Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1313




When ATI introduced the RS300, many expected the fastest integrated graphics solution for the Pentium 4 to make quite a splash. After all, the Intel 865G was a top seller with graphics performance that was clearly inferior to the ATI Radeon 9100 IGP. But several things held back that kind of wide acceptance in the first chipset.

Many buying the 865G looked at it first as a chipset, and they didn't care as much about on-board graphics performance; the ATI RS300 was just not up to the base performance levels of the 865G. Those who were shopping for an all-in-one integrated graphics solution were more than a bit confused that the 9100 IGP was Direct X 8.1 when both nVidia and ATI themselves were proclaiming the merits of Direct X 9.

In addition, the 865 chipset family was the favorite of many overclockers, reaching incredible overclocks with the cheaper P4 processors, while the ATI RS300 was a mediocre overclocker at best. For some shopping for an integrated Pentium 4 solution, the features were very important; the RS300 lacked some of the leading features of the Intel 865G.

ATI may have fallen a bit short of the mark in the first go-around, but ATI is a company that understands competition. After a closer look at the 865G, their answer is the just released RS350. As you will see in our closer look at the Reference Board, ATI has looked at all these areas that were concerns to buyers.

The new RS350 is now said to be fully ready to compete with the best Intel chipsets, performing as well as the Intel 865/875 as a chipset, and with the added advantage of the best Integrated Graphics available for the Intel platform. Yes, the RS350 is still Direct X 8.1, but ATI has also tweaked the chipset for best operation with Direct X 9.0B, and it runs all the Direct X 9 titles we fed it in our tests.

In a look to the future, the new 9100 IGP PRO chipset is also capable of supporting both current Socket 478 CPUs as well as future Socket 775 processors. The RS350 can drive either socket, supporting Northwood, Prescott, and Pentium 4 EE. ATI has also updated the RS350 Southbridge. The IXP320 has added support for 8 USB 2.0 ports and 2 SATA ports, matching the specifications and features of Intel's 865G chipset.

On paper, the ATI RS350 certainly looks like all the things that we wished for when ATI first launched a Radeon Integrated Graphics solution. Does the performance match the expectations?




A Closer Look at ATI 9100 IGP PRO

The original 9100 IGP now grows to 3 offerings with the RS350.



Most interesting is the new Radeon 9100 IGP PRO, which was designed for better performance to compete fully with the current Intel 865/875 chipsets and the upcoming 915 chipset for Prescott. Like the original 9100 IGP, the PRO version is designed for Dual-Channel memory. ATI is also introducing an economy Single-Channel version of the new chipset, which is called 9000 IGP PRO. 9100 designates Dual Channel, while 9000 is used for Single-Channel.

Along with the new PRO Northbridge, there is also an enhanced IXP 320 Southbridge, which adds additional USB ports and SATA drive support to the chipset.




Click to enlarge.


AnandTech covered the original 9100 IGP board in our review of the Shuttle XPC ST61G4. Shuttle was an ATI launch partner in the original RS300 launch. Compared to the RS300, the new PRO chipset provides several new features:

North Bridge
  • Enhanced System Performance
  • Optimized AGP 8X Performance
  • Improved Memory Timings
  • Increased DDR-400 Compatibility
South Bridge IXP 320
  • 2X SATA
  • SATA RAID 0,1
  • 8X USB 2.0
Except for the new Southbridge features, RS350 is mainly about performance improvements to the RS300 core.




