As I tested by mistake the SSD in the nforce4 system i retested only the raptor attached as secondary drive. Please note the enormous difference between a SSD and the fastest period correct hard drive despite using SATA 150 on all the boards.
Processor and memory score are extremely close on all 4 platforms as they should be; what is striking is the graphic score of the ULI system - way behind the rest!

Before going onto game testing let's finish all synthetic tests with 2 CPU benchmarks!

55. Super pi - a purely CPU test where a shorter time constitutes a better result:
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

Everything is for all intents and purposes, equal!

56. Next is Cinebench 2003 - we are interested in the CPU score only:
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

Abit NV8 is in front, however the advantage is tiny!

57. And we reached the most controversial test: Tom2D. Measuring GUI performance, it provided VIA with the boost it needed to even the score with nforce4 with the Clawhammer 3400.
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

VIA no longer holds the competition hostage with "surreal" advantage in Tom2d! A simple change in CPU "breaks" the test!

37. Finally we reached the games; the first one is the Directx8 Unreal tournament 2004. Umark benchmark utility refuses to run with UT 2k4 GOG edition that I have so I used fraps to test the Death match Antalus map in spectate mode. After loading the map I waited 1 min before pressing F11 for benchmark. After 1 minute of testing I changed the resolution and waited again 1 minute before benchmarking and so on. I repeated 3 times and kept the final 3 runs at 1024*768, 1280*1024 and 1600*1200. Please note that I used maximum details and also sound! The radeon card is bottlenecked heavily by the CPU!

1024*768
A. NFORCE3
2025-08-02 14:30:50 - UT2004
Frames: 6940 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 115.667 - Min: 65 - Max: 167

B. VIA K8T800 PRO
2025-08-15 19:37:53 - UT2004
Frames: 7297 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 121.617 - Min: 62 - Max: 178

C. ULI M1689
2025-07-23 06:52:10 - UT2004
Frames: 7577 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 126.283 - Min: 90 - Max: 170

D. NFORCE4
2025-09-22 04:45:51 - UT2004
Frames: 7714 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 128.567 - Min: 89 - Max: 185

38. UT 2K4 - 1280*1024

A. NFORCE3
2025-08-02 14:29:20 - UT2004
Frames: 6629 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 110.483 - Min: 68 - Max: 205

B. VIA K8T800 PRO
2025-08-15 19:36:08 - UT2004
Frames: 7273 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 121.217 - Min: 76 - Max: 179

C. ULI M1689
2025-07-23 06:55:02 - UT2004
Frames: 7485 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 124.750 - Min: 80 - Max: 181

D. NFORCE4
2025-09-22 04:44:25 - UT2004
Frames: 7496 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 124.933 - Min: 75 - Max: 195

39. UT 2K4 - 1600*1200

A. NFORCE3
2025-08-02 14:27:54 - UT2004
Frames: 6592 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 109.867 - Min: 67 - Max: 162

B. VIA K8T800 PRO
2025-08-15 19:39:26 - UT2004
Frames: 6839 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 113.983 - Min: 68 - Max: 167

C. ULI M1689
2025-07-23 06:53:39 - UT2004
Frames: 6841 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 114.017 - Min: 67 - Max: 173

D. NFORCE4
2025-09-22 04:42:49 - UT2004
Frames: 6353 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 105.883 - Min: 64 - Max: 156

Nforce4 is leading the pack at both 1024*768 and 1280*1024 however at 1600*1200 it drop behind even the nforce3; I retested with the second system and the same performance drop can be seen, if I put the Clawhammer 3400 in the system the performance jumps to the "usual" level! ULI has outstanding performance in this game, in fact it got the best average performance across all 3 resolutions!

40 & 41 & 42. FARCRY is the first Directx9 game to be tested. Extremely bottlenecked by the processor, radeon x1950 pro is more than capable of running this game at max details including AA!

A. ABIT NF8 PRO
B. ABIT KV8 PRO
C. ABIT KU8

D. ABIT NV8

NVIDIA is at the both sides of the performance spectrum! On one side nforce3 disastrous AGP implementation limits performance and is at the bottom of the charts; on the other side nforce4 is again 10-13% (!!!) better than any AGP platform and provides the best possible performance in this game!

43. We reached the legendary Half life 2. Again hardware OC half life tool refused to work so fraps (version 3.4.7) to the rescue. The test is a 60 seconds interval in the first level in front of the train station where Dr Breen is making his infamous speech. I waited 1 minute before pressing F11 and i walked around the monument; after fraps finished i changed the resolution and waited 1 minute before testing again and so on. Repeated 3 times, the last runs are the actual results that I kept. Tested with sound enabled and all details maxed out!

1024*768
a. nforce3
2025-08-03 10:02:11 - hl2
Frames: 4244 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 70.733 - Min: 30 - Max: 93

b. VIA
2025-05-27 05:44:01 - hl2
Frames: 4766 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 79.433 - Min: 58 - Max: 109

c. ULI
2025-07-22 06:43:34 - hl2
Frames: 4619 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 76.983 - Min: 60 - Max: 100

d. nforce4
2026-01-05 06:13:50 - hl2
Frames: 5142 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 85.700 - Min: 62 - Max: 123

44. Half life 2 - 1280*1024

a. nforce3
2025-08-03 10:05:17 - hl2
Frames: 4190 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 69.833 - Min: 53 - Max: 93

b. VIA
2025-05-27 05:42:17 - hl2
Frames: 4479 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 74.650 - Min: 58 - Max: 112

c. ULI
2025-07-22 06:42:08 - hl2
Frames: 4332 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 72.200 - Min: 56 - Max: 92

d. nforce4
2026-01-05 06:12:05 - hl2
Frames: 4993 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 83.217 - Min: 58 - Max: 107

45. Half life 2 - 1600*1200

a. nforce3
2025-08-03 10:03:48 - hl2
Frames: 4156 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 69.267 - Min: 56 - Max: 88

b. VIA
2025-05-27 05:40:48 - hl2
Frames: 4194 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 69.900 - Min: 46 - Max: 88

c. ULI
2025-07-22 06:40:39 - hl2
Frames: 3983 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 66.383 - Min: 51 - Max: 82

d. nforce4
2026-01-05 06:10:25 - hl2
Frames: 4246 - Time: 60000ms - Avg: 70.767 - Min: 46 - Max: 95

We got the same situation all over again! nforce3 is last, ULI is handicapped by BIOS settings and driver used, VIA fights valiantly but it can not stop nforce4 from taking Half life 2 with the best performance out of all 4 systems!

46. We reached the opengl games. First is Doom 3. As always AA is disabled to give radeon a chance!
1024*768:
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

47. ULI demonstrates excellent performance and is at the top - of course the differences are minimal!
Doom 3 - 1280*1024
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

48. Doom 3 - 1600*1200:
A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI
D. nforce4

Doom 3 has no winner! All platforms perform within 4% of each other and while ULI seems the best you really need a stronger video card if you want to play the game in all its glory!

49 & 50 & 51. The second opengl game is Quake 4. Extremely demanding, eating system ram and video card for breakfast it is far beyond the capabilities of any directx9 GPU!

A. nforce3
B. VIA
C. ULI