Muscle-Flexing: 6 Dual CPU Boards — THG.RU

$110 And Up — Dual-CPU Boards At Cut-Rate Prices

This is something to sit back and savor — currently, there are dual-CPU boards for the Intel Pentium III that are available for as little as $110. These boards run two processors with the same clock speed simultaneously and seriously step up the pace to the tune of up to 80 percent. But what’s going on in the market? Although retailers generally only have a few dual boards on stock, they end up gathering dust on the shelf. In a word, these boards sell like hamburgers at a vegan festival. The lack of interest in these twin solutions in the end-customer market is incomprehensible. After all, Pentium III dual boards are virtually made to permit an inexpensive entry for simple workstations. However, there are some requirements to be met that don’t apply to every user.

$110 And Up — Dual-CPU Boards At Cut-Rate Prices, Continued

It’s impossible to find cheaper alternatives these days, even considering that Intel is selling fewer and fewer Pentium III processors in the retail market. A few days ago, AMD launched its 760MP chipset, which, however, is set to reach an entirely different market segment. Despite the fact that the idea of using two or more processors simultaneously was developed for the server segment, chipset manufacturers have tried over and over again to offer special solutions for enthusiasts in the end-customer market. All six boards are based on the relatively out-dated VIA Apollo Pro133A.

Comparison of different chipsets and platforms aimed to operate with dual-CPU systems.

Dual — Who’s It For And How Much Is It?

One thing was abundantly clear from the get-go — a board with twin processors is only worthwhile if you run rendering applications such as 3D Studio Max or Cinema 4D XL relatively often. If that’s not the case, then purchasing a dual-system is more a question of prestige. Don’t play down the importance of a nicely set-up dual-system as a conversation piece at a LAN party, for example. Users with this kind of equipment can rub elbows with the best of party guests and really stir up conversation. On the other hand, a second CPU ensures that sufficient performance reserves remain when running office applications under Windows 2000, particularly when several applications are running at the same time.

The boards we tested are priced between $125 (Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7) and $200 (Asus CUV4X-D).

The Boards At A Glance

The majority of the boards we tested have been available on the market for some time now. The VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset has been on the market for over a year now. The boards differ from one another predominately in terms of their features, with half of the boards coming furnished with an additional Ultra DMA/100 controller or an additional RAID controller. Rioworks has even integrated an SCSI controller on the SDVIA-SCSI.

Asus CUV4X-D: Spartan Features

There’s not much to say about the Asus CUV4X-D — at around $210, it costs a penny much prettier than the other boards tested in this comparison. Its performance is very good, its array of features very spartan. The layout reveals that this board is also available with additional components such as SCSI ports and onboard sound — for a price, of course. The manufacturer has chosen to leave out extra fluff such as ACR, AMR or CNR. The bottom line? A decent dual board, even if $50 of the total price goes to pay for the brand name.

Elitegroup D6VAA: Happy Medium

With a price hovering at $150, the Elitegroup D6VAA is a real bargain. Its performance also puts this board up towards the head of the pack. Its array of features is quite comprehensive — a highpoint controller and sound have been integrated into the board. The CNR slot is really unnecessary, since there are no components available for it.

Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7: A Steal

The Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7 is the biggest steal of this comparison. The board currently costs $110, making it virtually comparable in price to a board with one CPU socket. Throughout the entire test, the operational stability of this board was excellent. In the conceptual phase, the manufacturer made the right choice — neither an AMR, an ACR nor a CNR slot was integrated. Although a second socket is available if you want to use the dual BIOS feature, the necessary EPROM chip is conspicuous by its absence. In office environments and in Quake 3 Arena, this board is one of the better performers. All in all, the Gigabyte is a solid basis for workstations fitted with Intel Pentium III processors.

Rioworks SDVIA And SDVIA-LS: Stable And Slow

The Rioworks comes in two different versions — in the SDVIA-LS, the manufacturer has integrated a SCSI controller, whereas the SDVIA runs with an additional IDE controller. Both models lag behind the top dogs in the pack as regards performance. The lab testers were left with a particularly «decelerated» impression of the SDVIA-LS. In that case, not even an additionally integrated LAN controller will help. On the other hand, the SDVIA is very stable.

