The Fic KW15 motherboard
Monday, February 07, 2000
The performance tests results
All tests were all performed under Windows98.
The system setup was as following:
Motherboard: Fic KW15
Motherboard Version: 1.2
BIOS version: VD410
CPU: Intel PIII 450Mhz + Intel Coppermine FC-PGA 500E 500Mhz
Memory: 64Mbb PC100 SDram (LGS)
IDE Primary port master: Quantum Fireball KA 9.1gig UDMA66
IDE Primary port slave: none
IDE secondary port master: Quantum Fireball EIDE ST 3.2A
IDE secondary port slave: Kenwood 52X True X
Graphic card drivers: 4.11.01.1272
OS: Win98 4.10
DirectX 6.1
Ziff Davis Winstone99 - Winbench99
|
Benchmark
|
Pentium III 450Mhz
|
Coppermine FC-PGA 500E 500Mhz
|
|
CPUmark99
|
34.3
|
46
|
|
Business Winstone99
|
21.43
|
23.7
|
Video sub-system tests
|
Quake2 version 3.20
|
Pentium III 450Mhz
|
Coppermine FC-PGA 500E 500Mhz
|
|
800 X 600 X 75Hz
|
33.8 FPS
|
33.66 FPS
|
Tests du sous-syst¸me disque
Overall Quality Evaluation
The evaluation table below shows both the strong and weak points of the tested motherboard. No need to remind you that performance is not the sole purchasing criteria in a motherboard. Most of today's motherboards exhibit performance very close to each other, so we need additional information in order to help us distinguish the real advantages of a motherboard compared to its competitors. This is exactly where this evaluation table comes in handy.
|
Fic KW15 i810E motherboard
|
|
|
Feature
|
Evaluation
|
|
Design Originality
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
5
|
|
Circuit Board Quality
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
5
|
Component Layout
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
4
|
Capacitiors
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
5
|
|
CPU Retention Mechanism
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
5
|
|
Amounts of Expansion Slots
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
4
|
|
Amount of Memory sockets
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
3
|
|
Ease of installation
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
5
|
|
BIOS Setup Design
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
5
|
|
Performance
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
5
|
|
Overclockability
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
4
|
|
Stability
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
4
|
|
Bundled Software
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
5
|
|
Bundled Hardware
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
5
|
|
Users Manual Quality
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
3
|
|
Packing Quality
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Average
|
Excellent
|
Top Grade
|
5
|
|
Features supported
|
ATA66
|
PC133
|
Wake On LAN
|
Modem ring
|
Pwr Fail Res
|
5
|
|
Features supported (suite)
|
SB-Link
|
AMR
|
Mouse Pwr On
|
Susp. to RAM
|
Susp. to Disk
|
3
|
|
Features supported (suite)
|
IRDA
|
SCSI
|
Keyb. Pwr On
|
Hardw. mon.
|
Vcore adj.
|
1.5
|
|
Features supported (suite)
|
RAID
|
Alarm
|
Jumperless
|
L2 lat. adj.
|
IRQ assign.
|
2
|
|
Total Score obtainned for this motherboard
|
83.5 point out of 100
|
|
Features color codes: Blue = supported, Red = optional, Black = not supported
|
The Fic KW15 scored 83.5, out of a possible 100 points.
The weak points
The KW15's weak points are these: The presence of only 2 DIMM sockets (an inherent limit of the i810e chipset), a user's manual that lacks information pertaining to the adjustments available in the BIOS, the inclusion of hardware monitoring only as an option, the lack of an ISA slot except as an option, and a short list of available clock frequencies.
The strong points
The KW15's strong points are these: A formidable versatility in terms of processors supported, excellent general performance, the presence of both audio, and graphics cards onboard, integrated equipment, and a generous software bundle.
Conclusions
Short of bursting into flames upon exposure to air, I really don't see how the Fic KW15 could possibly _not_ succeed in vulgar fashion. The KW15 is, in my opinion, the first of a new breed of boards that supports an unimaginable range of choice, and versatility. Few boards, in fact, can support the range of processors that the KW15 can. What's more, the KW15 has been gifted with some very interesting features, and a software bundle that's nothing to sneeze at. Given all that, I think it won't be long before this board garners all the attention it merits. In short, the Fic KW15 is, to my mind, one of the most brilliant creations to ever roll off the line at Fic.
For additional information, visit FIC.
discuss this article in the Forum
