Single channel Nforce2 400 faster than Dual channel NF2 Ultra 400??

Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
edited July 2003 in Science & Tech
<a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=10384&quot; target=_blank>The Inquirer: <b>Single channel Nforce2 400 dethrones its dual channel stablemate</b></a>

<i>"ENTHUSIAST SITE <a href="http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=244&PageID=1"target=_blank>AMDMB.com</a&gt; discovered this unexpected anomaly, which could have far reaching Socket-A repercussions.

Soltek's bottom dollar SL-NV400-64 motherboard, which is based on the single channel nForce2 400 chipset, is the cause of all this news. What is amazing is that it beat Asus' dual channel flagship product - the A7N8X Deluxe, in the majority of benchmarks. Ryan Shrout, the amdmb.com reviewer, who put Soltek's motherboard through its paces, suggests that its performance lead in <a href="http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=244&PageID=5&quot; target=_blank>UT 2K3</a> is down to the additional overhead that a dual channel system board has to deal with. Looking at the rest of the results, I would apply that comment as a general across the board statement. "</i>

Soltek's overall performance lead is not earth shattering, but like everything else in this industry, perception is everything. Of the 14 benchmarks that were run, Soltek's board won 11 of them, drew 2, and lost only one. For the record:

Quake 3: Evenly matched results
UT 2K3: 5.5 to 11.1% lead
3D Mark 2K1: Wins by a nose
PC Mark 2K2: Two out of three is good enough.
SiSoft Sandra 2K2: A win in memory, but ties in CPU
Cachemem: 5.7% to 9.3% lead
Business Winstone 2K1 & 2K2: A win in both
CC Winstone 2K1, 2K2, & 2K3: Soltek takes the Triple Crown
SPECviewperf 7: Asus' only win
ScienceMark: Pretty much a draw

<a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=10384&quot; target=_blank>more info here</a>

<a href="http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=244&PageID=1"target=_blank>AMDMB.com</a&gt; : Soltek NV400-64 review (2003-07-03)

<i>" The Soltek NV400-64 motherboard is a surprise hit as far as performance goes. While the features that Soltek is offering with the board are on the very low end of things, that is simply because the boards (and chipset for that matter) are aimed for a mainstream market that doesn’t have a need for fancy options like Serial ATA and RAID. All they want is a low final price – and if they happen to get a great performer as well, all the better.

This is also interesting in the fact that it’s the first time we have seen anything based on the nForce2 400 chipset. Since we never received a reference board from anyone, we are taking the Soltek board as the defacto performance we can and should look for on future nF2 400 motherboards. Which raises the question: why is the nF2 400 performing better than the nF2 Ultra 400 board? Too be completely honest, I am not sure and any answers I have gotten from NVIDIA seem stretched at best."</i>

Comments

  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    To truely take advantage of Dual Channel memory, wouldn't you need a program that is designed for it? It has similarities to Dual CPU setups.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    No. You need a system bus that doesn't suck.
  • qparadoxqparadox Vancouver, BC
    edited July 2003
    Or a system bus designed for that much bandwidth. I've never understood the reasoning for stuff 128 bits down a 64 bit hole .. .but then i'm just an engineering student not a marketing professional ;)
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited July 2003
    Right now if you get RAM the same speed as your FSB you theoretically have the same bandwidth. You could get by with single channel and not have huge bottlenecks like P4s and single channel boards do.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited July 2003
    dual channel mainly helps reduce latency with the Athlon.

    Pentium 4's need dual channel DDR400 to keep the 800MHz FSB fed.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    a2jfreak said
    dual channel mainly helps reduce latency with the Athlon.

    Pentium 4's need dual channel DDR400 to keep the 800MHz FSB fed.

    Very true.

    Take a nf2 board with onboard video. Test the difference between single and dual channel. THATS where the dual channel makes the most of the difference on NF2.
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited July 2003
    Well with a couple of tests I just ran (In 3DMark 01, and Sandra):

    Sandra Memory bandwidth test: Single channel BARELY won.

    Sandra Cache and Memory benchmark: Dual BARELY won, was ALMOST a tie in fact...

    3DMark '01: Dual channel won by a few hundred points.

    Tomorrow I might try UT2K3.

    IMO, there is no diff either way. The leads by either single or dual is negligible, and could easily have been a tie. It all depends on the individual, the current phase of the moon, the time of day, the month... AKA: It makes no diff whatsoever.

    Edit: Just ran Sandra's Mem bandwidth test (in Dual) and it TIED with the previous Single channel results. This was even without running Enditall beforehand...

    Just further proves it doesn’t make a diff, the scores might as well have been tied.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    It does make a 13 fsb difference on my setup.
    I have the same bandwidth at 218 fsb single as 205 fsb in dual channel.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited July 2003
    I get ~200pts more in 3dmark2001se, but we're talking about the difference between 11,000 and 11,200 here, so...
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited July 2003
    That makes sence, as the chipset would be working less harder (in theory) in single channel mode. Being as there is in fact no reason to stick to Dual Channel that I can see, I suppose I'll give it a long-term try.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited July 2003
    Oops... I meant I get 200 more points in dual channel mode. Sorry.
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited July 2003
    Well, after double-checking I can confirm that I [still] do get a slightly higher 3DMark 01 score in Dual channel mode (by ~200 marks). In single channel I can't get the FSB any higher than it already is.

    Perhaps Dual Channel DDR does have it's place after all...?
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