|
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| Duron
and KT133 Test System |
| HotHardware's
Setup |
|
Full
Tower ATX Case w/ 300W PS, AMD Duron 650 also
Over-clocked to 735MHz. (supplied by MicroX-Press),
Gigabyte GA-7ZM Motherboard,
128MB of Corsair PC133 SDRAM (supplied by Outside
Loop)
, WD Expert AC418000 7200 RPM ATA66 Hard Drive,
Elsa Gladiac w/ NVidia 5.32 Drivers, Kenwood
72X CDROM, Win
98SE, DirectX 7.0a
** Reference
systems based on similar specifications and MSI
MS-6309 VIA Apollo Pro133A, Abit KA7 KX133 and
Soyo SY-6BA+IV i440BX motherboards.
 |
| Benchmarks
and Comparison With A Duron |
| You
get your money's worth with this
processor |
|
As
usual, we decided to get a lay of the land with
the fundamentals of the performance we have at our
disposal.
SiSoft
Sandra Benchmarks
|
CPU
Test @ 650MHz.
 |
Memory
Bandwidth Test @ 650MHz.
 |
|
CPU
Multimedia Test @ 650MHz.
 |
CPU
Test @ 735MHz.
 |
|
Memory
Bandwidth Test @ 735MHz.
 |
CPU
Multimedia Test @ 735MHz.
 |
Fantastic
performance from a processor that retails for well
under $200. Take a look at the memory
bandwidth score. Remember, this is taken on
a VIA based board. At 650 MHz., it rivals
the BX and at 735MHz., it blows by it. The
EV6 bus is cranking at 200MHz. DDR between the
processor and system bus, which does affect these Sandra
Scores very positively. The memory bus speed
on the GA-7ZM was set to 133MHz. at both 650 and
735MHz. processor speeds.
And
now for our standard issue Business Application
test.
Ziff
Davis Winbench 99 Benchmarks
We
tossed in a few scores from reference product we
have here in house. This should give you a
feel for the range of performance the Duron is
in. As you can see, the Duron at 735MHz.
gives the 750MHz. Athlon (not a T-Bird) classic
and KX133 combination, a run for its money.
On most VIA boards however, ATA66 performance is
less than stellar. The system still
"felt" very snappy but we have seen
better drive performance scores on Intel based
product.
Turning
up the heat a little we have more of a multimedia
test suite, Content Creation Winstone.
Ziff
Davis Content Creation Winstone 2000
The
T-Bird and KX133 based Abit KA7 shows great
performance at 700MHz., almost on par with a
Coppermine/BX setup, with a processor 50MHz.
faster. The Duron and GA-7ZM combination
does bring up the rear but not by much at
735MHz. Again, the Duron shows its
excellent price/performance ratio.
We'll
finish things off with some gaming scores to give
you the full picture.
Quake
3 Arena Timedemo Benchmarks
At
75 fps in 1024X768X32, the GeForce2 based Elsa
Gladiac really shines with the Duron and KT133
combination. We have seen scores like this
on 866MHz. P3/i820/RAMBUS setups in the
past. Talk about opposite ends of the
spectrum with respect to value. The KT133
based Gigabyte GA-7ZM and Duron offer top end
performance at a budget price point.
We
were very much impressed by the performance of the
new AMD Duron served up on VIA's latest
chipset. The is no debating that AMD has
garnered the "value processor" crown
with the Duron's exceptional speed and low cost of
ownership.
The
Gigabyte GA-7ZM KT133 based motherboard is a well
made, stable albeit compact design. Most
power users won't be interested in its spartan 3
PCI slot configuration but system integrators and
those wanting a very small footprint, will be
satisfied with its wealth of "on board"
features including its audio. Over-clocking
with the GA-7ZM is no picnic if you consider the
limitations of the hardware. However,
Gigabyte's excellent "Easy Tune"
software breaths flexibility and speed into this
little bundle.
We'll
give the Gigabyte GA-7ZM - VIA Apollo KT133
Motherboard a HotHardware Heat Meter rating of...
So,
what do you think? Tell us in the
HotHardware Conference Room!
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