Micro ATX boards and Gaming. (Performance Question)

V

venomrat

n00b
Joined
Jan 6, 2004
Messages
23
Hi,

I recently purchase a Asus P5PE-VM for use in a SG01 chassis. I build it using a Pentium D 935 3.2 Ghz, 2 sticks of 512Mb Cosiar Value Rams and my existing Leadtek 7600 GT AGP.

I found soon after that the 3D performance was not up to mark. So I went ahead and benchmark the system using 3D mark 2005. My results were in the 3500 to 3700 mark range.

I pulled out the Leadtek 7600GT and put it into my existing P4 2.6C and installed the same driver on the system I got 5011 marks.

So I called up the vendor and told them about my problem. They told me that all micro atx boards are like that. The poor performance is due to the board form factor.

Is this true?

Thanks for reading. Appreciate it if anyone that have a similar config post some benchmarks.
 
Well, I not expecting stellar scores.

I do expect it to at least perform decently, giving me the scores of a 7600GT.

I do have a faster cpu after all.
 
mATX is more for HTPC, not for gaming...

IMO it doesn't make much sense to buy a mATX and put it in a big case, and if you have a small case you won't have enough airflow for gaming anyway...
 
Warl0rd said:
mATX is more for HTPC, not for gaming...

IMO it doesn't make much sense to buy a mATX and put it in a big case, and if you have a small case you won't have enough airflow for gaming anyway...
Click to expand...

You know you can very easily shoe-horn a monster system into a mATX box.

Heck, I could spend easily 3 grand on a monster mATX box.

mATX boards can be decent, but the problem is that very few of them actually are. You just have to do some research to find them.
 
Man, there's a lot of misinformation in this thread (and where you bought your mobo from). :rolleyes:

You can generally expect performance to be within 5% of the full-size counterpart. I think you may have some configuration issues with your system. Did you install the latest intel chipset and nvidia video drivers when you set up the new machine? Is your RAM running at the proper speed? Do you have the latest BIOS for that motherboard?
 
Bios updated to the latest. No diff in performance.

Intel chipset came with the CD. I used those.

Nvidia drivers I downloaded the latest.

Ram timing: Auto detect or manually set to cosiar specs: no diff in performance.

So, yes, I'm disappointed. Like I said, I did not expect stellar performance but I do expect the board to perform up to speed if not better.

BigBadBiologist said:
Man, there's a lot of misinformation in this thread (and where you bought your mobo from). :rolleyes:

You can generally expect performance to be within 5% of the full-size counterpart. I think you may have some configuration issues with your system. Did you install the latest intel chipset and nvidia video drivers when you set up the new machine? Is your RAM running at the proper speed? Do you have the latest BIOS for that motherboard?
Click to expand...
 
Maybe something's wrong with the board. Look at the newegg customer reviews for the board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131029

Someone mentions that their board was really sluggish and they had to RMA it, then it worked fine. I just thought that was an odd coincidence.

Oh, also, is there something like a Performance Acceleration setting in the BIOS? The 865 chipsets were performance crippled compared to the 875s, but most board manufacturers found a way around this with a BIOS setting. Maybe that is set to a really low level or something.
 
Enabled that too.

No diff in performance.

I'm really getting fed up with this board. :(

BigBadBiologist said:
Maybe something's wrong with the board. Look at the newegg customer reviews for the board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131029

Someone mentions that their board was really sluggish and they had to RMA it, then it worked fine. I just thought that was an odd coincidence.

Oh, also, is there something like a Performance Acceleration setting in the BIOS? The 865 chipsets were performance crippled compared to the 875s, but most board manufacturers found a way around this with a BIOS setting. Maybe that is set to a really low level or something.
Click to expand...
 
Warl0rd said:
mATX is more for HTPC, not for gaming...

IMO it doesn't make much sense to buy a mATX and put it in a big case, and if you have a small case you won't have enough airflow for gaming anyway...
Click to expand...