ATI Radeon 9100 IGP PRO Specifications



CPU INTERFACE
  • Up to 800MHz CPU FSB for Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor
  • Supports Intel® Hyper-ThreadingTM processors
SYSTEM LOGIC FEATURES
  • AGP 3.0 compliant AGP 8X interface
  • 266MB/second point-to-point interface to ATI IXP in A-Link mode
  • Unified Memory Architecture (UMA)
  • Dual channel 128-bit DDR SDRAM memory interface
  • DDR400 SDRAM support provides up to 6.4 GB/second bandwidth
  • Up to 4 GB DRAM support with two un-buffered SO-DIMMs
  • 16 MB to 128 MB of main memory configurable as display memory
  • Up to 8 USB 2.0 ports
  • Up to 2 SATA devices
  • Support for 6 channel AC-97 codecs
3D GRAPHICS FEATURES
  • Hardware with pixel shader 1.4 support
  • Supports up to 2048x1536 @ 32bpp.
  • Supports 3D textures and Microsoft® DirectX® texture compression
  • Anisotropic texture filtering and Full Screen Anti-Aliasing (FSAA)
VIDEO FEATURES
  • Integrated hardware motion compensation and iDCT
  • Enhanced MPEG-2 hardware decode
  • Hardware DVD sub-picture decode
2D GRAPHICS FEATURES
  • Highly optimized 128-bit 2D Engine
  • Supports a maximum resolution of 2048x1536 @ 32bpp.
DISPLAY CONTROLLER
  • Dual CRT controllers provide independent dual display support
  • Integrated high precision 300MHz triple 10-bit DAC supports resolutions up to 2048x1536
FLAT PANEL MONITOR SUPPORT
  • 12-bit digital output to support DVI, DFP and VESA P&D via external TMDS
  • Supports up to 1600x1200 screen resolution for LCD panels
TV-OUT SUPPORT
  • Integrated TV encoder with composite, S-Video, and RGB interfaces
  • Supports PAL/NTSC TV formats
  • 10-bit DAC with 8-tap filter and ATI-exclusive enhancements
  • Macrovision 7.02 copy protection standard
  • Supports up to 1024x768 32bpp mode
OPTIMIZED SOFTWARE SUPPORT
  • Microsoft DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL® drivers
  • Unified driver support for all RADEON discrete and integrated graphics products
  • Support for Microsoft Windows® XP, Windows® 2000, and Windows® Me




ATI 9100 IGP PRO Reference Board: Basic Features


 ATI RS350 Reference Motherboard Specifications
CPU Interface Socket 478
Chipset 9100 IGP PRO/IXP320
Bus Speeds 800, 533, 400 (by CPU), Not Adjustable
Memory Speeds Synchronous, 100,133,166,200
Video Integrated 9100 IGP PRO or AGP 8X
Video Frame Buffer 32MB, 64MB, or 128MB
AGP Aperture 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, None
Display Options CRT, CLD, DFP, or TV
2 devices may be driven in combination
TV Standards NTSC, PAL, PAL-M, PAL-60, NTSC-JAP, PAL-CN, PAL-N, SCART-RGB
PCI/AGP Speeds 66/33
Core Voltage None available on Reference Board
DRAM Voltage None available on Reference Board
AGP Voltage None available on Reference Board
Memory Slots Four 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots
Dual-Channel Configuration
Regular Unbuffered Memory to 4GB Total
Expansion Slots 1 AGP 8X Slot
5 PCI Slots
Onboard Serial ATA/RAID 2 Drives by IXP320
SATA RAID 0,1
Onboard IDE Two Standard ATA133/100/66 (4 drives)
Up to 3 ATA (6 drives) can be Supported
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by IXP320
2 by VIA6306 (Additional Chip Option)
Onboard LAN 10/100 Ethernet by IXP320
Onboard Modem v.90 Modem
Onboard Audio AC '97 2.3 6-Channel supported by IXP320
Audio codec
BIOS Revision Reference Board (4/21/04)


Reference Boards are quite different from the production boards that will ship with the Reference Board chipset. While certain component arrangements may be retained from a Reference Board, we are evaluating a board designed for testing and qualification, and generally not for production. They are also normally designed to be tested on the bench, out of any case.



With 2 SATA Ports, 8 USB 2.0/1.1 ports, Dual-Channel Memory support, ATA133 IDE, 10/100 Ethernet-v.90 Modem, and the higher level 6-channel 2.3 AC'97 coded support, the ATI 9100 IGP PRO with IXP320 Southbridge compares favorably in features with Intel 865/875, SiS 655TX, or VIA PT880. There is no Firewire on the chipset, so Firewire must be added with an additional chip or a PCI Firewire card. Our Reference Board had Firewire Ports added with a VIA Firewire chip.

