Soyo SY-7ISM i815
Monday, December 04, 2000
The performance tests results
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Motherboard
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BIOS
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Chipset
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Drivers
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Soyo SY-7ISM
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71SM-4AP1
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Intel 815E
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Intel patch 2.30,0014
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Processor
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Memory
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Intel CuMine FC-PGA 866Mhz
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128Mb PC133 CAS2
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Hard disk drive
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Graphic card
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Quantum Fireball KA 9.1
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Chaintech R170 GeForce 256 SDR
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Operating system
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Built
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Video drivers
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DirectX
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Windows98
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4.10 1998
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Nvidia 4.11.01.0368
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7.0a
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Game
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Resolution
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Refresh
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Vsync
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Color
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Texture
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Filtration
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Quake2 3.20
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800 X 600
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75Hz
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Off
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16-bit
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16-bit
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bi-linear
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Game
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Resolution
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Refresh
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Vsync
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Color
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Texture
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Filtration
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Quake3 1.08
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800 X 600
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75Hz
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Off
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16-bit
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16-bit
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Tri-linear
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Suggested memory to use
Corsair 128Mb SDRAM PC133 CAS2 = Tested
Mushkin 128Mb SDRAM PC133 CAS2
Mushkin 128Mb HSDRAM PC150 CAS2 = Tested
Micron 128Mb SDRAM PC133 CAS2 = Tested
Transcend 128Mb SDRAM PC133
Winstone99 - Winbench99
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Ziff Davis Winstone99 - Winbench99
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Winbench CPUmark99
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79.7
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Business Winstone99
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32.64
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Content Creation 2000
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31.37
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Bapco Sysmark2000
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Benchmark
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Official Run
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177
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Video sub-system tests
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Quake2 version 3.20
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Intel CuMine
866Mhz @ 866Mhz
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Intel CuMine
866Mhz @ 891Mhz
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800 X 600 X 75Hz X 16-bit
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180.58 FPS
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181.58
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Quake3
Test 1.08
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Intel CuMine
866Mhz @ 866Mhz
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Intel CuMine
866Mhz @ 891Mhz
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800 X 600 X 75Hz X 16-bit
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103.07 FPS
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103.9
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We were able to push our CPU to 891MHz in conjunction with a 137MHz FSB before it became impossible to run our tests. Even our Mushkin HSDRAM PC150 CAS2 was ineffective in raising the bar a little higher, as the SY-7ISM refused to recognize it.
Disk sub-system tests
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.
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Feature
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Evaluation
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Design Originality
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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Component Layout
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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Heatsink space around CPU
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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Capacitiors
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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CPU Retention Mechanism
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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Amounts of Expansion Slots
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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2
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Amount of Memory sockets
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Ease of installation
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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BIOS Setup Design
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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4
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Performance
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Overclockability
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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3
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Stability
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Bundled Software
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Bundled Hardware
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Users Manual Quality
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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1
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Packing Quality
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Poor
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Good
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Average
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Excellent
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Top Grade
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5
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Features supported
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ATA66
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PC133
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Wake On LAN
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Modem ring
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Pwr Fail Res
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5
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Features supported (suite)
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Sensor
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CNR
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Mouse Pwr On
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Susp. to RAM
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Susp. to Disk
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3
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Features supported (suite)
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IRDA
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SCSI
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Keyb. Pwr On
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Hardw. mon.
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Vcore adj.
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3
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Features supported (suite)
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RAID
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Alarm
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Jumperless
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L2 latency adj.
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IRQ assign.
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2
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Total Score obtainned for this motherboard
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76 points out of 100
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Features color codes: Blue = supported, Red = optional, Black = not supported
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Conclusions
The weak points
No Vcore adjustment
Very limited choice of FSB settings
Limited expendability
Restrained Overclockability
User's manual leaves much to be desired
The strong points
Excellent performance
Independent memory bus
Integrated hardware monitoring
Integrated AC"97 sound
Integrated 3D video
For more information, visit Soyo.
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