ATI 9100 IGP PRO: Overclocking and Memory Stress Tests
FSB Overclocking
One question that we could not answer in our tests of the RS350 Reference Board was whether ATI had fixed the overclocking complaints many had with the earlier RS300. ATI assures us that the RS350 is now a competitive overclocker with the Intel 865G chipset, which would certainly be a dramatic improvement compared to the dismal overclocking abilities of the RS300. However, the RS350 Reference Board, like most Reference Boards we test, was not really designed for overclocking. With no FSB adjustments and no voltage adjustments available at all on the board, we could not verify ATI's claims about overclocking.When Radeon 9100 IGP PRO boards begin shipping, we will take a closer look at the chipset's overclocking abilities. As much as the RS350 is improved over the original, overclockers will expect the ATI chipset to perform just as well at overclocking as the Intel 865/875 family chipsets. This feature will be very important to them, but will not matter very much to those who do not overclock their systems.
Memory Stress Testing
We performed memory stress tests on the Radeon 9100 IGP PRO Reference Board. This memory stress test simply tests the ability of the RS350 Reference Board to operate at its officially supported memory frequency (400MHz DDR) at the lowest supported memory timings our Mushkin PC3500 Level 2 memory will support:| Stable DDR400 Timings - 2 DIMMs (One Dual-Channel Bank 2/4 DIMMs populated) |
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| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| Timing Mode: | N/A |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| Bank Interleave: | N/A |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 3T |
| RAS Precharge: | 5T |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | N/A |
While we had stability issues running at the most aggressive 2-2-2-5 timings that our memory would support, we had no problem running 2 DS 512MB DIMMs of our standard Mushkin PC3500 Level 2 with complete stability at 2-2-3-5 timings. This meant adjusting RAS-to-CAS timings to 3 instead of the fastest 2 setting. Performance at these timings should be very close to that achieved with 2-2-2-5 timings. ATI tells us that these are probably the most aggressive timings that could be achieved with the Reference Board, but that the shipping 9100 IGP PRO will likely be capable of the most aggressive timings we have been able to use on Intel chipsets.
Filling all available memory banks to populate two dual-channel banks is more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DIMMs. 4 x 512MB DIMMs in 2 DC banks, a total of 2 GB of memory, worked just fine on the RS350. We were able to use the same timings for stable operation with 4 DIMMs that worked with 2 DIMMs.
| Stable DDR400 Timings - 4 DIMMs (Two Dual-Channel Banks 4/4 DIMMs populated) |
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| Clock Speed: | 200MHz |
| Timing Mode: | N/A |
| CAS Latency: | 2.0 |
| Bank Interleave: | N/A |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 3T |
| RAS Precharge: | 5T |
| Precharge Delay: | 2T |
| Command Rate: | N/A |
We tested the memory timings with both 2 and 4 DIMMs using several stress tests and general applications to guarantee stability. Prime95 torture tests were successfully run at the timings listed in the above charts. We also ran ScienceMark (memory tests only) and Super Pi. None of the three stress tests created any stability problems for the ATI RS350 Reference Board at these memory timings.
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Cygni - Monday, May 3, 2004 - link
"Who that comes to this site give a flying f*ck about integrated graphics""where are the x800 bencharks?? that's what we care about."
"Stop with these goddamn AT sponsor suckup/teaser "ref board" reviews."
First, where the heck did all of these MUTANTS come from? This is AT. Not eXtremeTechOmgFPSAWesome.org.
Second, x800 is under NDA until its launched, for the love of god. Anandtech CANT say anything about it.
Third, LOTS of Anandtech users care about Integrated Graphics. ALOT of the people who come to Anandtech system build for money/pleasure. Just go to the Forums and find out. This is an IT Tech site, NOT a "Gamers Only" site. Hence the server storys, etc.
Finally, I for one enjoy the fact that Anandtech tests boards that most other sites dont have BEFORE they are on the shelf. Anandtech ALSO tests AFTER they are on the shelf to compare. Why WOULDNT they test the board they get sent, to let everyone know? And I like the way you imply that AnandTech only gets pre-release boards because they are sponsored by the company and want a favorable review. You certainly havent been coming here long if you think that.
Myrandex - Monday, May 3, 2004 - link
also, what is up with the constant testing of bank interleave set to disabled, doesn't it help memory performance?Myrandex - Monday, May 3, 2004 - link
allisolm good job on the empty post. But otherwise, in the article, it is stated that the chipset just supports SATA ports, but in the chipset diagram, it shows RAID 0 and 1 supported. Any clue as to which is right? Also, it is always good to see integrated graphics performance, especially for the reason that many moderately proced laptop haves integrated graphics (not my A64 rad 9600, but still), and it is good to see them approach playable levels.Jason
Pumpkinierre - Monday, May 3, 2004 - link
Its hard ro understand how you can 'optimise' for a different x86 cpu (nf3 and nVidia Gpus optimisation is a different story) unless they are taking advantage of some of the extra 'secret' X86-64 registers on the Prescott.Bozo Galora - Monday, May 3, 2004 - link
Stop with these goddamn AT sponsor suckup/teaser "ref board" reviews.
If it aint final - dont look at it.
All this crap is obsolete now anyway in just a few months.
Give me a break.
Talk about a white elephant.
AtaStrumf - Monday, May 3, 2004 - link
It was your imagination! It's supposed to come out tomorrow May 4th or on Wednesday May 5th.As for IGP tests: Why the hell not test them? If you dont like it just skip it bitch! I know I was quite interested in the results and I'm sure so were many others.
Nice to see ATi finaly come out with a good chipset (cross your fingers for OC-ing being as good as they say), so that the two GPU giants have now fairly devided the two top CPU manufacturers.
araczynski - Monday, May 3, 2004 - link
All i'm saying is it must be a slow day in the news department :)i understand the interest, which i have as well, but in all honesty, anyone concerned about playing games, won't get a system with an IG, and anyone that does, will be disappointed no matter what IG is in there. Whether they get 19FPS or 21FPS, they're not going to be happy.
anyway, where's the x800 stuff? wasn't that supposed to come out first of may? or was that my imagination again.
DAPUNISHER - Monday, May 3, 2004 - link
There's a typo on the IGP test config page, it states ATi 865G where it should read Intel.BTW, I'm always very interested in IGP reviews as white box builder a good 80% of my biz is budget IGP systems.
IMHO though, IGP with a $150+ CPU does not equate budget and Celerons won't find a place in my builds unless intel decides to make them more competitive in the sub $100 market vs AMD.
Now, the last thing to answer is wether ATi finally got the overclocking right ;)
allisolm - Monday, May 3, 2004 - link
NullSubroutine - Monday, May 3, 2004 - link
Unlike all these other guys, I do care about Intergrated Graphics...not because I own one (I got A64), but because many people do. Most everyday people buy systems from OEMs like Dell, who sell alot of systems with IGs.Alot of first time users buy systems that are cheap, and sometimes suck. It is nice to see that if someone wants to build a cheap system they can still play any older DX7 games at reasonably high fps and newer DX8.1/9 games at playable 640x480.