The 9100 IGP PRO does support SATA RAID capabilities. The IXP 320 southbridge on the Reference Board supports 2 SATA drives, while an optional IXP 400 southbridge will support up to 4 SATA drives. IXP 400 is aimed more at manufacturers who would use the RS350 in a high-end motherboard. Designers of high-end 9100 IGP PRO boards can also add additional drive support and RAID capabilities with additional chips.




Comparing Northwood and Prescott

One of the biggest surprises when testing began on the RS350 was ATI's strong recommendation that all benchmarking be done with a 2.8E Prescott. Since the 2.8E is readily available, and higher-speed Prescott's are just starting to appear in the marketplace, the 2.8 speed recommendation made sense. You can buy a 2.8E ,and it is the price level chip many might choose to use in an integrated video system.

However, in our comparisons of Prescott to Northwood and the 3.2EE, we had found the Prescott to lag behind the 3.2C and 3.2EE. You can see more information on the AnandTech comparisons at:

Intel 3.2E vs. 3.2EE vs. 3.2C: Comparing Baseline Performance
Intel's Pentium 4 E: Prescott Arrives with Luggage

Not only did we find Prescott slower than Northwood at 3.2GHz in our past comparisons, we also found that the performance difference increased as speed decreased. In other words, there should be a wider difference in the performance of a 2.8E and 2.8C than you find with 3.2GHz parts.

ATI was clear that the RS350 had been tweaked for best performance with the 2.8E Prescott. Since we did not have recent baseline benchmark tests with a 2.8C on an Intel chipset board, it was the perfect opportunity to test what ATI was saying. Can the 2.8E Prescott perform as well or better than the 2.8C on a chipset tweaked for Prescott performance? How does this compare with performance of the Northwood and Prescott on our standard Asus P4C800-E motherboard?




Performance Test Configuration: 2.8E vs 2.8C

Frankly, our first tests were designed to be an unfair comparison. Since the Intel 865G is used for comparisons of the on-board graphics later in the review, we compared the 2.8E and 2.8C on the RS350 Reference Board and a top-performing Intel 875P motherboard. We think you will find the performance results very interesting.

 Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s): Intel 2.8E Prescott (Retail)
Intel 2.8C Northwood (Retail)
RAM: 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd OR
2 x 512MB Mushkin PC3500 Level II
Hard Drive(s): Seagate 120GB 7200RPM (8Mb buffer)
Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers: ATI Platform Driver 8.01 Beta
Intel Chipset Drivers
Video Card(s): ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB (AGP 8X)
Video Drivers: ATI Catalyst 4.4
Operating System(s): Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboards: ATI 9100 IGP PRO Reference Board
Asus P4C800-E (i875)

All benchmarks were run on both boards with our current standard ATI 9800 PRO 128MB video card. We also used our standard Winbond BH5 DIMMs for testing, which provided another disadvantage for the ATI RS350, since the fastest stable timings that we could achieve on the RS350 were 2-2-3-5 compared to 2-2-2-5 on the Asus P4C800-E.

As is our normal test procedure, AGP Aperture was set to 128MB with Fast Write enabled. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1024x768x32.

Since all new tests were run to compare performance of the 2.8E and 2.8C, we included PCMark2004 from FutureMark in our comparison. We have been running PCMark2004 on all recent motherboard tests to establish a database to include PCMark 2004 in future motherboard and system tests.




2.8E vs 2.8C: DirectX 8/Open GL Gaming Performance


Gaming Performance - 2.8E vs 2.8C

Gaming Performance - 2.8E vs 2.8C

Gaming Performance - 2.8E vs 2.8C

Gaming Performance - 2.8E vs 2.8C

Gaming Performance - 2.8E vs 2.8C

Gaming Performance - 2.8E vs 2.8C

After our disappointing results with Prescott in earlier testing, we were extremely skeptical about ATI's claim that RS350 performed best with Prescott. You can see for yourself that ATI wasn't kidding. Across the board in OpenGL games like Quake 3 and DirectX 8 games like X2, Comanche 4, and Unreal Tournament 2003, Prescott is the faster processor on the ATI chipset.

