Performance

VIA C3 is slower than processors from Intel and AMD of the same frequency. I guess you know this fact already. The Ezra-core C3 performs integer operations quite fast, but fails at floating-point calculations. It means that there is a whole class of applications which are not for the Gigabyte TA2 – modern games. The low speed of the integrated 3D core is not even the crucial factor here – the insufficient performance of the processor’s FPU is the main problem.

The graphics subsystem is another matter. The graphics core integrated into the VIA CLE266 chipset supports 3D graphics, but only on paper. You can’t even dream of playing a modest 3D game with this architecture (1 pixel pipeline, 2 texture-mapping units, no dedicated graphics memory). On the other hand, this core supports IDCT and motion compensation, which unloads the CPU during DVD playback.

In this case, however, the availability of 3D, video and other entertainment capabilities is not vitally important as the TA2 is not intended to be a gaming/entertainment station and can’t compete with “grown-up” PCs in tasks of the kind.

As for its direct tasks – inputting data, processing spreadsheets and text, surfing the Web – the mini-system from Gigabyte easily crunches them up. Of course, we might run a testing session in PCMark, for example, to see how slow the C3 is compared to Intel and AMD processors as well as the CLE266 compared to NVIDIA nForce2 or i875. We don’t do it because subjectively the low computational power of the C3 doesn’t show up in those tasks this mini-system has been designed for.

Anyway, I couldn’t help trying the TA2 in a couple of tests. They are not very accurate, but show what you can expect from this computer. Let’s start with DVD and DivX playback.

Gigabyte TA2 can play DVD video without jerks or anything and with normal speed, mostly due to its integrated graphics core, which takes some part of the job over, performing Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform (IDCT, MPEG-2 decompression) and motion compensation.

My attempts to watch DivX-encoded movies gave different results, as this time the CPU only takes the job of decompressing video. So I tried to view a movie (704x288, 160Kb/s audio, 192Kb/s video, 23fps, DIVXMPG4 V3) using the DivX version 3.11a codec with minimal quality settings (the lowest workload for the CPU) and BSPlayer.

The result was disappointing: the CPU load was 100% and the fps rate changed from 12 to 16 depending on the scene (BSPlayer can produce such statistical data). Only when the onscreen picture was nearly static, the fps rate grew up to the normal value and the “jerks” disappeared. The fps rate didn’t depend on the overlay size or video mode parameters – clearly, the speed was limited by the performance of the CPU rather than the graphics subsystem.

So, I should confess that the Gigabyte TA2 is not for watching DivX-encoded movies.

Can you listen to MP3-files, though? When playing MP3 stereo with 192Kb/s bit-rate, I encountered no problems. The CPU load was 20-25% with Windows Media Player and 35-50% with Winamp 5. Thus, the Gigabyte TA2 can successfully handle MP3 playback.

The system also showed well at Web surfing – most of the sites I visited were displayed and scrolled with normal speed. Sites that extensively use Macromedia Flash were the only exception. I took a trip to the web site of renowned flash masters (2advanced.com) and had a weird experience. The CPU load jumped to 100% immediately and the maximum fps rate for the contents of the site was subjectively 2-3 frames per second.

Anyway, the Gigabyte TA2 can work with less heavy Flash animation. The CPU workload was 10-30% at displaying pages with 2-3 flash banners of small and average sizes. This caused no inconveniency at surfing. Overall, the Gigabyte TA2 can be used for Web surfing, but you’d better not visit sites with a lot of flash animations.