ASUS L5GA Notebook Review - System Performance
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So we know about the features of the ASUS L5GA, let's see how it performs.
Test Setup:
ASUS L5GA with integrated RADEON 9600 Pro and Intel i865 chipset
Pentium IV 2.4 GHz 'C'
512MB DDR333 in single channel
80GB Hitachi TravelStar PATA 4200RPM
I compared the L5GA to the recently reviewed ASUS P4R800-V motherboard that is based on the RADEON 9100IGP with integrated video and my own desktop with a RADEON 9700 Pro to get a representative comparison to desktop machines.
SiSoft Sandra 2004
The L5GA has surprising low performance in Sandra's CPU Arithmetic Benchmark. Especially in the Dhrystone test. I can only assume the memory running in single channel, while the other two motherboards are utilizing dual channel, is limiting the CPU's performance
Comparable to the Arithmetic Benchmark, Sandra's CPU Multimedia Benchmark shows low performance on the ASUS L5GA. I would expect better from the Intel i865 chipset and must again assume performance is hampered by single channel memory.
These results I did expect. As mentioned before, the L5GA is using single channel memory. To "guesstimate" dual channel performance you could roughly the scores here in single channel.
About now I should reiterate the fact the ASUS L5GA is equipped with a 4200 RPM hard drive with a 2MB cache. The P4R800-V and IC7-MAX3 both were using a 7200RPM hard drive with 8MB cache.
PCMark2002
PCMark2002's benchmark tends to show similar scores to SiSoft Sandra 2004 but I like to run both benchmark suites to look for any anomalies between the two, verifying system performance.
Like Sandra, the CPU performance of the L5GA is below that of both of the other platforms.
Surprisingly, PCMark2002 only shows the memory performance of L5GA trailing be a small margin compared to SiSoft Sandra 2004's results.
The L5GA is limited in this test by its test configuration. Unlike desktop PCs, laptop hard drives' default speed is 4200 RPMs and 2MB buffer compared to 5400, 7200, or even 10,000 RPM and 8MB buffer drives available for the desktop. However, I have recently noticed laptop hard drives available in 5400 and 7200 RPM speeds with 8MB buffers.
Next: System Performance Benchmarks Continued >>
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