at all. Nvidia hid both: GeForce 6100 North Bridge and nForce 430 South Bridge into a single package, which was possible due to 90nm production process. As a result, ASUS M2N-MXappeared one of the first mainboards with integrated graphics core based on a single chip core logic set. That is why this solution looks a little bit unusual.
However, from the features prospective, there is nothing really unexpected about ASUS M2N-MX. The mainboard supports all Socket AM2 processors, including the newest dual-core models, and works with DDR2 SDRAM. The memory slots on the mainboard are colored yellow and black in pairs, each pair indicating its own channel. Note that the memory slots from different channels on M2N-MX alternate, it is a peculiarity of the PCB layout. The mainboard doesn’t in any way limit the maximum capacity and type of the memory used, as it all depends on the CPU.
The mainboard we are discussing right now features a standard set of expansion slots for a MicroATX solution. There is a PCI Express x16 slot for an external graphics accelerator, two PCI and one PCI Express x1 slot.
Since ASUS M2N-MX is based on a cheaper core logic set, it is positioned as an inexpensive solution. It sells for about $80. So, no wonder that it has no additional controllers onboard. The chipset determines all the features of this mainboard, such as ten USB 2.0 ports, four Serial ATA-300 ports (supporting RAID), Parallel ATA-150 port and Gigabit Ethernet controller. Actually, the only chip that should be mentioned here besides the single-chip core logic is the six-channel ADI AD1986A HD codec.
The connectors laid out on the mainboard rear panel are pretty traditional. There are PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse, a parallel and serial port, D-Sub analog monitor connector, four USB 2.0 ports, RJ45 connector with built-in diagnostic LEDs and three audio jacks. The mainboard also features pin-connectors for additional 6 USB 2.0 ports and SPDIF out, although no brackets or accessories for them are supplied with the mainboard.
The mainboard is designed pretty nicely, which is quite natural because of the overall design simplicity. However, the PCI Express x16 slot still appeared too close to the DIMM slots clips, so any full-length graphics cards will inevitably block them.
The processor voltage regulator on ASUS M2N-MX is designed as a three-phase circuitry. There are no additional cooling solutions for it. The chipset is covered with a relatively big aluminum heatsink, which is more than enough to ensure proper thermal conditions for the chipset.
When it comes to overclocking-friendly features, ASUS M2N-MX is not any better than the previous mainboards we talked about today. The board allows adjusting the clock generator frequency and memory timings, although nothing can be done about the processor and memory voltages.
Since the goal of our test session is to compare the performance of systems based around different CPUs, we decided to turn this test session into a comparison of different integrated platforms. In other words, we will compare not just integrated chipsets performance, but the performance of complete systems that can be built around the given chipsets.
For our testing we chose AMD and Intel processors comparable from price and heat dissipation standpoint. Of course, the integrated platforms built with the newest processor models are of the greatest interest to us in this context. Therefore, for our LGA775 platforms we will use Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, the youngest processor on Core micro-architecture that is officially selling for $183. A competitor within Socket AM2 systems will be AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ officially selling for $187. In our test session we decided to use an Energy Efficient modification of this CPU, because it is competitive with Core 2 Duo not only from price standpoint, but also in terms of the power consumption and heat dissipation level.
So, we used the following hardware to assemble our testbeds:
We ran the tests with the mainboard BIOS settings adjusted for maximum performance. The video memory capacity was set to 256(224)MB on all mainboards. Moreover, since Intel 945G chipset doesn’t support DDR2-800 SDRAM, the memory on ASUS P5LD2-VM worked as DDR2-667 with 3-3-3-10 timings.
First of all we used SYSMark 2004 SE test to assess the performance of the integrated systems.
The platforms built around Core 2 Duo E6300 processor proved faster than the alternative solutions with AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+. And it depends not on the performance of the integrated graphics cores, but on the superiority of the CPUs with Core micro-architecture over the AMD competitors, which we have already pointed out numerous times in our previous articles.
PCs with integrated graphics onboard are very often sued as Internet clients. Therefore, we decided to pay special attention to the platforms performance when working in typical Internet applications. Here we used WebMark 2004 benchmark that measures the reaction (response) time of the system when surfing different web-sites created using various contemporary Internet technologies, such as (Macromedia Flash, Shockwave, Javascript, Java, DHTML, SSL, .NET, etc.).
And again platforms built with Intel components can boast better performance thanks to processors on Core micro-architecture. Moreover, it is quite curious to see iG965 based platform falling behind i945G based one. Looks like the result in this test also depends on the 2D performance of the integrated graphics cores. Under typical Internet workload the 2D performance of the older chipset turns out higher.
Besides the tests that generate integral performance index, we have also tested out platforms in a number of popular sound and video encoding applications, final rendering tasks and image editing programs.
The situation is pretty typical. The graphics performance is of minimal influence here, while the performance advantage of the Core 2 Duo E6300 processor over the Athlon 64 X2 4200+ is evident even with a naked eye.
Final rendering is the only task where AMD platform can boast better results than the competitor’s solution.
Besides measuring the performance in “common” applications, we have paid specific attention to one of the most important features of the chipsets with integrated graphics – 3D performance.
Of course, we couldn’t help resorting to a popular Futuremark 3DMark gaming testing suite.
The results you see are quite predictable. Intel chipsets should be theoretically faster than Nvidia solutions.
And as for 3DMark06, the situation is slightly different here. The thing is that this test rates the shader performance and compatibility of the graphics cores with Shader Model 3.0 very high. That is why Intel GMA 950 graphics core didn’t score that well in 3DMark06. You can clearly see why from the detailed charts below:
Now that we have discussed the synthetic benchmarks, let’s take a closer look at the integrated chipsets performance in games.
