SIS 672FX chipset has some work to do

WE RECEIVED a motherboard based on the SiS 672FX chipset a while ago. And, after a week of testing, we are bringing you the answer about whether Intel has competition in the integrated graphics arena, when combined with Socket 775, of course, or not.

Bear in mind that this is a reference motherboard, and some bugs and tweaks are expected to be ironed out for the final boards.

Chipset

This is how 672FX looks in theory...

SiS672FX chipset consists of two parts: 672FX Northbridge and SiS968 Southbridge chips. These chips connect to each other via SiS proprietary MuTIOL interface, clocked at 1GHz and delivering 1.2 GB/s of bandwidth for inner connection. Third member that is usually packed on motherboards with this chipset is SiS198, a 10/100/1000 Ethernet controller. SIS pulled a marchitecture out of the hat, and the 672FX should regard as "HyperStreaming Platform," but we would actually go on record and state that this is a notebook chipset adjusted for the needs of desktops.

...and this of course, is nothing less than a working silicon. Two pieces, in fact.

A worrying factor about the performance of integrated graphics is the fact that chipset does not support something that is already a standard. We are talking about dual-channel memory interface, of course. With Intel 64-bit wide FSB achieving maximum bandwidth of 8.5 GB/s, all of the extra bandwidth that dual-channel DDR2-667/800/1066 offers would end up used for integrated graphics. 672FX however, comes with Mirage 3+ graphics chip that has to share the bandwidth with a single-channel controller, and this was the place when a certain red alarm started to flash in my head.

Motherboard

Being a hardware enthusiast, yours truly always likes to see a genuine piece of engineering, especially if some last minute work was one (still have nForce 420 reference board with additional resistors soldered on... not to mention VIA KT333A). SiS is of no exception and in their usual tradition; company delivered a reference design for our evaluation.

Rear bracket is packed with connectors... but sadly, no DVI or HDMI is present

This reference design brings two DIMM slots, 4-Phase power regulation, only two SATA slots (chipset limitation) and a not-so-regular PCIe x16-x1-x1-ACR-PCI-PCI. The unusual bit when it comes to this motherboard is lack of any passive cooling on Northbridge and Southbridge parts. Unlike heat-pipe maze or ton of passive coolers, this board comes with none.

Test
As usual, for testing of motherboards we are relying on best components we can find in our INQ dungeon. Goal is always to load the motherboards to the max, because if a motherboard survives all the thermal challenges, you can bet it can endure working with regular set of components. Base for our testing was ironic comment ahead widely-available Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 processor, Asetek's VapoChill Micro, Corsair Dominator PC2-9136C5D, 250GBSeagate Barracuda 7200 ES and BeQuiet 850W moddable power supply. Even with 130 Watt-eating Kentie, somehow we felt that this power supply was overkill, and that the board could live with a 200W one. Ok, 250W.

In blue corner, we literally had a blue motherboard. Gigabyte's micro-ATX challenger comes with G965 chipset and newer revision of Intel's integrated graphics part. Under name GMA 3000, this part supports quite a lot of features, but there is a reason why Intel is avoiding the performance in game question. When Larrabee shows up, a whole new era for Intel will begin. Until then, just go from gamedev to gamedev and ask them about Intel's integrated graphics. Key lesson there will be: "If looks could kill...".

We have to warn you that you will not see a comparison between discrete graphics part and these two. We have tried to build a table of comparison of these parts with AMD 690G and nForce 7050 based ones, but results were incomparable (AMD system was tested with a much slower processor). Then again, even if we would include slow discrete parts of today or yesteryear, in a lot of tests that card would run in circles around these two. Main purpose of these two integrated graphics parts is to give support to Vista operating system... and SD/HD video playback.

3DMark06

In 3DMark06, neither of tested boards managed to break the 1000 score, but we're not surprised.

CPU score goes to show that board in its present state, cannot utilize four cores in a right way

Fill-rate is a real test of strength - does the integrated part has enough power to render sufficient amount of pixels or not. Sadly, the answer in both cases was no.

Just in comparison, 8500GT scores around 100fps, while 8800GTX scores well above 500fps. Still believe in integrated graphics?

Painful test goes to show that G965 relies on CPU do do the vertex calculation, while Mirage 3+ just cannot handle the pressure.

Everest Ultimate Edition 4.0

In memory test, 672FX just cannot keep up with dual-channel laden GigaByte G965

Latencies continue to show that G965 had the performance edge

HDTach 3

In burst read, 672FX manages to beat G965, and overall disk performance is very similar between these two chipsets

HDTune

8MB/s higher minimum speed of disk transfer is something to appriciate

Company of Heroes
We could not run the tests since they did not wanted to complete on either motherboard. From some weird reason, G965 was showing intolerable amount of artefacts, while 672FX kept on crashing to desktop

F.E.A.R.

672FX is operating at 60 frames per minute, while G965 mnages to score massive 360 fpm. Sadly, in fps (frames per second), results are absymal for both - and to add insult to injury - artefacts and missing out in details during rendering.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

G965 scores massive 26,4 fpm, while Mirage 3+ refused to come out and play

After quite some time, we even managed to perform a finger test, something that yours truly still often does; just for the check could you get yourself burned when working around components that are under full load. I have several friends that usually go inside the computer and check components while they are working (adjusting cabling of a water-cooling setup or just admiring their latest hardware). Both 672FX and 968 chips were warm to touch, but would not leave burns even after longer exposure.

Bugs

Integrated graphics does not look impressive in games of today - this picture stayed on the screen for 45 seconds

Sadly, integrated graphics does not come without its issues. So far, only AMD's 690G and Nvidia's nForce (with Radeon and GeForce graphics subsystems) did not shown issues with modern applications, which is still a case for G965 and sadly, Sis's Mirage graphics subsystem. For instance, Intel's own integrated graphics cannot filter water neither in Stalker nor in Fear, as shown on the picture above. Sadly, Mirage 3+ will either crash or run in 50-60 frames per minute - hardly a playable setting.

In short
SiS showed some potential and even managed to win in several tests. For their targeted price, they offer somewhat good value. We were impressed by absence of any sort of cooling the chipset, and with our fingers surviving the finger test - a first in quite lot of years. For a business machine, this might be the ticket to ride, but for home use - forget about integrated graphics. Nevertheless, if you add 3rd party GPU to the mix, such as upcoming passively cooled Radeon HD 2400Pro/XT, this just might be the combination for a near-silent computer for those on a budget. If you will not use discrete graphics, feel free to drink three bottles of beer more, and you'll get the right score.

Bartender's Report