The memory benchmarks show a significant lead over the
much maligned Rambus ram, used in the benchmark i820 system. The memory scores
could have been better, but at 148FSB, I had to drop CAS to 3 for stability.
Expect a review of this new Quantum Fireball AS+ drive
in the very near future. As you can see here, UDMA100 is quite nice. :)
I didn't perform any Quake3 Arena, or 3Dmark 2000
benchmarks, at least not formally for the article, due to time constraints.
Suffice it to say that the board performed nearly identical to my Asus board,
when tested with the same video card.
Transcend has surprised me. They're not exactly a
company who's name rolls off of the lips of system builders or hobbyists with
the same familiarity as Abit or Asus, but this board is certainly in their
league. If Transcend continues to produce products with this level of
performance, and with the features we in the "overclocking" community want, I
have a feeling you will be hearing a lot more from them. Transcends reputation
is a stellar one in Taiwan, being the first Taiwanese manufacturer to gain ISO
9001 certification, back in the 80's. They now are certified ISO 9002. The
production quality of the board we were allowed to evaluate, is certainly
indicitive of such quality, and I would have no reservations at all recommending
this board. The Intel i815 chipset has come of age finally, in my view finally
eclipsing the venerable BX. The Transcend TS-ASL3 mainboard is representative of
the best I have seen. Recommended.
Pros:
-
Well thought out socket orientation. Allows for
some larger heatsinks to fit easier.
-
Ideal placement for ATX power connector, at the
extreme top of the mainboard, where it belongs, so the cable is out of the
way.
-
Excellent overclocking options. 66-166mhz FSB, and
core voltage tweaks to 2.05v
-
Stable in our testing. No anomalous behavior noted.
Cons
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