3DMark2001 SE is the latest installment in
the 3DMark series by MadOnion. By combining DirectX8 support with completely new
graphics, it continues to provide good overall system benchmarks. 3DMark2001 SE
has been created in cooperation with the major 3D accelerator and processor
manufacturers to provide a reliable set of diagnostic tools. The suite
demonstrates 3D gaming performance by using real-world gaming technology to test
a system's true performance abilities. Tests include: DirectX8 Vertex Shaders,
Pixel Shaders and Point Sprites, DOT3 and Environment Mapped Bump Mapping,
support for Full Scene Anti-aliasing and Texture Compression and two game tests
using Ipion real-time physics. Higher 3DMark scores denote better
performance.
3DMark 2001 SE Benchmark Results |
|
Motherboards |
3DMarks |
Ranking |
1. |
AN11 - 133 MHz FSB |
8210 |
|
2. |
AN11 - 140 MHz FSB |
8462 |
|
Being
able
to break 8000 3DMarks is quite a feat,
especially at stock speeds! Overclocking doesn't really improve things that much which is odd, but then again we
did do much of an overclock.
Quake III Arena is a First Person Shooter (FPS)
that revolutionized gaming as we know it. Using multiple light sources and
having graphics textures that can fill videocards, even after 3 years it's still
able to bring a cutting edge system to its knees.
Quake III Arena Fastest demo001 |
|
Motherboard |
FPS |
Ranking |
1. |
AN11 - 133 MHz |
254.7 |
|
2. |
AN11 - 140
MHz |
273.1 |
|
|
Quake III Arena Fastest nv15demo |
|
Motherboard |
FPS |
Ranking |
1. |
AN11 - 133
MHz
|
72.3 |
|
2. |
AN11 - 140 MHz |
75.5 |
|
With the fastest settings enabled, the AN11 scores some very
nice numbers.
Quake III Arena MAX 1024x768 demo001
|
|
Motherboard |
FPS |
Ranking |
1. |
AN11 - 133 MHz |
182.3 |
|
2. |
AN11 - 140 MHz |
196.4 |
|
Quake III Arena MAX 1024x768 nv15demo
|
|
Motherboard |
FPS |
Ranking |
1. |
AN11 - 133
MHz
|
53.7 |
|
2. |
AN11 - 140 MHz |
55.2 |
|
As the resolution is turned up, the videocard becomes the limiting factor.
Still, it's a gamers heaven to be able to play Q3 at 1024x768 with everything on
while still pulling about 200 fps.
Conclusion:
It's a guaranty that any board based on VIA's KT266A
chipset will perform well and while the FIC AN11 Stealth does put out some nice numbers, there are no large performance gains to separate itself from the
rest of the pact. The feature set is good but with USB2.0 on the cusp
of wide implementation it comes up short. In terms of stability, the AN11 Stealth performed
admirably during our tests - it did not BSOD once even with
all three DIMM slots populated with double sided DDR RAM.
In terms of value, for just under $100USD the
AN11 Stealth does come with a host of onboard features, such as IDE RAID,
which we were happy to see. Onboard audio is taken care of by VIA's
AC'97 codec, not the best onboard audio solution
but one that does the job if you're not looking for anything
spectacular.
It was interesting that our unlocked AthlonXP 1900+
was detected as a 2000+, but that may have been a BIOS issue. Being the
speed freak I am, I was a little disappointed to see that the AN11 didn't have
many overclocking options. Also, the close proximity of
so many large capacitors will limit many users from using larger
heatsinks.
Overall we were pretty pleased with the AN11. It's not a
board for the overclocking enthusiast, or night time tweaker, but for anyone
look for good value, a fair set of features, and utmost reliability the AN11 Stealth
won't disappoint from what we have
seen.