My mATX rig outperforms most Full ATX rigs. My 8800GTS, which is clocked at 700/100 (one of the highest-clocked 8800GTS btw) runs 48C idle and roughly 59C load. I see very few air-cooled full ATX rigs running those temps on their 8800s
 
mATX is no good. you need a big tombstone sized case with at least 3 empty optical drive bays for better gaming performances.
 
venomrat said:
Bios updated to the latest. No diff in performance.

Intel chipset came with the CD. I used those.

Nvidia drivers I downloaded the latest.

Ram timing: Auto detect or manually set to cosiar specs: no diff in performance.

So, yes, I'm disappointed. Like I said, I did not expect stellar performance but I do expect the board to perform up to speed if not better.
Click to expand...

I would use the latest Intel chipset drivers from their website.
Also, comparing it on 2 different computers with different chipsets doesn't help 'cause the chipset can affect graphics performance as well. You might also have a bum board, as stated above.

And all this nonsense of mAtx boards not performing as well as Atx boards, is just that, nonsense!
 
Well I did download the latest intel chipset drivers and installed those. The setup prog told me that I had the latest and did not need to update. :(
 
matx is the same as atx. whoever you talked too, this 'vendor' is a run of the mill sales retard.

RMA the board, if that doesnt work, then you arent doing something right.
 
Ok. I've more or less established that mATX perform similarly to ATX.

So, either the board is faulty or I screwed up.

I would like to think that I connected it properly. My temps for 7600GT: 58 to 60C on load. My CPU loads at 60 to 63C according to asus probe. I've checked for trottling and found nothing. Prime 95 runs ok (no errors). I've even run 2 instances of prime95 to load the CPU 100% without errors. Nothing overclocked.

So it could be my windows installation. Let me just do a rundown so you guys can see if i screwed up.

1) Fresh install of winxp on a formatted partition.
2) Install Intel inf drivers and reboot.
3) Install graphics drivers and reboot.
4) Install sound drivers and reboot.
5) Install network drivers.

I also tried it in this sequence: (This makes it 2 formats)

1) Fresh install of winxp on a formatted partition.
2) Install Intel inf drivers and reboot.
3) Install sound drivers and reboot.
4) Install network drivers.
5) Install graphics drivers and reboot.

After doing the above, i installed 3d mark to benchmark.

I still get the scores above.
 
MassiveOverkill said:
My mATX rig outperforms most Full ATX rigs. My 8800GTS, which is clocked at 700/100 (one of the highest-clocked 8800GTS btw) runs 48C idle and roughly 59C load. I see very few air-cooled full ATX rigs running those temps on their 8800s
Click to expand...
Yeah i believe you, but how big is your case?
I see no advantage in buying a mATX board and stick it on a normal case...
mATX mobo were designed to fit into tiny cases, most of them only have 1 bay and expansion 1 slot max, not the mention the PSU are very small (<300W)...
Now you can't use these cases for gaming (your 8800 wouldn't even fit there, not the mention not enough power for it), you couldn't have any good heasink on the CPU and your airflow would be ridiculous.

I'm talking about cases like theses:
http://www.travla.com/Products/mini-ITXCase.html
http://www.morex.com.tw/products/productview.php?fd_id=17&fd_parentname=l1_1&fd_childname=l1#Chassis

IMO this is what mATX boards are for.
If have a bigger case, buy a bigger board, no advantages in buying a smaller one.
 
Those aren't mATX, they're mini-ITX. This is my case:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=304&products_id=4596

It's a mATX case. My power supply is a 500 watts. I'm using one of the best heat sinks out there (for the money anyways), Arctic Cooling 64 Freezer Pro.

If you think that case doesn't have advantages over a full ATX, let me put it into perspective for ya:

SideProfile.jpg


SidebySide2.jpg
 
Ok. An update, I managed to find out what was holding back the performance.

Under BIOS, there's an option: CPU thermal control:Automatic

I set it to disabled.

I get 5997 marks. :)

So now the question would be do I have a faulty board? Do I rma this board?
 
Check your CPU temperatures on full load, maybe the low scores was caused by throttling due to high temps.

If thats the case then its not a faulty board, you just need a better HS/airflow.
 
As I posted earlier, My CPU loads at 60C. While not very low, it should not trigger the throttling
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top