System setup and notes
Here's a quick rundown of the test system should you wish to compare benchmark results with your own.- Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz HT S478 Northwood CPU (800FSB)
- AMD Barton XP3
Common components
- ATi Radeon 9800 Pro (380/340)
- 2 x 256MB Corsair XMS3500C2 run at 2-6-2-2 at DDR-400 for
Software
- Windows XP Professional Build 2600.xpclient.010817-1148
- DirectX9
- Intel 5.00.1012 chipset drivers
- NVIDIA nForce 2.03 drivers
- ATI CATALYST 3.2 drivers and control panel (6307s)
- Pifast v41 to 10m places
- L
Notes and issues
We faced no issues or anomalies when installing or using this motherboard. We manually flashed from the 11 to 13 BIOS without problems, and this sample IC7-G booted flawlessly each and every time. It's always nice when everything works just as it should. The board was loaded up with RAM and a couple of PCI slots were used. No problems to report. The IC7-G will be compared to two ASUS boards in their Canterwood and Springdale designs. Please remember that the Springdale version uses phenomenal memory settings, thus giving it extraordinary performance at what's considered stock speeds. It's important to mention the explicit CPU speeds run by each motherboard.3030.2MHz - ASUS P4C800 Deluxe and ASUS P4P800 Deluxe
3007.52MHz - ABIT IC7-G
2205.3MHz - EPoX 8RDA3+ (AMD Barton 3200)
ASUS are guilty of inflating their boards' FSB again. ABIT play it safe.
FSB Overclocking
Here's where the fun starts. With a 12x multiplier available and lots of voltage, we were a little dismayed to see the board fail to load Windows XP at anything above 270FSB. The board would simply hang when trying to load the OS. Memory speeds were set asynchronously so as not to affect the FSB overclock. You may be questioning our lack of enthusiasm for what appears to be an impressive FSB. Bear in mind that a number of i865/875 boards have hit 285FSB+ with comparative ease. Of course, your personal mileage will vary considerably.
