Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M Motherboard Review

Supplied by Gigabyte

Gigabyte introduces a value motherboard centered around ATI’s Radeon 9100 IGP.
The Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M utilizes the Radeon 9100 Integrated Graphics Processor
to deliver a competitor to take on competitive budget systems with INTEL integrated
graphics or systems with low end AGP video cards. The engineers at Gigabyte
have chosen not to include TV-out or 1394 with the GA-8TRS300M which may allow
for a more aggressive pricing strategy against the handful of other manufacturers
who are also producing motherboards based on the ATI 9100 IGP.

From Short-Media ATI
Radeon 9100 IGP review.

The Radeon 9100 IGP is ATI’s integrated graphics chip that steps squarely
on the toes of Intel’s Extreme Graphics chip. The impact that the 9100 IGP
will have may not be clear to most; that is until now. The Radeon 9100 IGP
is a cost-effective, on-motherboard graphics chip that is changing the level
of graphics performance for thousands and perhaps millions of pre-built PCs.

To understand the reason behind the ATI Radeon 9100 IGP is to first understand
the consumer who is targeted. The Radeon 9100 IGP is primarily a solution
to fit a specific budget price niche. Secondly it is designed to compete with
and better the performance of similar products both integrated and slot based.
It isn’t much more complicated than that. This is where ATI continues the
ground war of graphics. Up in the clouds the big jets of video cards fight
it out meanwhile the troops en masse slug it out from hill to hill fighting
for every dollar from the budget conscious consumer.

ATI looked at the video card that was selling the most units. It wasn’t
theirs. It is also presumptuous to think that the top 2 or 3 video cards in
either camp, ATI or NVIDIA, are selling the most units. The video card that
sells the most is actually far down the performance chain in the land of enthusiast
mediocrity. The reason lies deep inside the wallets of consumers. A lot of
PC buyers are attracted to a price point. They see a price point that appeals
then they scan for what the PC comes with. Most PC buyers will never look
inside a PC and wouldn’t know motherboard from RAM from CPU but they do know
they want better for less.

Go to a well known system builder site such as Dell or Gateway. The value
systems often feature “integrated graphics” and this market is dominated
by Intel. Integrated graphics means the graphics processor is part of the
motherboard. The physical video card is not required thus cutting the cost
and making those “value” PCs so cheap. Intel integrated graphics
are also notorious for poor performance. Many buyers think they are saving
money and get the PC home only to discover that 2D applications such as Word
run well but games are unbearably slow if playable at all.

The next level are the value video cards such as the GeForce MX440 series.
These video cards add to the overall price but offer improved performance
for the casual gamer. The term “improved” is used loosely as today’s
games tax a system to a greater extent. This deficiency can result in less
frames per second, a choppy game, and loss of effects in the game. The loss
of effects can show as plain blue where clouds should be or lack of realism
in fog, lighting effects, etc. The game player just won’t be able to see all
that the game can visually offer because the video card can’t produce those
effects.

The PC buyer may then choose to bump up a third notch to the top end
of the value spectrum with a higher performance video card. This bump in performance
further bumps the price of the value system making overall price not so much
a “value” anymore.

What ATI hopes to achieve with the Radeon 9100 IGP is providing the performance
at a truly value price.

Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M Specifications

Processor

• Socket 478 for Intel® Pentium® 4 processor with Hyper-Threading
  technology

Chipset

• North bridge: ATI RS300 with Radeon 9200 graphics core
• South bridge: ATI SB200
• Realtek RTL8100C LAN chip
• Realtek ALC655 CODEC

Front Side Bus

• 800 / 533 / 400 MHz FSB

Memory

• Type: Dual Channel DDR 400 / 333 / 266
• Max. capacity: 4GB
• DIMM slots: 4

DDR400 (PC3200) is supported

Internal I/O Connectors

• 2 x UDMA ATA 100/66 Bus Master IDE connectors
• 1 x FDD connector
• 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 connectors (supports 4 ports by cable)
• S/P DIF in/out connector
• CD in connector
• 1 x Game port pin header
• 1 x Com port pin header
• 20-pin ATX Power connector
• 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector

Expansion Slots

• 1 x AGP slot (8x/4x-AGP 3.0 compliant), only supports 1.5V display cards
• 3 x PCI slots (PCI 2.3 compliant)

