Hardware Secrets
Home | Camera | Case | CE | Cooling | CPU | Input | Memory | Mobile | Motherboard | Networking | Power | Storage | Video | Other
Content
Articles
First Look
Gabriel's Blog
News
Reviews
Tutorials
Main Menu
About Us
Awarded Products
Compare Prices
Datasheets
Dictionary
Download
Drivers
Forums
Links
Manufacturer Finder
Newsletter
On The Web
RSS Feed
Test Your Skills
Twitter
Newsletter
Subscribe today!
Search




Recommended
Upgrading and Repairing PCs (18th Edition)
Upgrading and Repairing PCs (18th Edition), by Scott Mueller (Que), starting at $35.85
Home » Motherboard
ECS GF8200A Black Series Motherboard Review
Author: Gabriel Torres
Type: Reviews Last Updated: July 9, 2008
Page: 5 of 13
$ Check REAL-TIME pricing for ECS BLACK Series GF8200A nVidia GeForce 8200 AM2 Phenom FX / X4 X2 Athlon /AM2 64 Sempron Socket 2600 MHz PC2-8500 DDR2-1066 ATX $.
ZipZoomFly: $71.99 Newegg: $79.99

How We Tested

During our benchmarking sessions we used the configuration listed below. Between our benchmarking sessions the only variable device was the motherboard being tested and the addition or removal of a “real” video card (Sapphire Radeon HD 3450).

Hardware Configuration

Software Configuration

  • Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
  • Service Pack 1
Driver Versions
  • nVidia nForce driver version (includes video driver): 18.11
  • ATI motherboard/video driver version: Catalyst 8.6
Used Software

Some Information About our Methodology

Both motherboards included in our comparison were configured with 256 MB shared memory.

Since we were reviewing a low-end motherboard with on-board video, we were very interested in comparing its 3D video performance with the performance achieved by its main competitor and also with a very low-end video card, so we could have an idea of how slower on-board video is compared to a very inexpensive video card. We chose Sapphire Radeon HD 3450 with 256 MB and 64-bit memory interface because this is one of the cheapest video cards available today.

Also because we are talking about an entry-level system, we chose an entry-level CPU to go with the motherboard, an Athlon X2 4600+. This CPU doesn't suffer from the problem some AMD CPUs have of not being able to access memories at their full speed.

Even though we had DDR2-1066 memories, we configured them as DDR2-800 units, for two reasons. First, entry-level PCs won’t use DDR2-1066 memories and, second, Athlon X2 can only access memories up to 800 MHz.

We tried to use 3DMark Vantage but this program couldn’t run even on its lowest configuration.

Error Margin

We adopted a 3% error margin. Thus differences below 3% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 3% should be considered as having similar performance.

Pages (13): « 1 2 3 4 [5] 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 »
Print Version | Send to Friend | | Bookmark Article | Comments (8)

Related Content
  • Sapphire PI-AM2RS780G Motherboard Review
  • ECS A790GXM-A Black Series Motherboard Review
  • ECS GF9300T-A Black Series Motherboard Review
  • Gigabyte MA78GM-S2H Motherboard
  • Gigabyte M61PME-S2 Motherboard

  • Recommended Deal.
    X58 S.1366 S1366 iX58 ATX LGA1366 MotherboardAsus P6T Motherboard - LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA SLI Ready CrossFireX Triple Channel DDR3 support RAID Hyperthreading


    TigerDirect: $239.99 Newegg: $239.99
    CircuitCity: $239.99 Directron: $239.99

    RSSLatest News
    IN WIN LAN Party in Southern California
    November 20, 2009 - 12:37 PM PST
    Patriot Announces PS-100 SSD Series
    November 19, 2009 - 7:30 AM PST
    Antec Launches TPQ-1200 PSU
    November 18, 2009 - 11:30 AM PST
    AMD/ATI Launches Radeon HD 5970
    November 18, 2009 - 10:18 AM PST
    OCZ Launches Colossus SSD Series
    November 17, 2009 - 1:39 PM PST
    NZXT Unleashes Tempest EVO Mid-Tower Case
    November 17, 2009 - 1:06 PM PST
    nVidia Launches GeForce GT 240
    November 17, 2009 - 10:18 AM PST
    Arctic Cooling Announces Accelero TWIN TURBO PRO VGA Cooler
    November 16, 2009 - 11:46 AM PST
    PowerColor Announces PLAY! HD5770 Video Card
    November 13, 2009 - 12:51 PM PST
    G.Skill Announces Falcon II SSD Series
    November 11, 2009 - 3:31 PM PST
    .:: More News ::.

    RSSLatest Content
    Ultra X4 500 W Power Supply Review
    Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB Hard Disk Drive Review
    Nintendo Wii Fit Plus Review
    AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table
    nVidia Chips Comparison Table
    Gigabyte G41M-ES2L Motherboard
    Netflix on Playstation 3 Review
    CM Storm Sentinel Advance Mouse Review
    Titan Skalli CPU Cooler Review
    Nexus RX-6300 630 W Power Supply Review
    Gigabyte P55-UD6 Motherboard
    Nintendo Wii Review
    SilverStone Grandia GD04 Case Review
    Can We Trust the 80 Plus Certification?
    NZXT Gamma Case Review

    Our Most Popular Articles
    Maximum CPU Temperature
    1,078,113 views
    How to Find Out Your Motherboard Manufacturer and Model
    705,860 views
    nVidia Chips Comparison Table
    678,881 views
    Connecting Two PCs Using a USB-USB Cable
    593,153 views
    How To Correctly Apply Thermal Grease
    562,270 views
    AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table
    559,899 views
    ATI Radeon X1300 Pro Review
    487,869 views
    ATI Radeon X1600 XT Review
    477,021 views
    How To Perform a BIOS Upgrade
    394,313 views
    Sempron vs. Athlon XP
    338,444 views

    Latest Threads in Our Forums
    Ultra X4 500 W Power Supply Review
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Dell Inspiron 6000 Powers but will not boot...
    by pistonpete
    IN WIN LAN Party in Southern California
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Getting A Hard Copy
    by Trevorrross
    Am I Making The Right Choice?
    by need2know
    Is it available to mount the Zalman cooler?
    by Olle P
    dsl modem prob
    by Sherry
    Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB Hard Disk Drive Review
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Overclocking a dell xps 410
    by 6dracing
    How to recover mp3's, pdf & chm files, applications from formated harddrive partition
    by tomahawk 1705
    .:: Visit Our Forums ::.


    © 2004-9, Hardware Secrets, LLC. All rights reserved.
    Advertising | Legal Information | Privacy Policy
    All times are Pacific Standard Time (PST, GMT -08:00)