Intel Media Series DG33TL - Testing
(Page 4 of 4 )
It's time to take a look at the numbers. I will take the test computer through some benchmarks, and see how well it performs. I’ll be doing some tests that stress the total bandwidth of the computer, the CPU, an overall benchmark, and a game.
Remember that this has a built-in GPU, so don’t expect much from gaming. You will be lucky to get playable FPS in older games. People that are looking at this motherboard aren’t going to be using it for gaming.
I will bench the stock speeds against my overclocking speeds, which I talked about earlier. Here is a quick look at the test set up:
WinRar
This benchmark uses some important parts of the motherboard: the CPU, the memory, the chipset, and the Southbridge. This test will see how fast the PC can compress and extract data. Higher speeds are better.
Super Pi
This benchmark computes the numbers of pi. It will need input from the memory, CPU and chipset.
PCMark Vantage
This tests everything about the computer from gaming to word processing. It will give a great look at all of the parts of the board, like the audio, network IC, the chipset, and even the hard drives and memory. The CPU will be used in all the tests.
Counter Strike: Source
A mini upgrade to one of the best selling games ever made. This should give us a good indication of mild gaming performance. It would be worthless to try and run Crysis or other GPU stressful games as this motherboard clearly wouldn’t be able to handle it at the lowest settings.
We saw an increase in all the benchmarks across the board. Some were better than others. I was really surprised with the results from Counter Strike: Source. Without touching the GPU settings, we were able to go from a game that was previously unplayable, to a game that one can play.
In the WinRar we saw a big gain in performance. The extra bandwidth looks like it really helps. The 200 FSB stock is really a bottleneck here. Most of the new CPUs have either 266 MHz or 333 MHz, which will really show a great increase in performance.
Conclusion
A lot can be said about this motherboard. I didn’t really like its layout. Things felt cramped and out of place. I really would have liked a HDMI port on the motherboard and the graphics core really underperformed.
The only real positive I could take away from this review is the fact that it can overclock fairly well for a motherboard with no voltage options or speed options. It did show great gains compared to stock. However, not many people are going to get this motherboard with the intentions of overclocking the computer.
Overall, I can’t really recommend this motherboard. If you want one for an HTPC and you don't intend to overclock it, I would go for one with HDMI, since it’s the preferred connection now with HDTV. If you are going for a mATX with lots of features, look someplace else. If you want a motherboard with decent built-in graphics, this is a horrible option for you.
To sum it all up, there is a better motherboard out there for anything you want to do with your computer. Thank you for reading this review. If you would like recommendations on good motherboards, visit our forums.
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
