"An idea, to be suggestive, must come to the individual with the force of revelation."

This quote from the American philosopher and pragmatist William James led us to try a few different testing methodologies for today's article. We are reviewing the Asus P5WDG2-WS motherboard along with comparison scores to the Gigabyte GA-G1 975X. While the two boards are targeted for completely different audiences, both utilize Intel's excellent 975X chipset. Asus will be releasing the P5WD2-E for the enthusiast market in the near future and we will directly compare it to the Gigabyte GA-G1 975X at that time.

Asus's new series of Main Station motherboards are designed specifically for high-end computer and workstation users. With the release of this series, Asus is concentrating on providing additional storage options, improved cooling performance, and scalability for the business user. The board will fully support the soon to be released Pentium XE dual-core CPU, which offers two independent 2MB L2 cache, 1066MHz front-side-bus, Hyper-Threading Technology, and Virtualization Technology for improved multi-thread operations.

The chart above lists the standard feature set available to manufacturers using the Intel 82975X chipset. The Intel 975X Express Chipset enables full support for multiple 2x8 PCI Express graphics cards, Intel Memory Pipeline Technology (MPT), Intel Flex Memory Technology , 8GB memory addressability, and ECC memory support.

The Intel MPT has been enhanced to offer improved pipelining to enable a higher utilization of each memory channel, resulting in better performance through increased transfers between the processor and system memory. Intel Flex Memory Technology allows different memory sizes to be populated and still remain in dual-channel mode.

The new architecture also supports both asynchronous and isochronous data traffic, with dedicated internal pipelines and specialized arbitration. In addition, the 975X chipset has improved electricals with optimized ball-out for better latency.

The 975X chipset offers full support for graphic based PCI Express x16 lanes that can be configured as two PCI Express x8 slots for multi-view or GPU capability. The 975X chipset fully supports ATI CrossFire technology. Further technical details of the 975X chipset can be download in PDF format at Intel's website.

Asus chose to augment this feature set with additional SATA II capabilities via the Marvell 88SE6141 chipset, PCI-X capabilities via the Intel 6702PXH chipset, and Firewire 1394a support via the TI TSB43AB22 chipset.

Let's see how this board compares to others.



