Gigabyte's GA-8TX - i850 Pentium 4 Motherboard
No frills performance

By Dave Altavilla
1/10/2001

 
Taking the processing and bandwidth requirements up a notch or two, we have our Content Creation Winstone and Gaming scores.

Content Creation and Gaming Performance
Pushing the Gigabyte GA-8TX a little further

Once again, the Gigabyte GA-8TX just slips past the competition.  This is a small variance that would go undetectable to the average user.  However, the performance of the GA-8TX is excellent and its speed advantage however slight, is very real.

 

  

With our Quake 3 Arena Time Demo tests, we decided to compare performance of the GA-8TX versus the Asus P4T, at both stock speed and at the highest possible overclocked speed we could achieve with each board.  Clock for clock the Gigabyte GA-8TX pulls ahead slightly once again.  On the down side, the power user who is familiar with overclocking, won't be able to achieve the same kind of top end performance as with other boards with more options in this area.  As you can see, the Asus P4T at 1.74GHz.leads this chart, obviously due to the higher end clock speeds we achieved.

 

For us the GA-8TX Pentium 4 Motherboard was kind of a mixed bag.  We were impressed with its stability and quality.  In addition, its performance at a given clock speed is top notch in comparison to others in the field.  Another plus is the fact that this board will fit into any ATX case without modification.

On the down side, the Gigabyte GA-8TX lacks some of the basic configuration and setup options that many new motherboards are capable of.  Front Side Bus speed selection is done with the use of a dip switch on the board and the range is quite limited.  In our final analysis, the GA-8TX is a super stable and relatively speedy motherboard that will again do well in the OEM sector.  Power Users and Upgraders unfortunately will be left a little flat with its lack of overclocking capabilities and slightly more cumbersome configuration.

We'll give the Gigabyte GA-8TX a HotHardware Heat Meter rating of...

 

Get into the HH Conference Room, where all the action is.