Monday, May 24, 1999

The performance tests results

All tests were all performed under Windows98.

The system setup was as following:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-5AX rev 4
CPU: AMD K6-2 400Mhz
Memory: 64mb PC100 SDram (LGS)
IDE first channel Primary port: Quantum Fireball EIDE ST 3.2A
IDE second channel Primary port: AOpen CD-ROM drive CD-936E
AGP port: STB Velocity 4400 TNT drivers built 048
OS: Win98 built 4.10
DirectX 6

Winbench 99 CPUmark

The CPUmark 99 benchmark of the Winbench 99 test suite is showing a very good score for the Gigabyte GA-5AX motherboard. As a fact, the GA-5X is slightly outperforming the better of the two other motherboards tested here.

Winstone 99

On this test, each motherboard has been tested three times but only the highest and the lowest score were kept. As you we can see, the GA-5AX is almost on par with the highest score. On the other hand, the third score displayed from left to right has been performed with the processor Overclocked at 450Mhz as indicated on the above results. The fact that Winstone has been run flawlessly while the processor was Overclocked at 450Mhz is a good indication of the ability of this motherboard to run under these conditions. All other tests were performed at 400Mhz.

Video sub-system tests

On this test, the GA-5AX is showing the best score all over the place. This is a good indication of a very well designed AGP bus. Once again, tests while the processor was Overclocked at 450Mhz were run to make sure that stable operating conditions could be obtained under these circumstances.

Hard disk drive sub-system tests

A test of the GA-5AX rev 4 has been conducted to show you how the disk sub-system is performing on this motherboard. However, I didn't had any other tests results to compare to, sorry...

The below evaluation table is showing the strong points and the weak points of the tested motherboard. No need to remember to you that we never buy a motherboard only for its performances. Most of today's motherboards are exhibiting performances very close to each others, so, we need additional information in order to help us distinguish what are the real advantages of a motherboard compared to the others and this is exactly where is coming into help this evaluation table.

The score obtained by this motherboard is 92 points out of 100 points. The Gigabyte GA-5AX revision 4 can therefore be classed as a very good motherboard.

The strong points

The strong points of the GA-5AX rev 4 are: its excellent Overclockability, its top grade expendability and its very good overall performances.

The weak points

The weak points of the GA-5AX are: as a fact, the only think I disliked about this motherboard is the poor placement of the Dip switch blok located at the upper right corner of the board right behind all the disk drives and ATX power connectors.

Conclusions

The GA-5AX rev 4 is not only a good performer but it's also a very versatile motherboard. The clock frequencies if offers combined to all the multipliers available as well as the adjustable processor core voltage in steps of .1 volts gives to this Super 7 motherboard a very high Overclocking ability. Add all this to the fact that this motherboard is ready to support all K-3 processors and you have all you need to get from a Super 7 motherboard. No doubts here that the GA-5AX rev 4 deserves to be seriously considered if you're looking for a good Super 7 motherboard for your next upgrade

Warning!

Despite its good overall construction and very interesting performances, it appears that the GA-5AX motherboard has a big voltage problem when a high end graphic card such has a TNT2 or similar is used. Apparently, according to the information I have, the AGP bus can't deliver a voltage suficient to support such high end cards. The results is that frequent locks up will happen and make this motherboard almost useless. Even worst, several of these motherboards have been reported to have precociously died under such circumstances... In other words, it is strongly recommended not to use the GA-5AX with high end graphic cards but to use only mid-range or low end graphic cards...

For any additional information, please visit Gigabyte's web site.