Basic Features: Intel 975X from Asus and Gigabyte

Specification	Asus P5WDG2-WS	Gigabyte GA-G1 975x
CPU Interface	LGA775-based Pentium 4, Pentium 4 XE, Celeron D, and Pentium D processors	LGA775-based Pentium 4, Pentium 4 XE, Celeron D, and Pentium D processors
Chipset	Intel 975X ICH7R	Intel 975X ICH7R
Pentium D Support (Dual-Core)	820D, 830D, 840D, 840EE, (Presler Support Present)	820D, 830D, 840D, 840EE, (Presler Support Present)
Front Side Bus	1066 / 800 MHz	1066 / 800 MHz
Front Side Bus Speeds	100 - 450 MHz (in 1 MHz increments)	100 - 600 MHz (in 1 MHz increments)
Memory Speeds	Auto, DDR-2 400, 533, 667, 800, 711, 889, and 1067MHz	Auto, 1.50, 2.00, 2.0+, 2.50, 2.66, 3.00, 3.33, 4.00
PCI Bus Speeds	Auto, To CPU, 33.33MHz	Auto, 33.3, 34.2, 35.2, 36.3, and 37.5MHz
PCI Express Bus Speeds	Auto, 90 MHz to 150 MHz (in 1 MHz increments)	Auto, 90 MHz to 150 MHz (in 1 MHz increments)
Dynamic Overclocking	AI Overclocking - Auto, Manual, AI NOS, and Overclock Profiles up to 30% Hyper Path 3- Auto, Enabled, Disabled PEG Link Mode	Robust Graphics Booster - Auto, Fast, Turbo C.I.A.2 - Disabled, Cruise, Sports, Racing, Turbo, Full Thrust M.I.B.2 - Auto, Enabled
Core Voltage	Auto, 1.2875V to 1.70000V (in 0.0125V increments)	Normal, 0.8375V to 1.6000V (in 0.0125V increments), 1.6500V, 1.7000V, 1.7500V
DRAM Voltage	Auto, 1.80V, 1.90V, 1.95V, 2.00V, 2.10V, 2.15V, 2.20V, 2.30V	Normal, +0.1V, +0.2V, +0.3V, +0.4V, +0.5V, +0.6V, +0.7V
PCI- E Voltage	Auto	Normal, +0.10V, +0.20V, +0.30V, +0.40V, +0.50V, +0.60V, +0.70V
FSB Overvoltage Control	Auto, 1.20V, 1.30V, 1.40V, 1.50V	Normal, +0.05V, +0.10V, +0.15V, +0.20V, +0.25V, +0.30V, +0.35V
Memory Slots	(4) x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 667/533/400, non-ECC, ECC, un-buffered memory	(4) x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 667/533/400, non-ECC, un-buffered memory
Expansion Slots	(2) x PCI-E x16 (2) x PCI-X (2) x PCI 2.3	(2) x PCI-E x16 (2) x PCI-E x4 (2) x PCI 2.3
Onboard SATA	Intel ICH7R: (4) x SATA II	Intel ICH7R: (4) x SATA II
Onboard IDE	Intel ICH7R: (1) x UltraDMA 100/66/33 100/66/33	Intel ICH7R: (1) x UltraDMA 100/66/33 100/66/33 ITE 8211F: (1) x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33
SATA/IDE RAID	Intel ICH7R: (4) x SATA II RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, and Intel Matrix Storage technology Marvell 88SE6141: (4) x SATA II RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, and JBOD configuration	Intel ICH7R: (4) x SATA II RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, and Intel Matrix Storage technology
Onboard USB2.0 IEEE-1394	(8) USB2.0 ports (2) IEEE 1394a FireWire Ports by TI TSB43AB22	(8) USB2.0 ports (3) IEEE 1394a FireWire Ports by TI TSB43AB23
Onboard LAN	Marvell 88E8062 Dual PCI-E x4 Gb LAN	Broadcom 5789KFB PCI-E Gb LAN
Onboard Audio	RealTek ALC882, 8-channel + 2-channel multi-streaming capable HD Audio codec Optical/Coaxial S/PDIF Out	Creative Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit (CA0106-DAT LF), 8-channel capable, and DTS enabled codec. S/PDIF in/out port connectors included
Power Connectors	24-pin ATX 4-pin 12V Plug 8-pin EATX 12V	24-pin ATX 4-pin 12V Plug 8-pin EATX 12V
Back Panel I/O Ports	1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Parallel 1 x Audio I/O 1 x IEEE 1394a 2 x RJ45 4 x USB	1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Audio I/O 1 x RJ45 2 x USB
Other Features	AI Net2 CPU Lock Free Stack Cool 2	Turbojet Cooling Technology Multi-View Output C.R.S. - CMOS Reload Switch
BIOS	AMI 0109 (11/09/05)	AWARD F1 (11/18/05)

The Gigabyte GA-G1 975X is a member of the G1-Turbo product family, and as such, is a fully featured flagship board targeted towards the serious PC enthusiast. The board ships with an extensive accessory package along with several overclocking features such as Robust Graphics Booster (dynamic video card overclocking system), C.I.A.2 (dynamic front side bus overclocking system with 5 presets), and M.I.B.2 (memory performance system based upon chipset types). The preview of the Gigabyte GA-G1 975X features can be found here.

The Asus P5WDG2-WS is a member of the new Main Station product family, and as such, is a fully featured board targeted towards the Workstation user. The board ships with an extensive accessory package along with several dynamic overclocking features such as AI NOS (Non-delay dynamic Overclocking System), AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner with preset profiles), ASUS PEG Link (automatic performance tuning for single/dual graphics cards), ASUS HyperPath 3 (BIOS setting to reduce memory latency), and the ASUS Ai Booster Utility Precision Tweaker software that allows control over certain system settings within Windows. The board also features the Stack Cool 2 design to dissipate heat to the opposite side of the motherboard and a fanless heat dissipation system.

We will be comparing the thermal characteristics of both solutions in our next article. Asus and Gigabyte have shown significant reductions in board temperatures with their respective solutions in laboratory testing.



ASUS P5WDG2-WS: Features

Asus designed a well laid out board with all major connections easily reached. The board is lacking most clearance issues and was very easy to install in a mid-size ATX case. Asus did a very good job with the color coordination of the various peripheral slots and connectors.

The DIMM module slots' color coordination is correct for dual channel setup. The memory modules are very difficult to install with a full size video card placed in the first PCI Express x16 slot. The power plug placement favors standard ATX case design and the power cable management is very good. The floppy drive port connector and 4-pin 12V EZ-Plug are conveniently located on the edge of the board along with the 24-pin ATX power connector.

