ABIT IT7-MAX2 V2.0 - ABIT IT7-MAX2 V2.0

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Benchmarks

We'll be benchmarking with the following system setup(s).

System Setup

1. CPU - Intel P4 2.4B (Provided by PLPC)

2. Motherboard - ABIT IT7 MAX and IT7-MAX2 V2

3. CPU Cooler - Swiftech MCX4000

4. Memory - OCZ EL DDR PC3700 / 466MHz

5. Video Card - ABIT Siluro 64MB

6. Sound Card - CL Audigy

7. HD - 2 Western Digital 80GB SE's running RAID 0

Both motherboards had the most recent BIOS software installed. nVidia 41.09 WHQL Detonator drivers were used running Windows XP Professional with the latest Service Pack. We will be comparing the IT7-MAX2 V2 with the Intel 845PE chipset to the IT7 MAX with the Intel 845E chipset today.

Benchmark Programs

1. PCMark2002

2. 3DMark2001 (c'mon guys, it's time for 2k3 already)

3. UnrealTournament 2003 (Thanks to the [H]OCP UT2k3 Benchmarker)

4. Comanche 4 Benchmark Demo

5. SiSoft Sandra 2003 (OCA Edition)

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The Comanche 4 Benchmark Demo by NovaLogic. This benchmark is actually more suiting for a video card review, however I wanted to show what differences in gaming you can expect to see between the two chipsets.

We're not seeing too much of an increase with the C4 benchmark which was ran at 1024 x 768 resolution. Lets move on to something a bit more intensive on CPU performance.

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Once again thanks to the [H]ardOCP crew for providing a great UT2k3 benchmarking program to use. I chose the CPU test to highlight differences between CPU speed and the different chipsets. The IT7-MAX2 V2 clearly runs UT2k3 stronger than the IT7 especially at 2.4GHz. Once we jump up to 3GHz the IT7 with 845E keeps pace a little better, but still falls short of the 845PE in low and high marks. It did however finish with a better average at 3GHz. Interesting. Also, be sure to notice that I put like CPU Speeds next to each other so you can easily compare each mobo at the same speed. I did the same for Comanche 4 as well. 

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With PCMark2002 I benched both the IT7 and IT7-MAX2 V2 using the default memory settings in the BIOS. However, with the final run, I enabled the High 4:5 Ratio for CPU/Memory on the IT7-MAX2 V2 to see what you can expect when running the "official" DDR333 spec. You'll notice the memory scores increased dramatically. The IT7-MAX2 V2 with the Intel 845PE chipset has official DDR333 support, and it really shows here. CPU scores are also noticeably higher with the 845PE. I wasn't sure how much of an improvement the 845PE would be over the "E" but it appears Intel really did their homework and improved quite a bit between the 2 chipsets. Additionally, the IT7-MAX2 V2 does very well in HD scores. The HPT 374 ATA133 RAID Controller card is present on both motherboards, so this leads me to believe that the Intel 845PE chipset is simply more efficient than it's older brother, the 845E when it comes to HD performance. Lets take a look at 3DMark2001 SE.

Again, the 845PE chipset is showing great gains over the 845E. Even though 3DMark2k1 SE is a synthetic benchmark program aimed towards video performance, the tweaked Intel chipset really shows it's worth here. 

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