While the results are clear enough - 875 is faster with Northwood and RS350 is fastest with Prescott - we were frankly surprised that tweaking for Prescott could make this much difference in performance. Prescott on the RS350 is at least the equal of Northwood, and most times it is faster. The 875 shows the exact reverse of this pattern.

Certainly, the larger implications are that we can expect chipsets designed primarily to work with Prescott to perform better compared to Northwood than current Intel platform chipsets.




2.8E vs 2.8C: DirectX 9 Gaming Performance


Gaming Performance  - 2.8E vs 2.8C

Gaming Performance - 2.8E vs 2.8C

Again, in Direct X 9 games like Halo and Aquamark 3, Prescott is at least as good as Northwood in performance on the ATI chipset. It certainly appears that ATI is providing us good information here. RS350 is tweaked for Prescott and if you're also buying a new processor with a 9100 IGP PRO, you will be better off with a Prescott or "E" series CPU.




2.8E vs 2.8C: General Performance


General Performance - 2.8E vs 2.8C

PCMark2004 is turning out to be a much better benchmark for measuring system performance than the earlier 2002 version. As we have compilied a database of PCMark2004 results, we are finding the 2004 version to be a good measure of overall system performance, which is confirmed by other benchmarks.

ATI Radeon 9100 IGP PRO exhibits the same behavior here as in the other tests comparing Prescott and Northwood. While the differences are small, RS350 performs the same or better with the Prescott "E" processor.




Comparing Integrated Graphics

The integrated graphics of the ATI 9100 IGP PRO remains essentially the same as the graphics released six months ago as the RS300 chipset. The 9100 IGP is still the fastest integrated graphics that you can find for an Intel processor. While it is true that the 9100 IGP PRO is still built on a DirectX 8.1 part, ATI is now emphasizing the fact that the new PRO chipset is designed to work with DirectX 9.0B. This is likely due to the confusion many expressed over a DirectX 8.1 graphics part in the RS300 release.

While DX8.1 may not run DX9 games to their best advantage, the 9100 IGP PRO can definitely run DirectX 9 games with the integrated ATI graphics. While often very slow, there was not a single DX9 game we tested that would not run on the 9100 IGP PRO with DirectX 9.0B installed.

Many also overlook the fact that Intel 865G integrated graphics are based on the even older DirectX 7 standard. Looking at a technology comparison between the RADEON 9100 PRO IGP and the Intel 865G, it is easy to see why the 9100 IGP family should significantly outperform the Intel 865G in almost any graphics testing.




Click to enlarge.


Performance was compared between the integrated Intel Intense Graphics 2 on the Intel 865G and the integrated 9100 IGP of the RS350. In both cases, we used the 2.8E Prescott that performed as well or better than Northwood in our testing on the RS350. Since ATI 9100 IGP PRO is so much faster than Intel 865G graphics, the fact that the 865G may have performed slightly faster with a 2.8C CPU is largely irrelevant, since the impact on our test results would have been minimal, and that difference is lost in the large performance delta between the integrated graphics solutions.




Performance Test Configuration: Integrated Graphics


 Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s): Intel 2.8E Prescott (Retail)
Intel 2.8C Northwood (Retail)
RAM: 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd OR
2 x 512MB Mushkin PC3500 Level II
Hard Drive(s): Seagate 120GB 7200RPM (8Mb buffer)
Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers: ATI Platform Driver 8.01 Beta
Intel Chipset Drivers
Video Card(s): Integrated 9100 IGP PRO (64MB Frame Buffer)
Integrated 865G (64MB Frame Buffer)
Video Drivers: ATI Catalyst 2.2 Platform
Intel Graphics Driver 14.1 (2/10/04)
Operating System(s): Windows XP Professional SP1
Motherboards: ATI 9100 IGP PRO Reference Board
Intel D865GBF (865G)

Benchmarks used either Mushkin PC3500 Level II or OCZ PC3500 Platinum Ltd memory modules. Both DIMMs use Winbond BH5 chips and perform virtually the same in our tests.

