First post, by PixelOCDGuy
Hi Everyone,
I'm not sure if I've missed something or this motherboard is a dud. While I wasn't expecting great speeds on any games released after 2000, I was expecting it to be OK for the old ones I play released between '95-99. Even 2D games are bad.
Here are the specs:
SiS 530 / AMD K6-2 450Mhz / 256MB PC100 SDRAM
what I compared it to:
DFI P2XBL (440BX) / Intel PII 350Mhz / 192MB mixed PC100 SDRAM
Same graphics card, a Matrox Millennium G450 PCI (the SIS 530 doesn't have an AGP port, this is used by the IGP).
Anecdotally, The 440BX destroys the Sis 530.
I've ran the usual benchmarks (Final Reality, 3DMark99 & 2k), while I didn't record the result I cancelled it on the SiS 530 because it was so bad. I'm talking 10 fps on average on 3DMark99. Whereas the 440BX ran 2k around 30fps.
I've updated the BIOS, checked the meagre amount of settings, and there isn't much I can do. The IGP is just as bad, max shared RAM is 8MB even though its AGP.
My assumption is IGP is poor, and the PCI bus is a severe bottle neck. What I don't get is why the Intel was so much better even over PCI.
Any suggestions would be welcome.