The Intel ICH7R IDE port connector is located on the edge of the board and did not present any connection issues in our mid-size ATX case.

The Intel SATA II ports are conveniently located below the ICH7R chipset and above the primary IDE connector. The SATA II ports feature the new clamp and latch design. Asus did not include the new cable designs in their accessory kit, which greatly enhance the security of the SATA connections. However, the Intel SATA II ports are color coded for primary (Red) and secondary (Black) operation when the ports are set to Standard IDE mode.

The Intel 6702PXH chipset is located in between the DIMM module slots and ICH7R chipset. Below the 6702PXH chipset is a 6-pin jumper switch that allows you to set the PCI-X speed settings to Auto, Force 133MHz, and Force 100MHz.

The Marvell 88SE6141 SATA II Raid ports, Intel USB connector, IEEE1394a connector, chassis panel, and Com1 serial port are located along the left edge of the board. The CMOS reset is a traditional jumper design located in-between the BIOS chip and the chassis panel.

The board comes with (2) physical PCI Express x16 slots, (2) PCI-X slots, and (2) PCI 2.2 slots. The layout of this design offers a good balance of slots and allows for numerous add-in peripheral cards. We did have an issue installing our Sound Blaster X-FI and ATI HDTV cards in the first PCI 2.2 slot. The capacitor in front of the optical drive audio connector had to be slightly tweaked towards the second PCI-X slot in order to install the cards. We do have a concern about the placement of this capacitor on a long term basis in the board.

We did not have any issues installing an ATI X850 Crossfire Edition setup in the two x16 PCI Express slots. This configuration will render the first PCI-X slot useless. There were not any issues utilizing this slot with video cards containing single slot cooling systems when utilizing our Areca ARC-1110 SATA II RAID host adapter.

Returning to the CPU socket area, we find an ample amount of room for alternative cooling solutions. We utilized the stock Intel heat sink, but also verified that several aftermarket cooling systems such as the Thermaltake Big Typhoon would fit in this area during our tests. However, due to the large MCH heatsink, installation of large heatsink cooling solutions such as the Zalman CNPS7700-CU could be problematic.

One of the main design features that Asus engineered into this board is an exclusive 8-phase voltage regulator power design that can significantly lower operating temperatures while reducing input ripple current and output ripple voltages . In fact, the input ripple current is over three times lower than a traditional 4-phase design while output ripple voltages are four times lower. The power consumption compared to the 4-phase design is about 10% less while the 8-phase design has the advantage of quicker transient responses and increased dependability due to lower thermal values.

The Northbridge, Southbridge, and PCI-X chipsets are passively cooled with heatsinks that do not interfere with any installed peripherals. In fact, this system kept the chipsets cool enough that additional chipset voltage was not a factor in our overclocking tests. Asus places the eight-pin 12V auxiliary power connector at the top of the CPU socket area, but out of the way of most aftermarket cooling solutions.

The rear panel contains the standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, parallel port, LAN ports, and 4 USB ports. Located below the parallel port and to the right of the PS/2 ports are the Coaxial S/PDIF, Optical S/PDIF, and external IEEE 1394a ports. The LAN (RJ-45) ports each have two LED indicators representing Activity and Speed of the connection. The audio panel consists of 6 ports that can be configured for 2, 4, 6, and 8-channel audio connections.

The BIOS options are abundant on the Asus P5WDG2-WS, with memory voltage to 2.3V, and an extensive range of chipset, bus, and vCore voltage adjustments. Memory ratios are limited compared to the nForce4 Intel Edition boards, but Asus did manage to offer enough settings to make the board competitive. The board fully supports manual memory timing adjustments or allows for an Auto setting that will set the memory to the SPD settings. You have the ability to overclock the system utilizing the AI Overclock profiles that have preset percentages or to use the AI N.O.S. feature that will dynamically overclock the system based upon system loads.



