In-Depth Review: Gigabyte GA-686BX Motherboard - Part 2

In Part 1, I introduced this nice Slot 1 motherboard and its capabilities. In this Part 2, I run a series of tests to put it through its paces.

 

Test 1 - Pentium III-400 running on 66 MHz FSB, with single 32 MB SDRAM stick. 3D Trio 64V+ PCI card.
CacheChk = 16K cache speed = 489.5 MB/s, Main memory speed = 147.8 MB/s, Eff. RAM access time = 56ns (read) and 59ns (write).
SpeedSys = 468.42, Data cache L1 (16KB) = 1509.5 MB/s, Memory throughput = 230.89 MB/s

Test 2 - as above but on 100 MHz FSB (now shows as P3-600).
SpeedSys = 689.48, Memory Speed Index=342.64, Data cache L1 (16KB) = 2260.09 MB/s, Memory throughput = 326.12 MB/s
GMemSpd: Max Xferr=256.5 MB/s
3DBench v1.0=33.3, 3DBench v1.0c=308.0
Chris Bench=385.7 (231.4 fps)
Chris SVGA Bench=81.6 (49 fps)
Doom=2134 gametics in 838 realtics 74690/838 = 89.1 fps
Quake (quake -nosound then run timedemo demo3) = 89.6 fps
Dr.Hard= RAM Max=958.2 MB/s , RAM Min=592.4 MB/s, RAM Std=831.8 MB/s, Bus=24.2 MB/s, Video Transfer Rate=40.9 MB/s
PCPBench 8bpp: 640x400=28.0, 640x480=24.0, 800x600=16.1, 1024x768=9.4
PCPBench 15bpp: 640x480=13.6, 800x600=7.9
PCPBench 16bpp: 640x480=13.6, 800x600=7.9
PCPBench 32bpp: Not available

PCPBench with FastVid loaded 8bpp: 640x400=28.0, 800x600=16.0, 1024x768=9.4

Test 3 - as Test 2 but with STB Velocity 128 AGP (Riva TNT chipset)
SpeedSys = 689.48
3DBench v1.0=33.3, 3DBench v1.0c=308.2
Chris Bench=443.8 (266.3 fps)
Chris SVGA Bench=102.9 (61.7 fps)
Doom=2134 gametics in 687 realtics 74690/687 = 108.7 fps
Quake (quake -nosound then run timedemo demo3) = 93.4 fps
Dr.Hard= (Mem results as above), Video Transfer Rate=50.7 MB/s
PCPBench 8bpp: 640x400=30.1, 640x480=26.7, 800x600=18.9, 1024x768=12.6
PCPBench 15bpp: Not available
PCPBench 16bpp: 640x480=22.0, 800x600=15.4
PCPBench 32bpp: 640x480=17.5, 800x600=11.0, 1024x768=7.2

Test 4 - as Test 3 but with Diamond Stealth Video 2500 PCI
SpeedSys = 689.48
3DBench v1.0=66.6, 3DBench v1.0c=158.2
Chris Bench=292.4 (175.4 fps)
Chris SVGA Bench=54.7 (32.8 fps) [Corrupted image]
Doom=2134 gametics in 1171 realtics 74690/1171 = 63.8 fps
Quake (quake -nosound then run timedemo demo3) = 82.1 fps
Dr.Hard= (Mem results as above), Video Transfer Rate=26.9 MB/s
PCPBench 8bpp: 640x400=30.1, 640x480=26.9, 800x600=18.7, 1024x768=11.8
PCPBench 15bpp: 640x480=15.6, 800x600=10.5, 1024x768=5.6 [artifacts]
PCPBench 16bpp: 640x480=22.0, 800x600=10.5, 1024x768=5.6 [artifacts]
PCPBench 32bpp: 640x480=9.0, 800x600=5.5

 

Test 5 - as Test 4 but with SiS6326 4MB AGP1x card
SpeedSys = 689.48
3DBench v1.0=33.3, 3DBench v1.0c=279.8
Chris Bench=333.7 (200.2 fps)
Chris SVGA Bench=103.0 (61.8 fps)
Doom=2134 gametics in 672 realtics 74690/672 = 111.1 fps
Quake (quake -nosound then run timedemo demo3) = 86.3 fps
Dr.Hard= (Mem results as above), Video Transfer Rate= 27.6 MB/s
PCPBench 8bpp: 640x400 LFB=30.9, 640x480LFB=26.6, 800x600=18.9, 1024x768=Wouldn't display on my LEDmonitor
PCPBench 15bpp: 640x480=22.0, 800x600=15.4, 1024x768=Wouldn't display on my LEDmonitor
PCPBench 16bpp: 640x480=22.0, 800x600=15.4, 1024x768=Wouldn't display on my LEDmonitor
PCPBench 32bpp: Not available

Test 6 - as Test 5 but with Matrox Millennium G200 8MB AGP2x card
3DBench v1.0=33.3, 3DBench v1.0c=308.2
Chris Bench=440.6 (260.3 fps)
Chris SVGA Bench=103.0 (61.8 fps)
Doom=2134 gametics in 665 realtics 74690/665 =112.3 fps
Quake (quake -nosound then run timedemo demo3) = 94.5 fps
Dr.Hard= (Mem results as above), Video Transfer Rate= 50.7 MB/s
PCPBench 8bpp: 640x400 LFB=31.0, 640x480LFB=26.7, 800x600=18.9, 1024x768=12.6
PCPBench 15bpp: Not available
PCPBench 16bpp: 640x480=22.0, 800x600=15.4, 1024x768=
PCPBench 32bpp: Not available

Test 7 - Pentium II-233 MHz, L1+L2 enabled, 256MB PC-133 SDRAM (ID'd as 32MX64G-133 16MX8), Matrox Millennium G200 8MB AGP2x
SpeedSys=268.25
GMemSpd: Max Xferr=256.5 MB/s
3DBench v1.0=66.6, 3DBench v1.0c=161.1
Chris Bench=259.4 (155.6 fps)
Chris SVGA Bench=54.2 (32.5 fps)
Doom=2134 gametics in 1058 realtics 74690/1058 = 70.5 fps
Quake (quake -nosound then run timedemo demo3) = 52.6 fps
Dr.Hard= RAM Max=370.9 MB/s , RAM Min=289.2 MB/s, RAM Std=370.9 MB/s, Bus=26.7 MB/s, Video Transfer Rate=40.9 MB/s, Video Transfer Rate= 26.6 MB/s
PCPBench 8bpp: 640x400 LFB=20.9, 640x480LFB=17.7, 800x600=12.1, 1024x768=7.8
PCPBench 15bpp: Not available
PCPBench 16bpp: 640x480=14.2, 800x600=9.6, 1024x768=6.4
PCPBench 32bpp: 640x480=10.1, 800x600=6.8, 1024x768=4.2