Rear Panel I/O

• 1 x VGA port
• 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
• 1 x RJ45 LAN port
• 1 x LPT port
• 1 x COM port
• Audio (1 x Line-in / 1 x Line-out / 1 x Mic) connector
• 2 x PS/2 ports (Keyboard/Mouse)

Power

• ATX power connector and ATX 12V connector
• Power-off by Windows 98/ Me/ 2000/ XP shut down and switch

Form Factor

• uATX
• 24.5 x 24.4 cm

H/W Monitoring

• Auto-detect and report of system health status through BIOS
• Hardware detection and report of power-in voltage, CPU voltage, and fan
  speed

BIOS

• 2M bit flash ROM

Other Features

• Xpress3
• EasyTuneTM4
• @BIOS
• Q-FlashTM

Bundle Software

• Norton Internet Security
• Norton Anti-Virus™
• Norton™ Personal Firewall
• Norton™ Privacy Control
• Norton™ Parental Control
• Norton™ Spam Alert
• GIGABYTE Windows Utility Manager
• Adobe Acrobat Reader

Barebones is the word. The Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M is a no frills package of the
motherboard, manual, install CD, one EIDE ribbon cable, one floppy cable, and
the backplane guard.

 

 

Touring the board

The most noticeable platform options of this mATX series of motherboards are
the presence of 2 or 4 DIMM slots, Dual Display capability, TV-Out, SATA, 1394
and LAN. All 9100 IGP motherboards will allegedly support the new INTEL Prescott
processor. Only a very few, two or three models, offer SATA hard drive capability.
Gigabyte is one of the very few to not offer 1394 or TV-out. This means the
GA-8TRS300M is less expensive to make and that cost saving could be passed onto
the consumer.

The INTEL 478 socket presently supports P4 Northwood processor.

4 DIMM slots support up to 4 GB of PC 3200 (DDR 400) ram. The slots are color
coded for proper configuration of Dual Channel memory. (Up to 6.4 GB/s memory
bandwidth.) Gigabyte has posted
a list of recommended modules. There are only two ATA 100/66 IDE connectors
seen next to the RAM DIMMS below the main power connector.

The ATI 9100 IGP “Northbridge” has passive cooling which could be
modified to add a fan for those who want to try to squeeze a few extra frames
per second out of the 9100 IGP.

The bottom right corner of the GA-8TRS300M sees a deviation from Gigabyte’s
color coding scheme of the front panel connectors. CMOS jumper posts are usually
in threes but the GA-8TRS300M has only two posts and guess what? No jumper cap
is included to short the connection. Steal one temporarily from another system
or go to the local electronics shop to pick up a set. The second fan header
(System Fan Header) is also tucked down at the lower right corner of the motherboard
which is less preferable as a second system should optimally be at the top rear
of the case.

The ATI IXP200 “Southbridge” handles up to 6 USB 2.0 ports, built-in
3COM 10/100 ethernet, and enhanced AC97 audio with SP-DIF out. The IXP250 version
of this chipset adds wake-on LAN, the Desktop Management Interface, boot agent,
and the Alert Standards Forum (ASF) mechanism and other power saving functions.
There is an IXP150 version which does not have a network controller. SATA 150
is not present on the GA-8TRS300M but could be handled by a third party controller.

Gigabyte continues to stick with Realtek
for the Network Interface Card even though the IXP200 has support for 3COM.
The lower cost of licensing Realtek compared to 3COM is most likely the explanation.
It’s the same as sticking with AC97 audio compared to the more expensive nVidia
SoundStorm package. The difference may be just a few dollars but that difference
could be the deciding factore between a consumer purchasing and not purchasing.

4 of the six USB 2.0 ports are on the motherboard and note the missing Wake-On
Lan connection.

Below the PCI slots is the optional COM B connector, SP/DIF I/O connector and
game connector.

The GA-8TRS300M has, like many other newer mATX motherboards, three PCI slots
and an 8x AGP slot. If more than 3 PCI slot devices are required then mATX isn’t
for you.

The second surround sound connector parks itself in the lower left of the motherboard
and requires an optional bracket. This would be employed if the user required
the simultaneous use of MIC or LINE IN on the backplane.

The backplane has one parallel port, one com port, SVGA out, two USB 2.0 ports,
NIC, Line In (blue – doubles as rear speakers), Line Out (green – front speakers),
MIC In (orange – doubles and center and subwoofer.)

All of this boils down to a price/performance number. The GA-8TRS300M targets
budget conscious consumers.

