Benchmarks: 3DMark, Serious Sam, RTCW, Conclusions
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.
| 3DMark2001 SE Benchmark Results |
|
Motherboard (FSB/Memory) |
3DMarks |
Ranking |
| 1. |
8KHA+ 133/266 MHz |
8644 |
|
| 2 |
KT3 Ultra 133/333 MHz |
8795 |
|
| 3. |
KR7A-133RAID 133/266 MHz |
8823 |
 |
| 4. |
KR7A-133RAID 174/348 MHz |
9201 |
|
Here, the KR7A-133RAID simply leaves its competition in the dust. Scoring almost 200
points higher then the 8KHA+ at stock speeds is quite a feat!
Serious Sam 2 is a game that uses OpenGL and is a
little more advanced than the now retired Quake III Arena.Higher numbers denote
faster frames per second (FPS), and hence, better performance.
| Serious Sam 2 (Normal 640x480 Little Trouble)
Benchmark Results |
|
|
Motherboard (FSB/Memory) |
(FPS) |
Ranking |
| 1. |
8KHA+ 133/266 MHz |
174.6 |
|
| 2 |
KT3 Ultra 133/333 MHz |
174.7 |
|
| 3. |
KR7A-133RAID 133/266 MHz |
174.6 |
|
| 4. |
KR7A-133RAID 174/348 MHz |
175.9 |
|
| Serious Sam 2 (Normal 640x480 Valley of the
Jaguar) Benchmark |
|
|
Motherboard (FSB/Memory) |
(FPS) |
Ranking |
| 1. |
8KHA+ 133/266 MHz |
62.1 |
|
| 2 |
KT3 Ultra 133/333 MHz |
62.3 |
|
| 3. |
KR7A-133RAID 133/266 MHz |
62.1 |
|
| 4. |
KR7A-133RAID 174/348 MHz |
63.2 |
|
Serious
Sam being more of a system benchmark places the KR7A-133RAID at the same level
as the 8KHA+ and KT3 Ultra.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a relatively new
game benchmark. However, RTCW takes up where Quake III left off and continues to
form the basis of the first person shooter system stressing that QIII has become
a hallmark for. Based upon the Quake III engine, RTCS is obviously going to be
quite taxing on even a top end system. Higher numbers denote faster frames per
second (FPS), and hence, better performance.
It's no surprise that the KR7A performs on par with the
other boards. Seems here that the extra memory bandwidth the MSI KT3 Ultra has
seems to help a bit since it scores just a tad higher then both KT266A boards at
stock speeds.
Conclusion:
The Abit KR7A-133RAID didn't disappoint us one bit during testing. Performance was
on par with the Epox 8KHA+ (KT266A) and the MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU (KT333) which is very good
to see. Stability of the KR7A-133RAID was near perfect with all crashes
due to user error - even fitting out the board with four 256MB
PC2100 DIMM's didn't compromise stability!
At $250 CDN, the KR7A-133RAID
is the most expensive Athlon motherboard you can buy other then the nForce boards.
With that price tag however, you get many things; six PCI slots,
four DIMM slots an onboard IDE Ultra/133
controller. Abit's usual overclockablility comes standard.
On
that note, the KR7A was a very good overclocking with the Mushkin
High Performance PC2100. With that memory we were able to get the board as high
as 174 MHz FSB! Using a stick of OCZ PC3000 DDR, the board was stable all the
way up to 200 MHz FSB. However that was with relaxed memory timings which produced results lower then at 174
MHz with aggressive memory timings. We really appreciated the fact that Abit
cleared the socket area of resistors so we could install larger heatsinks
such as the Swiftech MCX462.
Not everything was perfect with the
board however, our biggest complaint (and it really
is a small one at that) is the location of the IDE RAID
controller's and the Floppy drive connector.
Other then that, we were very happy with the board and whole heartily recommend the KR7A-133RAID to anyone who is thinking about
buying a new Athlon motherboard. The KR7A proved itself to be stable
enough to run important projects, and since it's a Abit board, it
has enough to satisfy any overclocker!
Related Articles:
Here are a few other articles that you might enjoy as well...
1. Epox
8KHA+
2. MSI KT3
Ultra-ARU
3. Shuttle
AK35GTR
4. Iwill
XP333-R
5. 256MB Mushkin
Enhanced High Performance PC2100 DDR
RAM
3DMark2001 SE
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