Transcend TS-ASL3 i815E
Thursday, October 26, 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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Transcend TS-ASL3
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1.04
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Intel 815E
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Intel patch 2.30,021
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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 = Tested
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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79.83
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Business Winstone99
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32.76
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Content Creation 2000
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31.9
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The tests listed above were performed with quite a bit of difficulty, as mentioned earlier on...
Bapco Sysmark2000
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Benchmark
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Official Run
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180
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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
@ 933Mhz
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800 X 600 X 75Hz X 16-bit
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181.53 FPS
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not tested
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Quake2 version 3.20
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Intel CuMine 866Mhz
@ 866Mhz
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Intel CuMine 866Mhz
@ 933Mhz
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800 X 600 X 75Hz X 16-bit
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100.5 FPS
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not tested
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The problems we experienced with the previous tests seemed to continue to haunt us here. Considering that, you'll have to understand that it was completely impossible to run our standard 3D Overclocking tests.
What's more, even our brand-new stick of PC150 HSDRAM seemed to be suffering from poltergeists, as the board refused to even post with it installed...
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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3
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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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4
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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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4
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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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5
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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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1
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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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3
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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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4
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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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5
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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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4
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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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3
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Total Score obtainned for this motherboard
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79 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
Vcore options lack flexibility
Limited space for the installation of a CPU heatsink
Many instabilities encountered during tests
Small hardware pack
Weak software pack
The strong points
Excellent performance
Independant memory bus
Impressive selection of FSB speeds
Integrated hardware monitoring
Integrated AC"97 sound-card
Integrated 3D video
Final notes
Transcend usually has it all together when it comes to producing thier motherboards, and has consistantly presented us with better, and more refined products. Unfortunatly for the TS-ASL3, it seems that the Transcend team needs to brush up on their homework, as the board we recieved was plagued with problems. For what its worth, the TS-ASL3 is certainly gifted with a range of nice and good features. If it wasn't for our testing problems, we would certainly have recommended it. However, it is afflicted, and so there you have it. All that can be said, is that the problems we experienced could simply be the result of a faulty board. Or not. 'Nuff said.
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