CPU & FSB Overclocking Results

Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed
Processor:	Pentium 4 Prescott LGA 775 840EE Dual Core 3.2GHz
CPU Voltage:	1.4750V (1.4000V default)
Memory Settings:	3-2-2-8 at 680MHz, 3-3-3-8 at 720MHz
Memory Voltage:	2.1V
NorthBridge Voltage:	1.50V
SouthBridge Voltage:	1.05V
Cooling:	Intel 840EE Heat Sink
Power Supply:	OCZ Power Stream 520
Video Card:	1 x XFX 7800GTX OC (PCI Express)
Maximum CPU OverClock:	255fsb x 16 (4087MHz) +27%
Maximum FSB OverClock:	270fsb x 14 (3786MHz) +35%

This board is a very good overclocker considering that it is designed as a workstation platform. At this overclock setting, the system was able to complete all of our benchmark test suites three consecutive times and run Prime95 and SuperPI without issue. We were able to overclock the FSB to 270 at the14x multiplier, which resulted in CPU operation of 3786MHz and we were able to complete the benchmark test suite.

Memory Stress Testing

Memory stress tests look at the ability of the Asus P5WDG2-WS to operate at the officially supported memory frequencies of 667MHz DDR2, at the best performing memory timings that the Corsair CM2X512A-5400UL revision 1.3 will support.

Asus P5WDG2-WS Stable DDR667 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/4 slots populated - 1 Dual-Channel Bank)
Clock Speed:	200MHz (800FSB)
Timing Mode:	667MHz - Default
CAS Latency:	3
RAS to CAS Delay:	2
RAS Precharge:	2
RAS Cycle Time:	8
Voltage:	2.1V

The Asus P5WDG2-WS was completely stable with 2 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 3-2-2-8 at 2.1V.

We will now install all four available memory slots that are usually more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DDR2 modules on a motherboard.

Asus P5WDG2-WS Stable DDR667 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 slots populated - 2 Dual-Channel Banks)
Clock Speed:	200MHz (800FSB)
Timing Mode:	667MHz - Default
CAS Latency:	3
RAS to CAS Delay:	3
RAS Precharge:	3
RAS Cycle Time:	8
Voltage:	2.15V

The Asus P5WDG2-WS was completely stable with 4 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 3-3-3-8 and only needed the voltage increased to 2.15V. This is a very good accomplishment and continues to show off Asus's engineering capability.



Asus P5WDG2-WS: Presler Overclocking

FSB Overclocking Results

Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed
Processor:	Pentium 4 Presler LGA 775 Dual Core 3.4GHz
CPU Voltage:	1.5125V (1.3000V default)
Memory Voltage:	2.2V
NorthBridge Voltage:	1.55V
SouthBridge Voltage:	1.05V
Cooling:	Thermaltake Big Typhoon
Power Supply:	OCZ Power Stream 520
Video Card:	1 x EVGA 7800GTX 512
Maximum CPU OverClock:	291fsb x 16 (4663MHz) +37%
Maximum FSB OverClock:	305fsb x 15 (4580MHz) +52%

The Asus board redeems itself at overclocking the Presler (Pentium D 950), considering its workstation based limitations at overclocking the 840EE. At these settings, the system was able to complete all of our benchmark test suites three consecutive times and also run Prime95 and SuperPI without issue. We were unable to overclock the FSB past 305 due to board limitations, but we were able to boot into WinXP at 4.80GHz on air cooling while reaching 5.00GHz at post. The performance of the Presler is exceptional for an Intel based system. The benchmark results shown were attained at the FSB settings that offered the highest scores. We will be exploring Presler's full capabilities in a future article.



Test Setup

The Intel 975X chipset fully supports the 820, 830, and 840 dual core Pentium D processors in both stock and overclocked conditions. This chipset also supports the upcoming Presler and Cedar Mill processor range. Dual core really makes a difference in certain multi-tasking scenarios, as was demonstrated in the dual core performance preview. If you are interested in how the various chipsets perform in a real world multitasking setup, please take another look at that review.

Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s):	Intel Pentium 840EE (3.2GHz, 800FSB, Dual-Core, 2x1MB L2, HT) utilized for all tests
RAM:	2 x 512MB Corsair CM2X512A-5400UL revision 1.3 Settings- DDR2-667 as noted at (CL3-2-2-8)
Hard Drive(s):	2 x Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300S0 300GB 7200 RPM SATA (16MB Buffer), 1 x Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300R0 300GB 7200 RPM IDE (16MB Buffer)
System Platform Drivers:	Intel Chipset Software - 7.2.2.1006
Video Cards:	1 x XFX 7800GTX OC (PCI Express) for standard tests 2 x MSI 7800GTX (PCI Express) for SLI test
Video Drivers:	NVIDIA nForce 81.95 WHQL NVIDIA nForce 78.01 Modified for SLI test
Operating System(s):	Windows XP Professional SP2
Motherboards:	Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe Gigabyte GA-G1 975X Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal

NVIDIA SLI Performance

The 975X chipset is able to support NVIDIA SLI technology with a specially configured and non-certified 78.01 driver along with proper bios support. However, NVIDIA has not sanctioned or licensed their SLI technology on the Intel platform.

