 Sierra FEAR 1.08 |
Source: Sierra |
|
FEAR is Sierra's
latest first person shooter which relies heavily on DirectX 9 features. With its
"Soft Shadows" feature enabled, even the fastest videocards run at a crawl, FEAR
is definitely the new benchmark for future FPS games to follow.
 Sierra FEAR 1.08 |
| Minimum 640x480: |
Points |
Ranking |
| MSI X58 Platinum (X58 133/1066) |
646 |
   |
| MSI Eclipse Plus (X58 133/1066) |
646 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD6 (P55 133/1333) |
628 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6 (P55 133/1333) |
635 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 (P55 133/1333) |
656 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P (P55 133/1333) |
636 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R (P55 133/1333) |
637 |
|
| ASUS P7P55D-E Pro (P55 133/1333) |
583 |
|
| ASUS P7P55D Deluxe (P55 133/1333) |
636 |
|
| ASUS P7P55D Premium (P55 133/1333) |
644 |
|
| ASUS Crosshair IV Formula (AMD 890FX
200/1066 PIIX6 1090T) |
587 |
   |
 Biostar TA890FXE (AMD
890FX 200/1066 PIIX6 1090T) |
554 |
   |
| MSI 890FXA-GD70 (AMD 890FX 200/1066 PIIX6
1090T) |
576 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7 (AMD 890FX 200/1066
PIIX6 1090T) |
477 |
|
| Biostar TA890GXE (AMD 890GX 200/1066) |
575 |
|
| ASUS M4A89GTD-Pro (AMD 890GX 200/1066) |
589 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (790FX
200/1066) |
656 |
|
| MSI 785GM-E65 (785G 200/1066) |
572 |
|
| ASUS M4A785TD-V Evo (785G 200/1066) |
580 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H (785G
200/1066) |
577 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H (785G 200/1066) |
598 |
|
| Maximum 1024x768: |
Points |
Ranking |
| MSI X58 Platinum (X58 133/1066) |
172 |
|
| MSI Eclipse Plus (X58 133/1066) |
174 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD6 (P55 133/1333) |
171 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6 (P55 133/1333) |
173 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 (P55 133/1333) |
172 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P (P55 133/1333) |
173 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R (P55 133/1333) |
175 |
|
| ASUS P7P55D-E Pro (P55 133/1333) |
176 |
|
| ASUS P7P55D Deluxe (P55 133/1333) |
174 |
|
| ASUS P7P55D Premium (P55 133/1333) |
174 |
|
| ASUS Crosshair IV Formula (AMD 890FX
200/1066 PIIX6 1090T) |
175 |
|
| Biostar TA890FXE (AMD
890FX 200/1066 PIIX6 1090T) |
173 |
|
| MSI 890FXA-GD70 (AMD 890FX 200/1066 PIIX6
1090T) |
176 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7 (AMD 890FX 200/1066
PIIX6 1090T) |
174 |
|
| Biostar TA890GXE (AMD 890GX 200/1066) |
171 |
|
| ASUS M4A89GTD-Pro (AMD 890GX 200/1066) |
172 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (790FX
200/1066) |
172 |
|
| MSI 785GM-E65 (785G 200/1066) |
171 |
|
| ASUS M4A785TD-V Evo (785G 200/1066) |
172 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H (785G
200/1066) |
171 |
|
| Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H (785G 200/1066) |
168 |
| |
Strangely the
TA890FXE didn't do so well in FEAR at the CPU-bound resolution of 640X480, with
the second lowest score of 554 FPS. However FEAR is a bit fickle when it comes
to CPU-bound performance, and the results flatline again when the resolution is
bumped up to 1024x768.
So where does
that leave the Biostar TA890FXE motherboard, is it a good platform to consider,
or better avoided? PCSTATS has the final word....
Biostar's No-Nonsense
Approach
Biostar's TA890FXE is a no-nonsense approach to AMD's
890FX chipset that removes most of the bells and whistles found on competitor's
products in favor of focusing on a lower price rate. If you're shopping around
for a low-cost approach to a high-end AMD chipset, you'll find a pretty good
match with the TA890FXE motherboard... although there are a few omissions
to be aware of.
What the Biostar TA890FXE does have in abundance is a bare set
of overclocking features. Items like the Port 80 card and physical
power/reset switches make the no-frills TA890FXE motherboard easy enough to
overclock. In PCSTATS own overclocking tests we pushed this board with a set of
Corsair DDR3 memory to 260MHz Bus speed.
Most boards have some form of AMD core unlocking
technology, but not every motherboard does. In that sense the Biostar
TA890FXE provides some added value without adding to the bottom line, by
enabling the potential to turn on working cores within AMD socket AM3
triple-core processors and "Thuban"-based quad-core
processors... potentially to full six-core CPUs.
Most notably is the lack of USB 3.0 support, which can
hurt the expansion options for a chipset with so much growth potential. With a
flood of USB 3.0 products slated to arrive towards the end of 2010, it's a
little difficult to recommend a motherboard that doesn't support such a major
new standard even though there is little use for USB 3.0 right now.
Biostar doesn't throw in quite as many extra PCI
expansion slots as some other AMD 890FX-based motherboards either, but for most the
dual PCI Express x16 slots and additional PCI Express (x4) and (x1) slots should
be enough. The layout of the expansion slots will make it a little difficult for
ATI Radeon owners using a CrossfireX configuration to use add-in sound cards or
put in their own USB 3.0 support, however.
AMD's SB850
southbridge also gets a little bit of clipping, since Biostar has turned one of
its SATA 6Gb/s ports into an eSATA port on the I/O panel. Fortunately the
remaining five SATA 6Gb/s ports remain intact, and can still be configured in
RAID 0, 1 5 and 10 modes for your enjoyment.
If you're looking for an affordable AMD 890FX-based
motherboard that gives you the ability to go CrossfireX with full bandwidth, you
might find the Biostar is good for meeting your immediate needs and a budget of
around $155 CDN, ($150 USD, £100 GBP). However if you have the
extra $45 to spare you'd be better off going with MSI's
890FXA-GD70 instead, which gives you USB 3.0 support, more USB 2.0 ports,
more SATA storage ports and more peripheral expansion options. Just something to
consider.
Discuss this motherboard in the PCSTATS Forums. Find out about this and many other
reviews by joining the Weekly PCstats.com Newsletter today! Catch all of PCSTATS
latest reviews right here.
Related Articles
Here are a few other articles that you
might enjoy as well...
- Biostar TA890FXE AMD 890FX Motherboard Review
- ASUS
P7P55D-E Pro Intel P55 Express Motherboard Review
- Biostar TA890GXE AMD 890GX Motherboard Review
- MSI
890FXA-GD70 AMD 890FX Motherboard Review
- Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7 AMD 890FX Motherboard - FIRST LOOK
-
ASUS
M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX Motherboard Review
- Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P Intel P55 Express Motherboard
Review
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