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ASROCK K7S8XE+ BIOS COMPARISON

"In this article we test the ASROCK K7S8XE+ with the official and unofficial bios to find the fastest! Software used was:- Aida32, Sisoftware Sandra2004, 3dmark 2001 SE, 3dmark 2003, Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament 2004."

In this article we test the ASROCK K7S8XE+ with the v1.60 bios and the v1.44 bios. The v1.60 bios is the latest official bios from Asrock and the v1.44 bios is the most recent unofficial bios with performance options. Although both the official and unofficial bios are released by Asrock only the performance bios has options to tweak memory settings for better performance. The bios found on the Asrock website uses very safe (ie slow) memory settings which should mean that the official bios is much more stable than the unofficial performance bios. We tested the v1.44 bios using the normal and performance memory settings, the v1.60 bios has no memory settings.

GENERAL SYSTEM INFORMATION

PROCESSOR	AMD ATHLON XP 3000
VIDEO CARD	MSI GEFORCE 5900 XT
NVIDIA DRIVER	FORCEWARE v53.03
MOTHERBOARD	ASROCK K7S8XE+
MEMORY	512MB CRUCIAL PC3200 DDR
OPERATING SYSTEM	WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 1
DIRECTX VERSION	v9.0b

BIOS v1.60 (NORMAL SETTINGS), v1.44 (NORMAL SETTINGS) & v1.44P (PERFORMANCE SETTINGS)

AIDA32

MEMORY BANDWIDTH - READ

	2349
	2488
	2662

MEMORY BANDWIDTH - WRITE

	624
	777
	845

BIOS v1.60 BIOS v1.44 BIOS v1.44P

COMMENT - "Using the "read" memory benchmark the v1.44 bios was 12% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 6% faster. Using the "write" memory benchmark the v1.44 bios was 27% faster and using the normal setting it was 20% faster."

SISOFTWARE SANDRA 2004

MEMORY BANDWIDTH - INTEGER

	2386
	2673
	2821

MEMORY BANDWIDTH - FLOATING POINT

	2226
	2476
	2599

BIOS v1.60 BIOS v1.44 BIOS v1.44P

COMMENT - "Using the "integer" memory benchmark the v1.44 bios was 16% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 11% faster. Using the "floating buffer" benchmark the v1.44 bios was 15% faster and using the normal setting it was 11% faster."

3DMARK 2001 SE

	12833
	13250
	13790

BIOS v1.60 BIOS v1.44 BIOS v1.44P

COMMENT - " The v1.44 bios was 7% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 4% faster. This is a good start for the v1.44 performance bios, an extra 7% or 957 points is a very nice increase in performance."

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

3DMARK 2003

	4685
	4888
	4945

BIOS v1.60 BIOS v1.44 BIOS v1.44P

COMMENT - "The v1.44 bios was 2% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 1% faster. After the good result with 3dmark 2001 the 2% increase in performance which is only an extra 89points was a bit disappointing."

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

QUAKE III ARENA

	251
	260
	278

BIOS v1.60 BIOS v1.44 BIOS v1.44P

COMMENT - "The v1.44 bios was 10% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 2% faster. This game loves bandwidth and the 10% increase in performance delivered an extra 21fps!"

BENCHMARK SETTINGS
Default GLdriver
GL Extensions on
1024x768 Video Mode
32Bit Colour Depth
Fullscreen on
Lightmap Lighting
32Bit Texture Quality
Demo four.dm_66

HIGH QUALITY
Geometic Detail Medium
75% Texture Detail
Trilinear Texture Filtering

UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004

RANKIN

	70
	72
	76

TORLAN

	66
	69
	72

BRIDGE OF FATE

	94
	97
	103

BIOS v1.60 BIOS v1.44 BIOS v1.44P

COMMENT - "The v1.44 bios was 9% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 5% faster."

BENCHMARK SETTINGS
Direct3D Render Device
1024x768 Resolution
32Bit Colour Depth
Texture Detail Normal
Character Detail Normal
World Detail High
Physics Detail High
Decal Stay High
Full Character Shadows
Full Fog Distance
Decals Enabled
Dynamic Lighting Enabled
Detail Textures Enabled
Coronas Enabled
Trilinear Filtering Enabled
Projectors Enabled
Foliage Enabled
Weather Effects Enabled

CONCLUSION - "After seeing the large increase in performance with programs like Aida and SiSoftware Sandra we expected similar increases with games. However we had to settle for a 10% increase in performance which considering it's free performance isn't so bad after all!"

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ASROCK K7S8XE+ BIOS COMPARISON

"In this article we test the ASROCK K7S8XE+ with the official and unofficial bios to find the fastest! Software used was:- Aida32, Sisoftware Sandra2004, 3dmark 2001 SE, 3dmark 2003, Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament 2004."

GENERAL SYSTEM INFORMATION

BIOS v1.60 (NORMAL SETTINGS), v1.44 (NORMAL SETTINGS) & v1.44P (PERFORMANCE SETTINGS)

AIDA32

COMMENT - "Using the "read" memory benchmark the v1.44 bios was 12% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 6% faster. Using the "write" memory benchmark the v1.44 bios was 27% faster and using the normal setting it was 20% faster."

SISOFTWARE SANDRA 2004

COMMENT - "Using the "integer" memory benchmark the v1.44 bios was 16% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 11% faster. Using the "floating buffer" benchmark the v1.44 bios was 15% faster and using the normal setting it was 11% faster."

3DMARK 2001 SE

COMMENT - " The v1.44 bios was 7% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 4% faster. This is a good start for the v1.44 performance bios, an extra 7% or 957 points is a very nice increase in performance."

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

3DMARK 2003

COMMENT - "The v1.44 bios was 2% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 1% faster. After the good result with 3dmark 2001 the 2% increase in performance which is only an extra 89points was a bit disappointing."

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

QUAKE III ARENA

COMMENT - "The v1.44 bios was 10% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 2% faster. This game loves bandwidth and the 10% increase in performance delivered an extra 21fps!"

BENCHMARK SETTINGS Default GLdriver GL Extensions on 1024x768 Video Mode 32Bit Colour Depth Fullscreen on Lightmap Lighting 32Bit Texture Quality Demo four.dm_66 HIGH QUALITY Geometic Detail Medium 75% Texture Detail Trilinear Texture Filtering

UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004

COMMENT - "The v1.44 bios was 9% faster than the v1.60 bios using the performance setting and using the normal settings it was 5% faster."

CONCLUSION - "After seeing the large increase in performance with programs like Aida and SiSoftware Sandra we expected similar increases with games. However we had to settle for a 10% increase in performance which considering it's free performance isn't so bad after all!"

LATEST REVIEWS

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

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

BENCHMARK SETTINGS
Default GLdriver
GL Extensions on
1024x768 Video Mode
32Bit Colour Depth
Fullscreen on
Lightmap Lighting
32Bit Texture Quality
Demo four.dm_66

HIGH QUALITY
Geometic Detail Medium
75% Texture Detail
Trilinear Texture Filtering