We have included ATI CrossFire results in these tests to indicate the ability of the X850 CrossFire Edition to operate on an Intel 975X platform. The X850 CrossFire solution is not competitive with the current NVIDIA 7800GTX SLI offerings. We did not witness any issues with the ATI CrossFire setup while testing the Intel 975X boards. We look forward to the X1800 CrossFire Edition cards as performance should be on par with the current Nvidia 7800GTX 256mb offerings.

Although the performance does not match the newer 81.xx series of drivers, the 975X boards are still competitive with the nForce4 Intel Edition SLI setup considering the beta condition of the non-certified drivers used. We noticed some graphic anomalies with the Asus P5WDG2-WS in the benchmarks that explains the lower scores compared to the Gigabyte board.

The ability of the 975X based boards to run both ATI CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI setups is definitely a marketing plus, but until Intel licenses and NVIDIA fully certifies and sanctions SLI on the Intel platform, we can only wonder what the impact would be in the market.

Overclocking Performance

The overclocking performance graphs have been added to the standard benchmark test suite and should allow for a better comparison on the overclocking capabilities of tested boards. For more details on the specific overclocking abilities of this board, please refer to the Overclocking and Memory Stress Test section in the Basic Features section.

The front side bus overclocking results were impressive for the Intel 975X boards and exceeded those of the Asus P5N32-SLI with the Smithfield based processor. We will see how well the nForce4 based P5N32-SLI does with the Presler and Cedar Mill processors in our next article.



General Performance & Encoding

The Asus P5WDG2-WS performance is near or at the top in all benchmarks with the Intel 955X based Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal trailing all boards in the benchmarks.

We have added the Presler CPU scores to selective benchmarks to show the impact of this revised processor, 975X chipset, and Virtualization Technology. The CPU was run at 3.2GHz (16x200fsb) in order to match the 3.2GHz (16x200fsb) speed of the 840EE used in our standard test configuration. We will be reviewing the Presler and Cedar Mill product families in detail shortly.


Workstation Performance

The Asus P5WDG2-WS is competitive with the other boards and manages to top the P5N32-SLI in three areas.


Memory Performance

The memory latency test continues to show an advantage for the nForce4's memory controller. This is an outstanding result and shows NVIDIA's ability to engineer and produce a competitive component. However, the 975X chipset improves significantly over the 955X in the latency tests. Enabling Hyper Path 3 on the Asus board improves latency scores by 2%.



Gaming Performance

The Intel 975X platform offers a competitive gaming platform when compared to the NVIDIA nForce 4 Intel Edition SLI. The performance of the Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe is still at the top in the benchmarks.

We are introducing Serious Sam II and Call of Duty II into our benchmark suite and will be adding more games in the near future. Our Half Life 2 benchmarks are revised demos written by our Jarred Walton. We have listed the minimum and maximum frame rates attained next to the product label where applicable.

We have added the Presler CPU scores to selective benchmarks to show the impact of this revised processor, 975X chipset, and Virtualization Technology. The CPU was run at 3.2GHz (16x200fsb) in order to match the 3.2GHz (16x200fsb) speed of the 840EE used in our standard test configuration. We will be reviewing the Presler and Cedar Mill product families in detail shortly.


Disk Controller Performance

With the variety of disk drive benchmarks available, we needed a means of comparing the true performance of the wide selection of controllers. The logical choice was Anand's storage benchmark first described in Q2 2004 Desktop Hard Drive Comparison: WD Raptor vs. the World. The iPeak test was designed to measure "pure" hard disk performance, and in this case, we kept the hard drive as consistent as possible while varying the hard drive controller. The idea is to measure the performance of a hard drive controller with a consistent hard drive.

