X-bit labs

LGA775: New CPUs and Chipsets (page 18)

Category: CPU

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 06/21/2004 | 06:57 PM ]

Testbed and Methods

During this test session we will study the performance of the new LGA775 platform from Intel and will compare the speed of new LGA775 processors running on i925T Express platform with that of the Socket 478 processors running on an i875P platform. Besides, we will also compare the performance of the new Intel platform with that of the top CPUs from Intel’s No.1 competitor – AMD. For our tests we used the following configurations:

• LGA775: i925X Express chipset, dual-channel DDR2-533 memory, PCI Express x16 NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5900 graphics card (390MHz/700MHz);
• Socket 478: i875P chipset, dual-channel DDR400 memory, AGP 8x NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900XT graphics card (390MHz/700MHz);
• Socket 939: VIA K8T800 Pro chipset, dual-channel DDR400 memory, AGP 8x NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900XT graphics card (390MHz/700MHz);
• Socket 754: VIA K8T800 chipset, single-channel DDR400 memory, AGP 8x NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900XT graphics card (390MHz/700MHz);

This way LGA775 processors worked in slightly different conditions determined by the peculiarities of the new platform. Thus we used different graphics cards with the PCI Express x16 interface in the LGA775 system. However, the graphics core architecture and the working frequencies of the card remained the same as those of the AGP ones. As a result, we could carry out fair and correct comparison of the performances shown  by different platforms.

The test systems were built using the following hardware:

• CPUs:
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 (Socket 939);
• AMD Athlon 64 3800+ (Socket 939);
• AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (Socket 754);
• AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Socket 939);
• AMD Athlon 64 3400+ (Socket 754);
• Intel Pentium 4 560 (LGA775);
• Intel Pentium 4 550 (LGA775);
• Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.4GHz (LGA775).
• Intel Pentium 4 3.4EGHz (Socket 478, Prescott);
• Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz (Socket 478, Northwood);
• Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.4GHz (Socket 478).
• Mainboards:
• ASUS A8V Deluxe (Socket 939, VIA K8T800 Pro);
• ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe (Socket 478, i875P);
• ABIT KV8-MAX3 (Socket 754, VIA K8T800).
• Intel D925XCV (LGA775, i925X Express).
• Memory:
• 1024MB DDR400 SDRAM (Corsair CMX512-3200LLPRO, 2 x 512MB, 2-3-2-6);
• 1024MB DDR2-533 SDRAM (Corsair CM2X512-4300, 2 x 512MB, 4-4-4-12).
• Graphics cards:
• NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900XT (390/700MHz);
• NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5900 (390/700MHz).
• Disk subsystem: Western Digital Raptor WD740GD.

The tests were run in Windows XP SP1 operation system with DirectX 9.0b software installed.

Before we pass over to the actual benchmark results, take a look at Intel D925XCV mainboard, because we haven’t yet reviewed it.

The mainboard is based on Intel 925X Express chipset and supports LGA775 processors with 800MHz bus. Intel D925XCV is equipped with a PCI Express x16 slot, two PCI Express x1 slots and four PCI slots. For the memory modules there are four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM slots laid out in two pairs: a pair for each channel. The mainboard supports Matrix RAID, High Definition Audio and features integrated gigabit network controller onboard connected to the PCI Express bus. This way, due to Intel D925XCV we got a brilliant opportunity to test all the new exciting stuff of the LGA775 platform from Intel.