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Iwill XP333-R Motherboard Review
Iwill XP333-R Motherboard Review - PCSTATS
IWill has made quite a name for themselves by catering towards the enthusiast market with a wide lineup of good motherboard solutions.
 81% Rating:   
Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Iwill Jan 17 2002   C. Sun  
Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Iwill XP333-R

Gaming Benchmarks and Conclusions

3DMark2001 Source: MadOnion

3DMark2001 is the latest installment in the 3DMark series by MadOnion. By combining DirectX8 support with completely new graphics, it continues to provide good overall system benchmarks. 3DMark2001 has been created in cooperation with the major 3D accelerator and processor manufacturers to provide a reliable set of diagnostic tools. The suite demonstrates 3D gaming performance by using real-world gaming technology to test a system's true performance abilities. Tests include: DirectX8 Vertex Shaders, Pixel Shaders and Point Sprites, DOT3 and Environment Mapped Bump Mapping, support for Full Scene Anti-aliasing and Texture Compression and two game tests using Ipion real-time physics. Higher 3DMark scores denote better performance.

3DMark 2001 Benchmark Results
FSB 3DMarks Ranking
1.

133 MHz

7867

2.

166 MHz

8512

3DMark2001 is notorious for loving high FSB's and here there is a very large gain in performance when the bus is cranked up to 166MHz.

Serious Sam: The First Encounter

Source: CroTeam

Serious Sam is a game that uses OpenGL and is a little more advanced than the now retired Quake III Arena. Croteam have also recently announced that Serious Sam, the 2nd Encounter is ready for production, so there is still life to this game as a benchmark, whereas QIII is surplanted by RTCW. Higher numbers denote faster frames per second (FPS), and hence, better performance.

Serious Sam (640x480 Normal suburbs) Benchmark Results
FSB (FPS) Ranking
1.

133 MHz

124.3

2.

166 MHz

141.2

Serious Sam (640x480 Normal dunes) Benchmark Results
FSB (FPS) Ranking
1.

133 MHz

152.5

2.

166 MHz

173.5

Serious Sam (1024x768 Quality Suburbs) Benchmark Results
FSB (FPS) Ranking
1.

133 MHz

90.6

2.

166 MHz

95.5

Serious Sam (1024x768 Quality dunes) Benchmark Results
FSB (FPS) Ranking
1.

133 MHz

125.6

2.

166 MHz

134.6

At lower resolutions, where the video card doesn't play a factor, the differences between the two systems is about 13%. When the resolution is turned up a notch, even the mighty GeForce3 Ti500 is starting to become a bottleneck! Differences here are less then 10% at those settings.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Source: ID Software

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a relatively new game benchmark. However, RTCW takes up where Quake III left off and continues to form the basis of the first person shooter system stressing that QIII has become a hallmark for. Based upon the Quake III engine, RTCS is obviously going to be quite taxing on even a top end system. Higher numbers denote faster frames per second (FPS), and hence, better performance.

RTCW (640x480 atdemo6) Benchmark Results
FSB (FPS) Ranking
1.

133 MHz

52.2

2.

166 MHz

57.2

RTCW (640x480 atdemo8) Benchmark Results
Processor (FPS) Ranking
1.

133 MHz

138.1

2.

166 MHz

154

RTCW (1024x768 atdemo6) Benchmark Results
Processor (FPS) Ranking
1.

133 MHz

51.5

2.

166 MHz

54.9

RTCW (1024x768 atdemo8) Benchmark Results
Processor (FPS) Ranking
1.

133 MHz

134.9

2.

166 MHz

149.7

Finally, some performance differences that a person would notice! It's common knowledge that Quake III Arena loved high FSB's/memory bandwidth, and when the FSB is upped to 166 MHz it leads to a very healthy gain!

In fact, it would probably allow a player to play at 1 notch higher in terms of resolution!

Conclusions:

Overall, IWill has done a good job with the XP333-R. The board was the picture of a stable system, overclocks well and it's loaded with features. However, with the good inevitably come the not so good, and for IWill most of the boards in this class are at about the same performance levels. With the competition coming from the KT266A the XP333-R doesn't really have the massive lead DDR333 should have brought. VIA's KT266A chipset still maintains a short lead.

 In one corner we have features, and IWill manages to pack in a full army of them. The inclusion of the HPT372 HighPoint controller brings ATA133 into the picture the potential for improved hard disk access. Six channel audio is something the consumer has been asking for relentlessly, and the XP333-R again gets full marks there.

Care is taken to provide users with both accessible access to the processor socket, and protection from sloppy installation by users intent on now!-now!-now! instead of looking out for the PCB when a screwdriver slips. Two hard pieces of plastic have been layed below the socket clips to prevent damage to the trace lines in those slip-ups. Clearance for large heatsinks looks like this; 15mm on either side of socket where the clips are and the same amount to the left and right.

4mm mounting holes in the PCB allow users with their Swiftech, Zalman or Alpha heatsinks to bolt them right on and forgo the socket clips altogether. With a relatively good board layout and very organized three-phase power supply, the XP333-R has a lot going for it, and support for DDR-333 is just one more potential benefit for the future.

< Previous Page © 2023 PCSTATS.com Motherboards Reviews...»

 

Contents of Article: Iwill XP333-R
 Pg 1.  Iwill XP333-R Motherboard Review
 Pg 2.  BIOS Feature and MicroStepping
 Pg 3.  System Spec's and benchmarks
 Pg 4.  — Gaming Benchmarks and Conclusions

 
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