Foxconn A78AX-S and abit AX78 - value motherboards on the AMD 770 chipset
Author:
Date: 30.06.2008 |
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Performance and conclusions
It turned out that while determining the starting HTT speed, both the boards set it at an ideal precision.
In our test setup, we used the following hardware:
| Test setup |
| CPU |
AMD Athlon64 3500+ Socket AM2 2.2 GHz (Orleans core, stepping DH-F2) |
| Cooler |
Gigabyte 3D Cooler GP Edition |
| Video card |
ASUS 8800 GT (GeForce 8800 GT; PCI Express x16)
Driver version: 169.25 |
| Sound card |
- |
| HDD |
Samsung HD160JJ |
| Memory |
2x 1024 MB GoodRAM DDR2 GP1066D264L5/2GDC |
| Power supply unit |
FSP 550 W |
| OS |
MS Windows XP SP1 |
Let's first take a look at the results of synthetic benchmarks.
Was measured in Kb/sec, i.e. the more, the better.
Now on to the gaming benchmarks.
The performance of the motherboards is absolutely identical, and the only thing that surprised us is that the results for 3DMark 2001 proved to be lower than the results for 3DMark 03.
Final Words
Both the boards fall within the value sector and indeed offer quite an affordable price. At least, abit AX78 is already available at the Moscow retail at a price about ~$80. The price for Foxconn A78AX-S is still unknown, but we believe it should also be at about $80. The thing is that there is even the Foxconn A78AX-K model (~$70) which differs from the -S modification by the cheaper 6-channel audio subsystem.
But which motherboard is better? From the seller's viewpoint, the best buy is the Foxconn motherboard since it offers the more improved south bridge SB700. And it costs a bit less, which is really important for buyers of AMD systems who save on every dime. From the buyer's viewpoint, the abit board is better. Although it costs $9 more, it uses the outdated south bridge. On the other hand, it gives more freedom in configuring the system: it offers more DIMM slots, two slots for installation of PCI-Express video cards, better cooling system, and functional overclocking tools.
As regards the package bundle, we haven't yet got the data on the box contents of the abit motherboard. The package bundle of the Foxconn product fully meets the price.
Foxconn A78AX-S abit AX78
Conclusion
Pros:
- high stability and good performance level;
- one PCI Express x16 (PCI-E v2.0) slot;
- support for SerialATA II (6 links, RAID);
- support for ParallelATA (1 link);
- integrated 8-channel audio and Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller.
Cons:
The board's specific features:
- there are overclocking tools, but with no practical advantage;
- merely two DIMM slots.
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Pros:
- high stability and good performance level;
- two PCI Express x16 (PCI-E v2.0) slots;
- support for SerialATA II (4 links; RAID);
- support for ParallelATA (1 link);
- integrated 8-channel audio and Gigabit Ethernet LAN controller.
Cons:
The board's specific features:
- overclocking results are below the average;
- 7-stage POST indicator.
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- Discuss the material in the conference
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