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ASROCK K7S8XE+ SIS748 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."
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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
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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.
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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 AN 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 |
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AMD ATHLON XP 2500 |
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AMD ATHLON XP 1700 |
| VIDEO CARD |
SAPPHIRE ATLANTIS RADEON 9600 |
| ATI DRIVER |
CATALYST v4.2 |
| MOTHERBOARD |
ASROCK K7S8XE+ v1.03 SIS748 |
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ASROCK K7S8X v1.0 SIS746 FX |
| MEMORY |
512MB CRUCIAL PC3200 DDR |
| OPERATING SYSTEM |
WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 1 |
| DIRECTX VERSION |
v9.0b |
WE HAVE USED A RESOLUTION OF 640x480 FOR TO PREVENT THE RESULTS BEING VIDEO CARD LIMITED. THE PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ASROCK K7S8XE+ SIS748 AND THE OLDER ASROCK K7S8X SIS746 FX WAS QUITE SMALL WHEN USING THE SAME CPU. THE MAIN BENEFIT OF THE NEW ASROCK K7S8XE+ SIS748 IS THAT IT CAN USE THE MORE POWERFUL PROCESSORS LIKE THE AMD ATHLON XP 3000 BECAUSE THE ASROCK K7S8XE+ SIS748 CAN USE A 200MHZ FSB.
SISOFTWARE SANDRA 2004
PROCESSOR - ALU DHRYSTONE
 | 6901 |
 | 5566 |
PROCESSOR - FPU WHETSTONE
| 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%."
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SISOFTWARE SANDRA 2004
MEMORY - INTEGER
| 2214 |
| 1809 |
MEMORY - FLOATING POINT
| 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%."
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3DMARK 2001 SE
| 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
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3DMARK 2003
| 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
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