ASROCK K7S8XE+ REVIEW

"The ASROCK K7S8XE+ motherboard is the latest Socket A motherboard from Asrock using the SIS748 chipset. The ASROCK K7S8XE+ will be compared to the earlier SIS746 FX equipped ASROCK K7S8X using the Athlon XP 3000, Athlon XP 2500 and Athlon XP 1700. To benchmark the ASROCK K7S8XE+ we used the following benchmark software:- 3dmark 2001 SE, 3dmark 2003 and Sandra 2004."

CHIPSET SIS748 + 964

Hybrid Booster CPU Multiplier
CPU Vcore adjustment
CPU Frequency Stepless Control
ASRock U-COP
Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G)
Memory 3 x DDR DIMMs, DDR400/333/266
DDR 266 Max. 3GB
DDR 333 Max. 2GB
DDR 400 Max. 1GB
Slots 1 x AGP 8X/4X 1.5Volt
PCI 5 slots, PCI 2.2
Audio AC97 CODEC
5.1 Channel 3D
10/100 Ethernet LAN
SATA HDD HotPlug
IDE 2 x ATA 133/100/66/33
Floppy 1 connector
1 x SIR
Keyboard PS2 x1
Mouse PS2 x1
USB 2.0
Serial 1
Parallel 1
Audio I/O Line In/Line Out/Mic
Game header

CHIPSET SIS746FX

Memory DDR 266 Max. 3GB
DDR 266 Max. 3GB
DDR 333 Max. 2GB
DDR 400 Max. 1GB
DDR 3 x DDR, DDR400/333/266
Slots AGP 1, AGP 8X/4X 1.5Volt
PCI 6 slots, PCI 2.2
Audio AC97 CODEC
Channel 5.1 CH
10/100 Ethernet LAN
Connector IDE 2 x ATA 133/100/66/33
Floppy 1 connector
1 x SIR
ASROCK I/O Keyboard PS2 x1
Mouse PS2 x1
USB2.0
Serial 1
Parallel 1
Game/MIDI 1
LAN 1 x RJ45
Audio I/O Line In/Line Out/Mic.

FEATURED MOTHERBOARD INFORMATION

NAME	CHIPSET	REVISION	MEMORY	FSB	AGP	BIOS	SPECIAL FEATURE	PRICE
K7S8XE+	SIS748	v1.03	400DDR	400FSB	8X	v1.44a	HYBRID BOOSTER	$50/£39
K7S8X	SIS746FX	v1.0	400DDR	333FSB	8X	v2.25a	6 PCI SLOTS	$48/£24
NAME	CHIPSET	REVISION	MEMORY	FSB	AGP	BIOS	SPECIAL FEATURE	PRICE

NOTE : "WE HAVE USED A UNOFFICIAL PERFORMANCE BIOS FOR BOTH OF THE MOTHERBOARDS AND TWEAKED THE MEMORY SETTINGS TO GET THE MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE. THE SIS748 WAS ABLE TO BE TWEAKED MORE AGGRESSIVELY THAN THE SIS746FX. THE BIOS USED FOR BOTH MOTHERBOARDS WAS DOWNLOADED FROM OCWORKBENCH WHICH HAS A DEDICATED FORUM FOR ASROCK AND ASUS OWNERS."

FEATURED PROCESSOR INFORMATION

NAME	TYPE	RATING	MHZ SPEED	MULTIPLIER	FSB	PRICE
AMD ATHLON XP	BARTON	3000	2100	10.5	400	$155/£117
AMD ATHLON XP	BARTON	2500	1833	11	333	$71/£54
AMD ATHLON XP	THOROUGHBRED B	1700	1466	11	266	$47/£34
NAME	TYPE	RATING	MHZ SPEED	MULTIPLIER	FSB	PRICE

GENERAL SYSTEM INFORMATION

PROCESSOR	AMD ATHLON XP 3000
	AMD ATHLON XP 2500
	AMD ATHLON XP 1700
VIDEO CARD	SAPPHIRE RADEON 9600
ATI DRIVER	CATALYST v4.2
MOTHERBOARD	ASROCK K7S8XE+
	ASROCK K7S8X
MEMORY	512MB CRUCIAL PC3200 DDR
OPERATING SYSTEM	WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 1
DIRECTX VERSION	v9.0b

"WE HAVE USED A RESOLUTION OF 640x480 TO PREVENT THE RESULTS BEING VIDEO CARD LIMITED. THE PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ASROCK K7S8XE+ AND ASROCK K7S8X WAS SMALL WHEN USING THE SAME CPU. THE MAIN BENEFIT OF THE NEW ASROCK K7S8XE+ IS THAT IT CAN USE THE MORE POWERFUL PROCESSORS LIKE THE AMD ATHLON XP 3000 BECAUSE THE ASROCK K7S8XE+ CAN USE A 200MHZ FSB."

SISOFTWARE SANDRA 2004

PROCESSOR - ALU DHRYSTONE

ASROCK K7S8XE+

	8008
	7006
	5589

ASROCK K7S8X

	6901
	5566

PROCESSOR - FPU WHETSTONE

ASROCK K7S8XE+

	3312
	2890
	2306

ASROCK K7S8X

	2888
	2309

ATHLON XP 3000 ATHLON XP 2500 ATHLON XP 1700

COMMENT - "Using the Athlon XP 2500 the ASROCK K7S8XE+ beats the ASROCK K7S8X by 2%, however when using the Athlon XP 3000 the ASROCK K7S8XE+ outperforms the ASROCK K7S8X by 14%."

SISOFTWARE SANDRA 2004

MEMORY - INTEGER

ASROCK K7S8XE+

	2860
	2412
	1921

ASROCK K7S8X

	2214
	1809

MEMORY - FLOATING POINT

ASROCK K7S8XE+

	2630
	2263
	1801

ASROCK K7S8X

	2077
	1692

ATHLON XP 3000 ATHLON XP 2500 ATHLON XP 1700

COMMENT - "Using the Athlon XP 2500 the ASROCK K7S8XE+ outperforms the ASROCK K7S8X by 9%, however when using the Athlon XP 3000 the ASROCK K7S8XE+ outperforms the ASROCK K7S8X by an impressive 23%."

3DMARK 2001 SE

ASROCK K7S8XE+

	11940
	11615
	10470

ASROCK K7S8X

	11213
	9993

ATHLON XP 3000 ATHLON XP 2500 ATHLON XP 1700

COMMENT - "Using the Athlon XP 2500 the ASROCK K7S8XE+ beats the ASROCK K7S8X by 4%, however when using the Athlon XP 3000 the ASROCK K7S8XE+ outperforms the ASROCK K7S8X by 7%."

BENCHMARK SETTINGS
1024x768 Resolution
32Bit color
D3D Hardware T&L
Antialiasing Disabled
Double Frame Buffer
Compressed Texture Format
24Bit Z-Buffer Depth

3DMARK 2003

ASROCK K7S8XE+

	4111
	4052
	3882

ASROCK K7S8X

	3990
	3831

ATHLON XP 3000 ATHLON XP 2500 ATHLON XP 1700

COMMENT - "Using the Athlon XP 2500 the ASROCK K7S8XE+ beats the ASROCK K7S8X by 2%, however when using the Athlon XP 3000 the ASROCK K7S8XE+ outperforms the ASROCK K7S8X by 3%."

BENCHMARK SETTINGS
3DMARK 2003
1024x768 Resolution
No Pixel Processing
Optimal Texture Filtering
4x Max Anisotropy
Optimal Vertex Shaders
No Repeat Tests
No Fixed Framerate