All performance tests were run with the onboard integrated graphics using a 64MB frame buffer for the fairest comparison. Intel 865G graphics have a maximum 64MB frame buffer while the ATI integrated 9100 graphics allow a frame buffer to 128MB. The AGP aperture was set to 256MB with Fast Write enabled. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1024x768x32 unless otherwise noted.

Additions to Performance Tests

Future Mark PCMark2004 is included to measure General Performance in addition to our standard Veritest Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004 and Veritest Business Winstone 2004 for system benchmarking.

Game Benchmarks

Games were run in our standard motherboard test configurations except for Splinter Cell. Since Splinter Cell requires a 128MB frame buffer for High Shadow Resolution, we were forced to reduce Shadow Resolution to medium to allow the Splinter Cell benchmark to run. All other Splinter Cell settings are the same as used in other benchmark testing.




Integrated Graphics: General Performance and Media Encoding


IG General Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

IG Content Creation Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

IG General Usage Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

IG MPEG-4 Encoding Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

The Intel processors on Intel chipsets have always done exceptionally well in Media Encoding benchmarks. For that reason, it was a pleasant surprise to see the RS350 perform about the same as the Intel 865 in our 2-pass Encoding benchmark.

At the low numbers we see in Winstone 2004, an advantage of more than a point in the Multimedia Content Creation Benchmark does mean better performance with the RS350. We suspect that the better graphics performance of the 9100 IGP is contributing to the better performance of the RS350 in this benchmark, since Business Winstone results are all but the same.

PCMark 2004 also appears sensitive to the better graphics performance of the ATI chipset, which is one of the reasons it is a useful benchmark for measuring system performance. General Performance benchmarks are generally not very sensitive to differences in graphics capabilities - they are more sensitive to CPU scaling. As a result, these benchmarks are the closest that you will find in our tests comparing Intel 865G and ATI 9100 IGP PRO.




Integrated Graphics: Memory Bandwidth Performance


IG Science Mark 2 Memory Performance

IG SiSoft Sandra 2004 Memory Performance

In earlier reviews, the memory bandwidth of the RS300 trailed the Intel 865/875 chipsets. As you can clearly see, ATI has significantly enhanced the performance of the memory controller in the 9100 IGP PRO. In both Sciencemark 2 and SiSoft Sandra 2004 Buffered Memory Test, the performance of the RS350 is as good as or better than the outstanding Intel 865 memory performance. While the 865G and RS350 were tested with Integrated Graphics, the 875P was tested with a Radeon 9800 PRO. It is amazing to see that the 9100 IGP PRO even keeps up completely with the even faster 875 in Sandra 2004.

There are some test concerns in memory. The results we found with the Sandra Unbuffered Memory Test used in our Memory benchmarking are much lower with the RS350 than with Intel chipsets. Since there are no other indications of memory anomalies in our other benchmarks, we suspect that the problem is with the Sandra unbuffered memory test on the RS350 chipset. Until we find out more, we would suggest that you ignore Sandra unbuffered test results on the RS350 as a comparative chipset benchmark. Frankly, we don't believe that Unbuffered Dual-Channel memory is 1900MB/sec on the RS350 and 2800MB/sec on the Intel 865 when no other benchmarks show this pattern. This is why the unbuffered benchmarks are not charted in the memory tests.




Integrated Graphics: DirectX 8/OpenGL Gaming Performance


IG Gaming Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

IG Gaming Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

IG Gaming Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

IG Gaming Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

IG Gaming Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

We do so much testing with high-end graphics cards that we sometimes forget that the 9100 IGP PRO would be better than average performance for most computer users. The RS350 trounces the Intel 865G in every gaming benchmark, and the frame rates we found in OpenGL and Direct 8 games would generally be considered playable on the RS350. The one exception is Comanche 4, but we do run that benchmark with 4X AA enabled; with AA turned off, the frame rates do improve to more playable levels in that game.

Unfortunately, about the only game with playable frame rates on the Intel 865G is the older OpenGL Quake 3. X2, Comanche 4, and Unreal Tournament 2003 are not pretty at 10 to 20 fps on an 865G.