We played back Anand's raw files that recorded I/O operations when running a real world benchmark - the entire Winstone 2004 suite. Intel's iPEAK utility was then used to play back the trace file of all IO operations that took place during a single run of Business Winstone 2004 and MCC Winstone 2004. To try to isolate performance differences to the controllers that we were testing, we used the Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300S0 300GB 7200 RPM SATA drive in all tests . The drive was formatted before each test run and a composite average of 5 tests on each controller interface was tabulated in order to ensure consistency in the benchmark.

iPeak gives a mean service time in milliseconds; in other words, the average time that each drive took to fulfill each IO operation. In order to make the data more understandable, we report the scores as an average number of IO operations per second so that higher scores translate into better performance. This number is meaningless as far as hard disk performance is concerned as it is just the number of IO operations completed in a second. However, the scores are useful for comparing "pure" performance of the storage controllers in this case.

The performance patterns hold steady across both Multimedia Content IO and Business IO, with the on-board NVIDIA nForce4 SATA 2 and Intel ICH7R providing the fastest IO, followed closely by the Silicon Image 3132 SATA 2 controllers. Our RAID testing results with the Intel ICH7R, Marvell 88SE6141 SATA II chipset, and Areca ARC-1110 SATA II RAID host adapter were not consistent enough to be published at this time.



Firewire and USB Performance

After looking at many options for Firewire and USB testing, we finally determined that an external USB 2.0, Firewire 400, and Firewire 800 hard disk would be a sensible way to look at USB and Firewire throughput.

Our first efforts at testing with an IDE or SATA drive as the "server" yielded very inconsistent results, since Windows XP sets up cache schemes to improve performance. Finally, we decided to try a RAM disk as our "server", since memory removed almost all overhead from the serving end. We also managed to turn off disk caching on the USB and Firewire side by setting up the drives for "quick disconnect" and our results were then consistent over many test runs.

We used 1GB of fast 3-2-2-8 system memory set up as a 450MB RAM disk and 550MB of system memory. Our standard file is the SPECviewPerf install file, which is 432,533,504 bytes (412.4961MB). After copying this file to our RAM disk, we measured the time for writing from the RAM disk to our external USB 2.0, Firewire 400, or Firewire 800 drive using a Windows timing program written for AnandTech by our own Jason Clark. The copy times in seconds were then converted into Megabits per second (Mb) to provide a convenient means of comparing throughput. Higher Rates therefore mean better performance in this particular test.

Possibly the most striking finding in our Firewire and USB throughput tests is the performance of an external hard drive connected to Firewire 800. Firewire 800 matters and should be a standard option at this time. Our benchmarks show Firewire 800 is up to 46% faster than a drive connected to the more common Firewire 400, and about 29% faster than USB 2.0.



Ethernet Performance


The current motherboard test suite includes LAN performance measurements. All of these boards utilize PCI Express controllers with the only difference being the supplier of the core logic.

The Windows 2000 Driver Development Kit (DDK) includes a useful LAN testing utility called NTttcp. We used the NTttcp tool to test Ethernet throughput and the CPU utilization of the various Ethernet Controllers used on the Intel 975x motherboards.

We set up one machine as the server; in this test, an Intel system with an Intel CSA Gigabit LAN connection. Intel CSA has a reputation for providing fast throughput and this seemed a reasonable choice to serve our Gigabit LAN clients.

At the server side, we used the following Command Line as suggested by the VIA whitepaper on LAN testing:

Ntttcpr -m 4,0,‹server IP› -a 4 -l 256000 -n 30000

On the client side (the motherboard under test), we used the following Command Line:

Ntttcps -m 4,0,‹client IP› -a 4 -l 256000 -n 30000

At the conclusion of the test, we captured the throughput and CPU utilization figures from the client screen.

The Marvell 88E8062 PCI Express Dual LAN solution exhibits excellent throughput along with very good CPU utilization rates. The Broadcom 5789KFB option on the Gigabyte board offers excellent throughput, but at a slightly higher CPU utilization than the Broadcom 5781 chipset.

All standard Ethernet tests were performed with standard frames and the NVIDIA Active Armor suite disabled unless otherwise noted. Gigabit Ethernet supports Jumbo frames as well and provides a further reduction in CPU overhead. We added a further test scenario in which ActiveArmor and Jumbo frames were enabled on the Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe board via the new 6.82 WHQL platform driver set. This is shown for illustrative purposes and shows the favorable impact of this technology.

We witnessed one anomaly that has been reported to Asus. The Ethernet ports are only available if the Intel PCI-X chipset is enabled in the BIOS.



