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Ziff Davis
Media's Business Winstone 2001 and Content Creation
Winstone 2001 benchmarks are used to simulate
"real-world" application performance...
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More Performance |
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BUSINESS WINSTONE:
Business
Winstone 2001, and CC Winstone, run a few popular
business and Content Creation applications through a
series of activities and monitors how long the system
takes to complete those activities. Based on
timings, the test calculates the system's performance scores
accordingly.
The K7-DRAGON just barely
outpaced Gigabyte's offering in ZD's Business Winstone
tests. Virtually any quality motherboard coupled
with a good amount of RAM and fast processor is
capable of running any of today's Business-Type
applications adequately though. Nonetheless, scores
this high are very good for a Windows Millennium based
system.
The Content Creation tests
are somewhat more intense...let's move on and see how these
boards hold up...
CONTENT CREATION WINSTONE:
The Content Creation
Winstone scores posted by both of these boards were
excellent, especially considering we were running
Windows Millennium. This time the Gigabyte
GA-7DXR nudged slightly ahead of the K7-DRAGON, but a
performance differential this small is unperceivable
during "real-world" usage.
Throughout all of our
testing, both the Soyo K7-DRAGON and Gigabyte 7DXR
were rock solid. The only crashes to speak off
occurred when we pushed our Athlon beyond it's
overclocked limits. If stability is your main
concern, you won't be disappointed by either of
these products.
CONCLUSION:
Now for the $64,000
question...How do you choose between two boards of
this caliber? I have to admit, I'm torn.
Normally, the performance gain (even though it is very
small) associated with the AMD 760 based
Gigabyte 7DXR would be enough to sway me towards the
7DXR. The K7-DRAGON, however, has more
features, better on-board sound and is much easier to
overclock with and configure...not to mention it's
black PCB and purple slots are just
plain "cool"! Ultimately, I think I'll take the
high road and leave the decision up to you. Both
boards are excellent and worth considering if you're
about to build or upgrade an AMD based system.
The only drawbacks to owning either of these boards is
the impending release of many higher performing VIA
KT266A based motherboards. We give both the Soyo
K7-DRAGON and the Gigabyte 7DXR 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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