MSI 694D Pro: Fire Wire (IEEE1394) Included

The MSI has been very well equipped. It has an additional Ultra DMA/100 controller, putting a total of 8 IDE ports at your disposal. In addition, the manufacturer has integrated a Fire Wire building block (IT) which allows hard drive or DVD cameras to be hooked up. There’s one catch to the Promise controller, though — you can’t just turn it off. Useful features — LEDs inform you about the current state of your system. This board’s performance, when compared to the competition, is pretty paltry — the MSI is stuck in last place very often.

Test Configuration

Benchmark Results And Discussion

All the boards we tested came furnished with two Pentium III/1000 processors, which were then supplemented with 256 MB of fast RAM at 133 MHz (CL2) and a sinfully expensive Quadro Pro graphics card from Nvidia (around $750). Let it be said, however, that the advantage in speed of the second CPU only comes into play when running selected applications such as rendering under 3D Studio Max or Cinema 4D. Otherwise, using a dual processor system for «everyday» purposes makes less of a difference than you might expect. Although the results of the Sysmark 2000 show slightly higher results on dual boards, the attained increase in speed is less than 10 percent. The 3D games benchmark also shows how much of an increase in performance can be brought about by a second processor.

Rendering Performance: 3D Studio Max R3

During rendering in 3D Studio Max, the second CPU on all the boards was pushed to its limit. The time to calculate the scene ktx_race.max was slashed in half by the second CPU. A direct comparison of all the boards reveals that, in single mode, the Elitegroup D6VAA is the best while the Asus CUV4X-D takes the cake in dual mode.

Animation And Rendering: Cinema 4D XL 6.0

Similar results come to light when running the Cinema 4D XL high-end program. The second CPU makes calculating the Cinema 2000 benchmarks almost twice as fast. In this benchmark, the Asus CUV4X-D and the Rioworks SDVIA-LS really shine and take top honors.

OpenGL Gaming Performance: Quake 3 Arena

Quake 3 Arena is one of the few games that can make good use of two processors in Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0. Nonetheless, the speed jump in frame rate is more of a blip. The Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7 wins the gold with 157 frames/sec, while the MSI 694D Pro wasn’t stable in this benchmark discipline.

Office Performance: BAPCo Sysmark 2000

A yardstick for office perfrmance in Windows 2000 Pro is the «Sysmark 2000» benchmark suite. This test, however, doesn’t have several applications running simultaneously, as is the case with the Ziff-Davis benchmark, for example. As a consequence, any speed increase resulting from using two processors instead of one is minimal. The winner of this race was the Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7, with an improvement in performance of 9 points thanks to the second CPU.

Up Close & Personal: The Features Of All Boards Tested

Conclusion: Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7 Beats The Competition

Of all the boards we tested, all of which came furnished with the VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset, the Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7 was the best compromise. It costs a mere $110, hardly more than a single-CPU board, all the while performing well in both CPU modes. The fact that the Intel Pentium III is no longer the 600-pound gorilla in the market is obvious.

We’ve shown that reasonably priced dual systems based on inexpensive boards with a VIA chipset can be specifically assembled for semi-professional use. Whether a VIA chipset is acceptable in this market segment or not — that’s another question, with an answer that opens another can of worms. In the end-customer market, some users are awaiting boards supplied with an AMD 760MP chipset, which is currently not available for less than $750. Anyone on the lookout for economical dual processing won’t be able to do without the models we tested here. It goes without saying that the Intel Pentium III is no longer one of the fastest processors on the market these days.

On the other hand, it ought to be mentioned that VIA doesn’t wring optimal performance from the Pentium III. Its incredibly low memory transfer performance has been well-known for some time now. Nevertheless, the chipset can be had for a song, in contrast to the Intel 815E, Intel 850 or even the AMD 760MP. For a bit more performance, the competition demands substantially more money, which makes for a hefty price tag on the motherboard.