As we see, depending on the type of the game, the results may be completely different. In particular, Intel’s integrated graphics cores do not do that well with the OpenGL driver. As a result, Nvidia solutions with considerably weaker hardware capabilities become leaders in applications using this API.
Moreover, i945G chipset appears faster than iG965 in most games, which is probably explained by the higher fillrate of this core logic set. So, it looks like the programmable Intel GMA X3000 architecture with hardware shaders support cannot yet boast unprecedented performance in real games. And this makes me believe that iG965 turned out a pretty ill-balanced solution with high shader performance but insufficient fillrate. However, programmable architecture of GMA X3000 may allow shifting the focus, so future driver releases may help new integrated chipset from Intel defeat the predecessor.
Moreover, Intel hasn’t yet finished working on improving the GMA X3000 drivers. Full support for all hardware functions of this integrated solution is promised to be implemented in Q1 2007, when Intel software developers release the driver version 14.26 (at this time only version 14.25 is available).
3D graphics performance is not the only important parameter. The performance of the video subsystem during video playback becomes almost as important lately. The thing is that as the high-definition video gets more and more popular, the decoding of the video stream becomes a much harder task for the CPU. That is why the developers of new graphics solutions, including the integrated ones pay special attention to functions that would allows to unload the CPU during video content playback.
In order to test how well the integrated solutions participating in our today’s review could cope with video playback tasks, we measured the CPU utilization during the playback of different HD trailers in MPEG-2, H.264 or Microsoft VC1 format.
The charts below show the average CPU utilization that we observed during the 2-minute playback in each of the above mentioned HD formats. So, the smaller is the value, the better is the result.
As we see, platforms built using Intel components cope slightly better with video playback than the platforms using AMD processors and Nvidia chipsets. So, we can conclude that HD video support is bets implemented in Intel GMA X3000 graphics core, which would be our first recommendation for home entertainment systems. However, the differences in CPU utilization are not that dramatic and can also be explained by the higher performance of the Core 2 Duo E6300 processor.
In conclusion to our investigation of integrated chipsets performance we measured their power consumption. This parameter of the integrated systems is very important alongside with the systems’ performance.
First of all, we measured the power consumption in idle mode, i.e. when the systems are not processing anything. Note that during our test session we activated all power saving technologies, such as Intel Enhanced SpeedStep and Enhanced Halt State. We measured the overall power consumption of the platform except for the monitor.
In idle state systems with AMD processor are the winners. This is actually not surprising, if we remember that Energy Efficient AMD CPUs that we used for our GeForce chipset based platforms are extremely economical in idle mode.
Now let’s discuss the results of our second experiment during full CPU utilization created with the help of S&M utility.
The picture here is slightly different. Core 2 Duo E6300 processor used in i945G and iG965 based platforms boasts excellent thermal parameters showing better performance-per-watt than the Energy Efficient AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+.
The third experiment was conducted when we loaded the graphics subsystem to the full extent using 3DMark06 testing suite.
It is the power consumption of the chipset graphics cores that has the biggest influence on the results. And from this standpoint, the laurels belong to i945G and GeForce 6100.
The observed results also suggest some other tendencies. As we could notice, GeForce 6100 was a more economical chipset than GeForce 6150, and i945G showed better power consumption levels than iG965. Although this is quite logical: the chipsets with fewer supported functions and lower clock speed of the integrated graphics core are ahead here.
Although we tried to avoid this outcome, but our today’s comparison of chipsets with integrated graphics cores eventually turned into another “AMD against Intel” article. And it is actually sad that it all ended with the traditional result: like in any other test session with Intel processors on Core micro-architecture participating, they appear to be the indisputable winners. New Intel micro-architecture allowed the company to make a significant jump forward and win the leading positions in the high-end and mainstream segments.
However, AMD fans may claim that we picked the wrong CPUs for our integrated platform tests today. True, the processors we used belong to the mainstream segment and their price approaches $200. At the same time, cheaper Intel processors are still based on NetBurst architecture and are evidently defeated by AMD solutions from numerous standpoints. However, we do not doubt the fairness of our decision. Of course, Core 2 Duo processors may be pretty pricy these days, however, this architecture is about to get into the value dual-core and later into single-core processors. Moreover, platforms using integrated graphics do not always belong to the budget segment. A lot of users with relatively powerful systems get integrated platforms on purpose, if they do not intend to play 3D games or perform any 3D modeling. And in this case integrated mainboards can ensure a pretty decent set of features.
At the same time, it is not always the Core 2 Duo processor that determines the advantages of platforms assembled using Intel components. The integrated Intel 945G and Intel G965 chipsets for LGA775 processors perform better than integrated chipsets for Socket AM2 platform offered by Nvidia. Moreover, this performance advantage can be observed in applications dealing with 3D graphics as well as during video playback. However, this is quite natural: Intel chipsets look better than Nvidia chipsets even during a side-by-side feature comparison.
In fact, the integrated AMD-Nvidia platforms are worth your attention in one major case: when price is the No.1 factor. This is exactly the reason why Nvidia started refreshing their chipset line-up with the youngest models. However, it is also important to remember that at this attractively low price point Nvidia chipsets, just like the competitor solutions, can guarantee the compatibility with the promising Windows Vista OS and Aero graphics interface.
In conclusion I would like to stress that the situation between AMD’s and Intel’s integrated platforms may very soon change. The thing is that ATI Company acquired by AMD is getting ready to introduce their new integrated RS690 chipset, which is expected to offer very high performance for a graphics solution of this class.