BIOS

The Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M BIOS is basic in terms of overclocking or fine tuning
features. An often overlooked section of the manual is going from the basic
BIOS menu…

 

To the advanced BIOS menu by pressing CTRL-F1 at the main BIOS
menu.

 

 

Once into the advanced BIOS menu a few more features will be
available. The STANDARD CMOS FEATURES menu is…well…standard.

 

 

The advanced menu of the ADVANCED BIOS FEATURES reveals the
BOOT UP FLOPPY SEEK, BOOT UP NUM-LOCK, PASSWORD CHECK, INTERRUPT MODE, HDD S.M.A.R.T.
CAPABILITY options.

 

 

ADVANCED CHIPSET FEATURES are completely hidden in the basic
BIOS menu. Memory timings can be adjusted but aren’t extensive compared with
other BIOS menus.

 

 

 

The INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS menu hides some features in the basic
mode but there is nothing new in those hidden features.

 

 

 

There is no change between advanced or basic menus in POWER
MANAGEMENT SETUP.

 

 

The only functions revealed in the advanced menu of PNP/PCI
CONFIGURATIONS is the PCI LATENCY TIMER and RESOURCE CONTROL.

 

 

There’s no change between menus for PC HEALTH STATUS. Gigabyte
does not include CPU Thermal or Fan control with this BIOS.

 

 

If clock multipliers were available they would be in the FREQUENCY/VOLTAGE
CONTROL menu. If the chip is multiplier locked then the feature remains hidden.
This is not an overclocker’s BIOS as there is no voltage control for AGP, DIMM
or CPU. Basic is the key word.

 

Gigabyte includes a TOP PERFORMANCE setting that does provide for slightly
more aggressive timings but not as extensive compared to overclocker menus.
It is recommended that this be enabled after the OS is installed and configured.
TOP PERFORMANCE settings caused the WINXP installation in the test system to
fail.

Benchmarks

Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M

• Intel P4 2.4 GHz 512KB
  800 MHz processor (HT enabled)
• Gigabyte
  GA-8TRS300M mATX motherboard
• 2 x 256 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM in DIMM 1 and 3
• Sony 52x CD
• Western Digital 80 GB Hard Drive
• Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
• USB Keyboard and Optical Mouse
• Retail HSF packaged with processor
• AMK SX1000
  modded PC case (window, fans, cables, loom)
• Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 updated
• GART V 1.007b driver
• Display Driver Version: 4.14.01.6404
• SM Bus Driver Version: 5.10.1000.2b

ATI engineering sample

• Intel P4 2.4 GHz 512KB
  800 MHz processor (HT enabled)
• MSI RS3M-IL mATX motherboard
• 2 x 256 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM in DIMM 1 and 2
• Sony 52x CD
• Western Digital 80 GB Hard Drive
• Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
• USB Keyboard and Optical Mouse
• Retail HSF packaged with processor
• AMK SX1000
  modded PC case (window, fans, cables, loom)
• Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 updated.
• ATI 9100 IGP Engineering drivers

The video

	ATI Radeon 9100 IGP	NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440-SE	NVIDIA GeForce FX5200
Onboard Memory	Configurable up to 128 MB of main memory	Memory 64MB DDR	Memory 64MB DDR
Core clock	300 MHz	250MHz	250MHz
Memory Clock	400MHz effective DDR memory	333MHz effective DDR memory	333MHz effective DDR memory
AGP	AGP 8x	AGP 4x/2x	AGP 8x
Fill Rate		1.1 billion texels/sec.	1.0 Billion texels/sec.
Vertices		31 million/sec.	63 million/sec.
Memory Bandwidth	6.4 GB/second	2.15 GB/second	2.15GB/second
RAMDAC	400MHz	350MHz	350MHz
Drivers Used	ATI 7.94 test drivers	53.03	52.16

Programs used

• MadOnion
  3DMark 2001 SE
• MadOnion
  3DMark 2003
• Quake
  III Arena
• GL
  Excess
• SpecviewPerf 7.1
• Serious Sam SE
• Unreal Tournament 2003 flyby benchmark
• Aquamark3
• Jurassic Park Operation Genesis
• Call of Duty demo
• X2
  Demo
• Wolfenstein Enemy Territory
• Fraps

All tests were run at default video card settings with VSYNC disabled. Nvidia
cards were set to PERFORMANCE. Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering was left
ticked for application preference. AGP aperture was set in BIOS to match the
memory amount of the video card. DirectX 8.1 was used only for 3DMARK 2001 SE
tests and Splinter Cell tests. DirectX 90b was installed for all other tests.
Windows visual effects was set for ADJUST FOR BEST PERFORMANCE. Windows was
restarted before each test. An process idle command was executed before each
test.

