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More of What
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ZD Labs
released updates to these tests a back on September
14th., so don't compare these scores to any older ones
you may find on this, or any other site. From
this point forward we'll be using the updated version
(1.0.2) here on H.H.
BUSINESS WINSTONE:
Business
Winstone runs a few popular "office-type" applications
through a series of scripted activities, monitors how
long the system takes to complete those activities and
calculates a score accordingly. The ECS P4VXAD
performed just slightly higher than the AZZA P4X2 in
this test, but either board can run this type of
application with plenty of headroom to spare.
CONTENT
CREATION WINSTONE:
The
Content Creation 2001 tests are similar to the
Business tests, but consist of some more bandwidth
hungry applications like Adobe Premiere 5.1(used for
video editing) and Photoshop 5.5 (used for image
editing). Once again ECS takes a small
performance lead. I guess the higher memory
scores the Azza P4X2 posted in the Sandra tests didn't
translate into any real world performance advantage.
CONCLUSION:
After spending
a significant amount of time using both of these
boards I find it very difficult to come up with a
rating. Both the ECS P4VXAD and Azza P4X2 do
exactly what they were meant to do. Performance
with both of these boards is right where is should be,
but I must admit I am a bit disappointed. With
all of the legal issues surrounding the VIA P4X266
chipset, and the resulting lack of competition in the
P4 DDR motherboard market, manufacturers like ECS and
AZZA have been presented with the perfect opportunity
to entice enthusiasts with features and performance
that they wouldn't be able to find anywhere else at
this price point (at least for now).
Unfortunately, in my opinion, neither company has
capitalized on this opportunity. Had there been
better overclocking features, like voltage settings,
and more features like on-board RAID, 6-Channel
sound or an on-board NIC, the story would be
different. For now though, I just don't see too
many "power" users getting excited over these products.
That is
not to say these boards do not have a place in any of
your systems. We can't hold too much against
either company for not living up to our expectations,
as long as they live up to their claims. Both
the ECS and Azza boards worked as they should, and
bring great performance and DDR capability to Intel's
Pentium 4, at a price point unheard of a few moths
ago.
Based on
it's price, performance, ease of installation, stability and
features, we give the ECS P4VXAD a HotHardware Heat
Meter rating of...
The Azza
P4X2 performed well, was stable throughout testing and
has excellent expandability with it's six PCI slots.
However,
we did hit a few "speed-bumps" with it's
installation, so we're giving it a HotHardware
Heat Meter rating of...
Think you
know about this hardware stuff? Then get into
the New H.H. Forum and Strut your Stuff!
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