Audio Performance

We limited audio testing to the Rightmark 3D Sound version 2.1 CPU utilization test. The Rightmark 3D Sound benchmark measures the overhead or CPU utilization required by a codec or hardware audio chip.

The BlueGears/HDA Mystique 7.1 Gold has the highest utilization rates of the audio solutions tested. BlueGears has confirmed a new driver release within the next 30 days that will offer improved performance in several areas. The RealTek R1.27 driver release continues to improve CPU utilization rates. The Sound Blaster X-FI has the lowest rates with the Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit and Realtek ALC882 solutions following closely. Let's find out how these results translate into real world numbers.

The Battlefield 2 numbers are very interesting as the Realtek ALC882 audio solution creates a 10% loss in frame rates compared to 67% when utilizing the previous R1.26 driver set. Serious Sam II has an average loss of 23%, Half Life 2 at 27%, Call of Duty II at 6%, Splinter Cell at 6%, and F.E.A.R. at 14%. The surprising number is the performance of the Sound Blaster X-FI in Serious Sam II with a 44% decrease in frame rates. The game actually sounded better on the X-FI and Mystique 7.1 Gold but after repeated listening, the Realtek ALC882 is correctly generating the audio streams in the game. Obviously, if you are a serious gamer, then a dedicated sound card is still a requirement to ensure consistent frame rate averages across a wide variety of games.

The ALC882 audio solution displayed excellent sound characteristics in music, video, and games throughout our testing and should seriously be considered as the main audio component if on-line gaming is not your priority. Specifications for the Realtek ALC88x audio family can be located here.



Final Words

The Asus P5WDG2-WS deserves serious consideration if you are an Intel user needing to build a workstation or office platform. The ability to fully utilize your existing PCI based cards is definitely a plus as the current market for PCI-E based peripherals is minimal. The performance and stability of the board was outstanding in all testing phases and should be an indicator of the quality of this board. However, we see this board having a limited market and anxiously await the arrival of the Asus P5WD2-E enthusiast board.

With that said, let's move on to our performance opinions regarding this board.

In the graphics area, the inclusion of two physical PCI Express x16 slots that fully support x8 bandwidth operation for two graphics cards is an important step for Intel with this chipset. The board fully supports ATI CrossFire mode in our testing and can unofficially support NVIDIA SLI with the proper BIOS and graphics driver set. However, we have our doubts that NVIDIA will license, certify, and sanction SLI operation on the Intel platform anytime soon.

In the on-board audio area, this board has an excellent implementation of the Realtek ALC882 High Definition Audio codec. The audio output of this codec in the music, video, and gaming areas is very good while performance in certain games has improved tremendously with the R1.27 driver release. If you plan on playing on-line, we highly suggest a dedicated sound card at this time, but the onboard capabilities of these chipsets will satisfy the majority of users.

In the storage area, the Asus board offers a wide variety of storage options with additional SATA RAID ports. The board fully offers Intel's excellent Matrix RAID system and offers Hot Swap, NCQ, and 3Gb/s capability. Asus supplements the Intel SATA II capability with the Marvell 88SE6141 SATA II chipset featuring support for Hot Swap, NCQ, and 3Gb/s operation. The board offers the standard eight Intel USB ports and two IEEE 1394a ports utilizing the TI TSB43AB22 chipset. However, we believe that Firewire 800 should have been offered on the Asus P5WDG-WS board, since it is their premium offering.

In the performance area, the Asus P5WDG-WS consistently offered excellent performance while exceeding the Gigabyte GA-G1 975x and the P5N32-SLI at times. Asus offers their HyperPath3 BIOS option that effectively reduces memory latencies even further on the Intel 975X chipset. The board's performance with the Presler CPU was excellent and is an indication of a well engineered solution.

We have to give Asus credit for bringing an Intel based workstation board to market at this time, considering the performance advantages that AMD holds in this area currently. The Intel 975X chipset is on a level playing field in performance with the NVIDIA nForce4 Intel Edition SLI in most areas based upon our current testing. The NVIDIA platform is still the preferred choice for gaming if you are interested in SLI capability. However, once ATI launches their X1800 CrossFire Edition solution, then the Intel 975X based boards will deserve a second look for those needing multi-GPU capabilities. Or, if our idea of sanctioning SLI on the Intel 975X platform comes as a revelation to NVIDIA, then we can have the best of both worlds.