Individual performance will vary with any particular or specific timings or
tweaks enabled by you. A 768 MB page file was moved to D: partition. Temporary
Internet files moved to J: partition at end of drive. OS installed to C: and
programs installed to E:. All programs were benchmarked with initial monitor
settings at 1024×768@75Hz.

All of the test benchmark games run on the Radeon 9100 IGP completed but frames
bogged down considerably with more intensive 3D game graphics. Aquamark slowed
to an agonizing crawl at high settings displaying only partial flash frames.
Call of Duty was choppy and extremely slow at 1024×768 and nearly impossible
at 1600×1200. The 9100 IGP is not meant for power settings. It is highly recommended
to download the latest Radeon 9100 IGP drivers. The LAN driver is not to be
installed as it is supported by Realtek instead of the 3COM option.

3DMark 2001 SE

3D Mark 2001 SE and it’s replacement, 3D Mark 2003, answer the simple question
of how fast the hardware is; all of the hardware that powers the game. The GeForce
MX440 SE would not run 3DMARK 2001 SE.

3DMark 2003

3D Mark 2003 was originally designed to measure performance specifically in
shader-heavy titles.

 

 

 

 

Aquamark3

Aquamark3 is a newer benchmark from Massive Development. For the most part
it is a DirectX 8.1 benchmark though it is run with DirectX 90b installed. Two
measurement sets were used; high and low detail with Anti Aliasing and Anisotropic
filtering turned off. High details brought this measurement to a relative standstill
and resulted in partial flash frames. No way to play a game.

 

Splinter Cell Chinese Embassy timedemo

GL Excess

GL Excess is an OPENGL benchmark that is optimized for DX8.1 as can be seen
by the differences between DirectX software.

Quake III high quality

Serious Sam

UT2003 Flyby

 

Wolfenstein Enemy Territory: Railgun timedemo

 

Wolfenstein Enemy Territory uses an improved version of the heavily
modified Quake III engine from Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The Railgun time
demo results were recorded.

 

 

X2 Rolling Demo

 

X2 – The Threat is a teaser with a benchmark option for Egosoft’s
upcoming release. It does not use pixel shaders.

 

 

Call of Duty Demo

 

Call of Duty is a new game thus using the latest in optimizations.
FRAPS was used to record the average number of frames per second over a minimum
of 100,000 played frames. Call of Duty also finds its roots in the Quake III
engine. The MX440 SE delivered too low a frame rate thus making the game virtually
unplayable. For the most part the game was too slow to be considered enjoyably
playable on the Radeon 9100 IGP as well.

 

Specviewperf 7.1

SpecviewPerf measures the 3D rendering performance of systems
running under OPENGL. The improved 9800 with its massive amounts of memory only
make the 9700 look silly.

Benchmark Conclusions

The Radeon 9100 IGP equipped GA-8TRS300M turns out impressive performance for
an integrated graphics processor. keeps pace with AGP based video cards in its
class. The 9100 IGP was completely stable throughout all benchmark tests while
the competing cards had their problems exhibiting the occasional lockup or inability
to run a benchmark. This is a casual gamer’s motherboard and is not meant for
anyone who plays a game more than once in a blue moon. Those that expect very
smooth game action across the entire spectrum should invest in a higher end
video card.

Conclusion

The Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M succeeds at delivering a performance/value motherboard
platform but who is this platform for and is smaller better? MicroATX motherboards
are made with two goals in mind; lower price and smaller size. Many buyers don’t
want a “bulky” tower. They prefer a less obtrusive PC case but it
is important to remember that a smaller motherboard size have fewer PCI slots.
MicroATX cases do have mATX power supplies which are lower in wattage than ATX
power supplies. This lack of power could present stability problems. If a user
requires more than 3 slots for PCI cards then mATX motherboards won’t suffice
especially for those users that have a video card that may interfere with the
PCI slot immediately below.

