We measured the overall performance of this motherboard using SYSmark2004, which is a software that simulates the use of real-world applications. Thus, we consider this the best software to measure, in practical terms, the system performance.

The benchmarks are divided into two groups:

• Internet Content Creation: Simulates the authoring of a website containing text, images, videos and animations. The following programs are used: Adobe After Effects 5.5, Adobe Photoshop 7.01, Adobe Premiere 6.5, Discreet 3ds Max 5.1, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, Macromedia Flash MX, Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9, McAfee VirusScan 7.0 and Winzip 8.1.
• Office Productivity: Simulates the use of an office suite, i.e. simulates sending e-mails, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. The following programs are used: Adobe Acrobat 5.05, Microsoft Office XP SP2, Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, NaturallySpeaking 6, McAfee VirusScan 7.0 and Winzip 8.1.

The software delivers specific results for each batch and also an overall performance result, all in a specific SYSmark2004 unit.

We selected the following motherboards to compare to ECS RS482-M: Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (nForce 4 Ultra) and WinFast 6100K8MA-RS (GeForce 6100 + nForce 410).

The motherboards were tested two times. One with their on-board video enabled and another using a GeForce 6600 GT 128 MB installed in order to see if their on-board video played any role on the motherboard processing performance. We also used this configuration to see how was the performance of the reviewed motherboard compared to a mainstream motherboard based on nForce 4 Ultra chipset with a GeForce 6600 GT installed.

The results published on this review cannot be compared to the results from other reviews we published, as the BIOS and drivers we used were newer ones.

You can see the results on the chart below.

SYSmark 2004 - Score	Score	Difference
Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS (nForce4 Ultra) + GeForce 6600 GT	189	+7.39%
Foxconn WinFast 6100K8MA-RS (GeForce 6100 + nForce 410) on-board	180	+2.27%
Foxconn WinFast 6100K8MA-RS (GeForce 6100 + nForce 410) + GeForce 6600 GT	180	+2.27%
ECS RS482-M (ATI Xpress 200 - RS482 + SB400) + GeForce 6600 GT	178	+1.14%
ECS RS482-M (ATI Xpress 200 - RS482 + SB400) on-board	176

On SYSmark 2004 ECS RS482-M achieved a performance similar to the other motherboard with on-board video we tested, WinFast 6100K8MA-RS (GeForce 6100 + nForce 410), and the on-board video didn’t have any influence on the performance of the reviewed board.

A mainstream motherboard based on nForce 4 Ultra chipset (Foxconn WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS) was 7.39% faster than the reviewed motherboard, achieving a good advantage at Office Productivity suite.

Of course this comparison isn’t fair, but just for you to have an idea of the performance difference between an entry-level motherboard and a high-end one on SYSmark2004.