Integrated Graphics
EPOX have incorporated the NVIDIA MX graphics controller into the 8RGA+ motherboard. As explained earlier the graphics memory is utlized from the main system memory and as we had plenty to play with we gave the MX its maximum 128MB to use. The system operates the graphics using AGP X4 and it contains support for DX8, not DX9 you can see this because it will not run the nature test. The 42.72 NVIDIA drivers provided the usual array of tweaking tools, including overclocking of the graphics core and image quality. Anisotropic filtering is available up to 2x and antialiasing up to 4x. The board also has twin VGA sockets enabling two monitors to be connected at the same time.
Normally we would expect on board graphics to only be useful for office type 2D applications and maybe DVD playback. The 8RGA+ does indeed offer excellent 2D quality and DVD playback, but this little devil does not stop there… oh no. The MX graphics can even be used, quite happily, for 3D gaming.
Let me explain. We put the integrated MX GPU up against the Radeon 9000 Pro, and tested them both in 3D Mark2001 SE, Unreal Tournament 2003 and Quake III. I think you may find these results a little surprising.
Throughout these tests the NF2 Northbridge remained only warm to the touch, EPOX have provided just the right amount of cooling to ensure that the MX graphics can be run successfully. This should also leave plenty of scope for overclocking.
Basically we felt that the on board graphics could easily be used to play games like UT2003 at 1024x768. Only when AA and AF are enabled does it begin to show signs of stress. With no DX9 support, maybe game playing with the integrated graphics will be short lived, but for now, it’s absolutely fine.
Yes, the on board graphics are not as good as a budget dedicated AGP card, but they are significantly better than anything we have tested on an ATX motherboard so far.
There seems little point telling you much about DVD and DivX playback other than that it is perfect.
Overclocking the MX graphics was very easy and did not require additional software. The settings can be changed either in the Bios or through the advanced tab in the driver menu. The bios report the stock speed at 100 MHz, which is the speed of the link to the memory controllers. The performance of the card indicates that 200 MHz is the true speed of the graphics core; therefore we presume that the true speed is double the bios. We tested the board using some of the best equipment we could lay our hands on. This really is a fast board, with massive potential and we make no apologies for wanting to show it off with some good numbers.
