PiFast
A good indicator of CPU/Motherboard performance is version 4.2, by Xavier Gourdon. We used a computation of 10000000 digits of Pi, Chudnovsky method, 1024 K FFT, and no disk memory. Note that lower scores are better, and times are in seconds.
Lower is Better
At 2.4GHz, both IC7 boards lead the way, with the IC7-MAX3 holding a slight edge. Credit to ABIT's superior memory timing options.
TMPGEnc MPEG Encoding
Video editing is a taxing chore, and we'll be testing the IC7-MAX3 using TMPGEnc 2.512 to encode a 7.78MB, 1:30 movie trailer to a 24FPS MPG file. Note that lower scores are better.
Lower is Better
Dead even between the boards, though this is likely more the result of us using a small MPG file. We'll be looking into updating this test in the near future.
Unreal Tournament 2003 @ 640
UT2K3 s a real system killer, and can bring many systems to its knees. We used the , which are excellent tools in testing various resolutions and detail levels. We selected the CPU test, which uses the dm-inferno map.
The IC7 boards simply blow the P4C800 away here, and the IC7-MAX3 manages a small 2 frame per second lead over the IC7. Again, the Game Accelerator seems to be the deciding factor here.
Splinter Cell @ 640
New to our test bench is UbiSoft's 3rd person action game, Splinter Cell. We used the Beyond3D demo, and ran the demo at 640x480 at the lowest detail levels.
A bit closer in Splinter Cell than it was with UT2003, but the ASUS board trails nonetheless by a couple frames per second.
Subsystem Testing
The first thing we'll check is the audio. We downloaded and installed to test its CPU utilization.
Like the IC7's Realtek solution, CPU utilization was fairly high thoughout the DirectSound3D tests. CPU utilization never got to 11%, but it did average in the 5% - 8% range, which is a lot higher than the <2% averages we've seen with the nForce 2. It's not the end of the world, given that the slowest CPU you would ideally be using with the IC7-MAX3 is a 2.4GHz "C", but we would have liked to have seen lower numbers. This is a synthetic benchmark though, and since I know all of you enjoy a game or two, let's see how the sound will affect UT 2003 performance.
The [H]ardocp Tool has an option to enable and disable sound during testing. Tests will be done with the same hardware configuration as the rest of the benchmarks, except we'll only be displaying the Pentium 4 2.4GHz "C" numbers.
UT 2003, Minimum Detail, 640x480 Resolution
With sound enabled, the IC7-MAX3 takes a nasty 20 frames per second hit. This is, on average, the results we get whenever we test the onboard Realtek, but I doubt most of you play at these settings, so let's look at something more realistic.
UT 2003, Maximum Detail, 1280x1024 Resolution
When it comes down to it, at high resolution and detail levels, the onboard sound's CPU utilization will not be a factor at all. I for one won't be able to spot a 0.0019 difference, so if you're going to game with the onboard sound, you should be fine.
In terms of sound quality, I found gaming to be very acceptable, as was the case with movie and MP3 playback. I ddin't hear any distortion, even when moving files around the hard disk. For recording tests, I used a small microphone that came with my Audigy Platinum, and recorded a few samples while running a disk defrag. The recordings sounded as they should, with no crackling or distortion. I don't exactly have a sound studio setup, but it seemed to work fine to the best of my knowledge.
Hard Drive Performance
The maximum read speed with the Seagate SATA drive was about 55MB/sec, with 44MB/sec being the average. CPU usage was low at 2.8%, which is in line with other Intel based SATA interfaces I've tested.
Network Performance
We used to test the networking speed, and Windows Task Manager for CPU usage. We copied a variety of install files, totalling 752 MB, varying in sizes of 300kb to as much as 450MB per file from the IC7-MAX3 machine, to our IS7 box, which uses a 3Com based Gigabit Ethernet controller. Both systems were connected via a Cat-5E crossover cable, which should prevent any bottlenecks that would arise with our standard 10/100 router.
Download speeds averaged about 27.23MB/sec, and CPU utilization averaged about 26%, with 22% being the low mark.
Uploading the same files averaged about 45.27MB/sec, and CPU utilization averaged about 28%, with 23% being the low mark.
These numbers are in a best case scenario, using Gigabit networking. A quick test of an FTP upload and download of 30 MB resulted with an average of 70kb/sec up and 400kB/sec. This was through a 10/100 router and 10/100 cable modem.
Final Words
For Pentium 4 fans, you'll be hard pressed to find a better board than the IC7-MAX3. Of the three Canterwoods tested today, the IC7-MAX3 finished on top of every benchmark thrown at it. Stability was excellent, especially when running at 1/1 at 250FSB and up.
The IC7-MAX3 was built with the overclocker in mind. The Soft Menu BIOS was pleasant to work with, offering more than enough options for the die hard enthusiast. Maybe a 1.925 - 1.95 option for CPU voltage would have been nice, but 1.9v should be enough for most of us. The Game Accelerator lives up to it's name and really showed it's worth in our UT2003 tests.
The OTES cooling system did it's job well. The PCB is noticably cooler on the back of the motherboard, and feeling the amount of heat being vented out the back of the system, it was obvious that the OTES is not just there for looks. Although overclocking went better with the IC7-MAX3 than it did with the IC7, I can't say for sure if the cooler capacitors and mosfets are the reason so. I will say is that very heat that the OTES is wicking away is the same heat normally trapped in the chassis, so the motherboard cooling is something you'll likely not have to worry about.
At and , ABIT does cover other price segments of the Canterwood crown, so if you don't need all the broohaha, the latter boards offer similar performance. Ringing in at just over , this is a lot of money to spend on a motherboard. There are a couple of competing boards that do cost more, and these boards offer some nice eye-candy like glowing PCBs, and FrontX panels. Personally, I prefer functionality more, and the IC7-MAX3's OTES is well worth the cost. Add the six SATA connections, and Gigabit LAN, and you'll see you're getting your money's worth.
Pros: Excellent performance, overclocking and stability. OTES cooling technology.
Cons: Sound eats into the CPU, expensive.
Bottom Line: For those of you who already own Canterwood boards, is this upgrade necessary? Well, if you squint hard at our benchmarks, the answer is probably no. If you got the cash, I'd say hell yeah. There is some serious performance, waiting to be untapped, and with the stability of the board, you'll be hard pressed to find something better.
If you have any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.
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