Integrated Graphics: DirectX 9 Gaming Performance


IG Gaming Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

IG Gaming Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

IG Gaming Performance - Integrated Graphics 2.8E

While we installed DirectX 9.0B with the 9100 IGP PRO and we were able to run every DX9 game in our tests, the question is whether or not you really want to do that. Splinter Cell is playable at 1024, particularly if you turn off some of the "eye-candy" features. Halo and Aquamark, on the other hand, really should be played on the RS350 chipset at 800x600 or 640X480, which greatly improves frame rate.

At least the option is there to still play DX9 games on the ATI integrated graphics - though, we would recommend the lower resolutions for the most demanding games. The Intel 865G does not allow any playable frame rates at any resolutions with DX9 games, and Halo would not even run.




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)
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)
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.




Final Words

The fact that the ATI RS350 performed best with an Intel Prescott chipset was quite a surprise. Clearly, chipsets that are optimized for Prescott E chips appear to have the potential to perform better with Prescott than earlier chipsets like the Intel 865/875, which were primarily designed for Northwood operation. If you plan to buy a Prescott Socket 478 processor, the ATI 9100 IGP PRO is a great match to that CPU.

On a larger plane, this gives us great hopes for the performance capabilities of upcoming chipsets for Prescott Socket 775. Please keep in mind that RS350 can also be used with Socket 775, so you are also looking at the first Socket 775 chipset to hit the market.

Consider the Prescott/775 perspective just one part of the picture. In all of our tests, the RS350 finally performs about the same as a chipset as the best Intel 865/875 chipsets. This means that the 9100 IGP PRO can be considered an equivalent choice to the Intel 865/875 chipsets - and a preferred choice to the 865/875 with a Prescott CPU. We know that this was where ATI was aiming with RS350, and it certainly appears ATI succeeded in reaching this goal. Performance in every area is improved compared to our earlier tests of the RS300. The memory controller in particular has moved from ho-hum to fully competitive with Intel's best. If you do not overclock your system, then we know that the 9100 IGP PRO will serve you very well as a platform for your Intel CPU - particularly if that processor has a name ending in "E" .

Our concern is what we still don't know about RS350 after looking at the Reference board. There were absolutely no overclocking options at all on the Reference Platform, which is often the case with Reference Boards. While ATI is enthusiastically telling us the overclocking will be great on RS350, we would like to see that for ourselves. There are other competent Pentium 4 chipsets out there besides Intel, namely the SiS655TX and the VIA PT880. However, with the exception of a lone board based on the SiS655TX, they all suffer from poor overclocking performance compared to the remarkable overclocking that we have enjoyed with Intel 865/875 for the past year. This makes all 4 of these boards decent choices for the computer user who never longs to reach new heights with his Pentium 4, but until we see some convincing evidence, Intel is mostly alone at the top in overclocking capabilities.

We are certain ATI is sincere in their claims about the overclocking capabilities of the IGP PRO chipset, and we will join them in proclaiming the RS350 to be an outstanding choice for Intel processors just as soon as we can confirm those promised overclocking numbers.

There are some areas where the RS350 should be your choice regardless of where it goes with overclocking. Now that the performance is equivalent to the 865 as a chipset, there is every reason to choose the 9100 IGP PRO over the Intel 865G, if you are shopping for integrated graphics. As an integrated graphics solution, the 9100 IGP PRO is far superior to Intel's integrated graphics. If you plan to do any gaming at all with an integrated chipset, at least you can function with the RS350, something we cannot say for gaming on the 865G, unless Quake 3 is the only game you will ever play. You can even play Direct X 9 games with the RS350 if you are willing to run at lower resolutions for playable frame rates.

ATI did an excellent job in updating their integrated chipset. The 9100 IGP PRO is now a chipset that you should seriously consider for your next Intel purchase, particularly if that purchase includes a Prescott, or where that purchase will only include integrated graphics. Intel's upcoming 915/925X will likely bring the same performance boost to Prescott, but for now, the RS350 is the only one on the market that shines so brightly with the P4E chips. This time around, ATI's chipset is able to compete with the best on the market. If overclocking lives up to the other improvements in the ATI integrated chipset, then the 9100 IGP PRO will definitely belong on your short shopping list for motherboards for the Pentium 4.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now