NVIDIA nForce 500: Biostar and MSI Aim for the Gold
by Gary Key on June 8, 2006 4:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gaming Performance
The overall gaming performance of the Biostar board is impressive when compared to the other NVIDIA AM2 boards although the MSI board certainly makes a strong showing. The lower memory latencies of the nForce4 board allow it to maintain an equal or sometimes better result against the AM2 board. The interesting result in our testing is the performance of the ATI AM2 board with the 7900 GTX in both Half Life 2-Lost Coast and F.E.A.R. with results being significantly better than the NVIDIA boards.
SLI Performance
The performance pattern continues in our SLI benchmarks with the Biostar board slightly outperforming our other nForce 500 systems. The performance of the nForce4 system was very good in the Serious Sam II and Half Life 2: Lost Coast tests while trailing the AM2 boards in the balance of our test. The CrossFire based ATI AM2 board delivers superb results in Serious Sam II and Call of Duty 2 where graphics card performance can make a significant difference.
The overall gaming performance of the Biostar board is impressive when compared to the other NVIDIA AM2 boards although the MSI board certainly makes a strong showing. The lower memory latencies of the nForce4 board allow it to maintain an equal or sometimes better result against the AM2 board. The interesting result in our testing is the performance of the ATI AM2 board with the 7900 GTX in both Half Life 2-Lost Coast and F.E.A.R. with results being significantly better than the NVIDIA boards.
SLI Performance
The performance pattern continues in our SLI benchmarks with the Biostar board slightly outperforming our other nForce 500 systems. The performance of the nForce4 system was very good in the Serious Sam II and Half Life 2: Lost Coast tests while trailing the AM2 boards in the balance of our test. The CrossFire based ATI AM2 board delivers superb results in Serious Sam II and Call of Duty 2 where graphics card performance can make a significant difference.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
17 Comments
View All Comments
dougcook - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
I bought one of the MSI 570 boards (after reading this review). Everything seemed ok (some things seemed a bit cheap, but nothing really unusual). I got it all installed and running...For one day.
While burning a few CDs, the Northbridge overheated and the machine turned itself off. This happened 2 more times, and then the machine failed to boot at all (even after giving it time to cool off). I wasn't overclocking, and the box had decent ventilation.
This may not happen for everybody, but looking on NewEgg, it seems that this has happened to many other people. The MSI northbridge does not have an adequate heatsink and is likely to burn up. Save the time and get something better. I got the equivalent ABit 570 motherboard, and I've been very happy so far. I hear good things about the ASUS 570 as well.
MacGuffin - Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - link
I don't mean to be a whiny biyatch but where's the follow-up article? Are you guys playing around with Conroe motherboards and ES chips again?;-)JakeBlade - Friday, June 9, 2006 - link
Northbridge fans blow. No pun intended.Visual - Friday, June 9, 2006 - link
in the comparison table on page 2, you have incorectly listed a firewire, 6 usb ports and 2 esata ports for the MSI. it doesn't have those, just 4 usbs. it does have a COM and LPT ports that you need to list though.Gary Key - Friday, June 9, 2006 - link
The right table was inserted this time, thanks!!!! :)A554SS1N - Friday, June 9, 2006 - link
I'm interested in the MSI K9N 550 chipset, but noticed this 570 SLi chipset has the same sized passive cooler; could you tell me what the temperatures for the chipet on load are? (Sometimes SpeedFan might be needed to detect them on some boards?).Gary Key - Friday, June 9, 2006 - link
I will see if we can get an accurate internal chipset temperature for you. The heatsink itself was at 56c under load when measured with a infrared device.A554SS1N - Thursday, June 15, 2006 - link
Thanks, I could get an idea that it may be upto 70C internal from that external heatsink reading.R3MF - Thursday, June 8, 2006 - link
sorry, not buying.give me the 8x/16x SLI split, as well as 8x slot, two 1x slots, and a couple of PCI slots that i can ignore.
then i'll buy.
segagenesis - Thursday, June 8, 2006 - link
... is its AMD. After reading about Conroe I would hope nVidia does this for the Intel camp now that I'd rather buy one of those than AM2.