However, microATX boards now offer most of the features of their larger ATX
motherboard counterparts. Most consumers buy a pre-built system. They understand
it about as well as they understand their cars; they turn it on, they use it,
they turn it off. Budget PCs target those consumers who have very little money
to spend yet high expectations. Often the decision between one system or another
is a difference of less than 50-100 dollars. The budget buyers want to do everything
that they hear can be done with a computer yet don’t want to pay the big ticket
price. Budget buyers typically stick to the configurations offered by a system
builder and don’t require or ask for third party sound cards, multiple hard
drives or optical drives and so on. They buy the PC, they use it and when it
no longer meets their needs they buy another.

The ATI Radeon 9100 IGP will change the entire price structure of the budget
PC. The 9100 IGP sets the bar for video performance equal to what was traditionally
the next step up from bottom line systems. You could say that a new “bottom”
has been set and it pushes the current value video cards further into obsolescence.
Why pay for the upgrade for the value video card when the 9100 IGP delivers
equivalent and acceptable basic performance? The Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M, by omitting
1394 and TV-out cuts the overall cost of production thus the price of this board
can be made even more attractive to the price conscious consumer. Many motherboard
makers tell Short-Media that the decision by the consumer between their product
and a competitor’s can come down to a difference of mere dollars. Indeed it
does make a difference when the cost of the other components are added to the
package total. Every dollar saved versus every option/feature gained is a difficult
balance to strike. Overclocking the GA-8TRS300M just won’t appeal to the enthusiast.
There isn’t much to “fiddle” with in the BIOS thus the ability to
fine tune and squeeze out evey GHz is hindered. It’s not an enthusiast board.

There were operational issues. The stock ATI drivers on the install disk crashed
Call of Duty. The latest drivers from the ATI site resolved this. The EasyTune4
overclocking utility from the install CD would not work nor would the latest
download.

Apparently overclocking via EasyTune4 is not supported with this motherboard.
Points off for Gigabyte for putting this on the website as a feature.

Where Gigabyte may miss the boat is by not delivering this product at two different
levels. OEM buyers that purchase online or at a retail store may want the choice
between the bare bones package and one that offers a few extras. Gigabyte could
market a GA-8TRS300M “Pro” version and includes a surround/SPDIF bracket,
rounded cables and one or two PCI USB brackets. Perhaps even a front panel connector.
It is disappointing to get a motherboard package that has extra features and
not be able to immediately use them or know where to get the connectors. The
“Pro” version could also offer SATA 150 headers which would best place
optical drives and hard drives on separate channels.

The Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M is for the buyer who wants a basic system at the best
possible price. 2D graphics such as email, Internet and office applications
are no problem. 3D graphic performance is very good compared to other value
configurations. This is, by no means, an overclocker’s product nor was it meant
to be. In stock mode it isn’t for the competitive gamer either. The price of
the RS300 boards (Radeon ATI 9100 IGP) may hover around 90 to 100 USD which
comes under a lesser priced NON-IGP board combined with, as an example, a GEFORCE
FX5200. This is only a preliminary estimate as RS300 boards are not widely available
from all manufacturers. The question is to buy the GA-8TRS300M or not. It’s
a very good product for basic desktop needs and while the Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M
may not be an impressive motherboard in itself it will be if a more aggressive
price point is set than the competition’s 9100 IGP motherboards. Combine the
value price with the performance ability of the ATI Radeon 9100 IGP and that
will put many consumers in favor of Gigabyte.

Our thanks to Gigabyte
for their support of this and many other sites.

Scores Breakdown

Attribute	Score	Comments
Bonus items & software	6	Bare bones.
Design & layout	7	The system fan header could have been better placed nearer to the top left corner.
Documentation	8.5	Gigabyte includes good hard copy documentation but it is standard across their product lines and not entirely specific to the product it was included with.
Features & options	8	Lan, 6-channel sound, S/PDIF, 2 stock USB + 4 via optional PCI brackets. No 1394, RAID or SATA.
Fine-tuning features	8	It’s an Intel. There isn’t much to overclock on the CPU side.
Overclocking features	7	It’s an Intel. There isn’t much to overclock on the CPU side except CPU clock. The EasyTune4 feature failed to function as the board is not supported contrary to what the website states.
Performance & stability	8.5	The ATI 9100 IGP delivers good performance when price is compared to similar budget configurations costing the same or more. All benchmark tests completed without error.
Presentation	6	Bare bones. The inclusion of at least a USB PCI bracket would have been nice.
Price / value	8.5	Hopefully the GA-8TRS300M will be priced even lower than its competitors.
Total score	67.5/90	75%