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Shuttle AN50R
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| Author: |
Antti Valkeinen |
| Published: |
18.03.2004 |
| Manufacturer: |
Shuttle |
| Product group: |
Motherboads |
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Features:
IDE and SATA controllers
Silicon Image Sil3112
NForce 3 150 chipset provides just two IDE channels so in addition to this there is a Silicon Image Sil3112 SATA controller. Sil3112 is very good choice and it also supports RAID features.
I tested all the controllers as usual. For IDE I used IBM 80GB 120GXP HDD and for SATA tests I used Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA HDD. Next graphs shows HDTach 2.7 results.
HDTach 2.7
| | Average read speed | CPU Utilization |
| DFI Infinity 875 ICH5R SATA | 46.2MB/s | 2.7% |
| Albatron K8X800 Pro II VT8237 SATA | 47.0MB/s | 42,6% |
| Epox 8HDA3+ Silicon image 3114 SATA | 46.8MB/s | 40,4% |
| Shuttle AN50R Silicon image 3112 SATA | 46.9MB/s | 35,5% |
| DFI Infinity 875 HighPoint 372N | 39.4MB/s | 2,3% |
| DFI Infinity 875 ICH5R PATA | 39.1MB/s | 3% |
| Albatron K8X800 Pro II VT8237 PATA | 39.2MB/s | 41,2% |
| Shuttle AN50R nForce3 SPP PATA | 38.3MB/s | 32,9% |
Everything else seems to be in order except CPU utilization, which is almost on different scale than DFI's results. It is quite possible that CPU utilization results aren’t right in this case. I measured about 4% CPU usage just doing normal copy paste on rather large 300MB file, so it's probably that HDTach 2.70 doesn't measure CPU Utilization right. From AMD motherboard Shuttle AN50R was clearly best, but because test results seem untrustworthy, it is not possible to say which is actually best.
I encountered one strange problem during tests. Symptom was that if SATA hard drive and Radeon display adapter with Fast Writes on were installed, system freezes for short periods. If Fast Writes were disabled or SATA drive wasn’t used there wasn’t any problem. Mystical compatibility problem.
Audio
Realtek ALC650
Realtek ALC650 isn’t very famous for its audio quality. In this case it was horrible if line out and external amplifier was used and just unusable with headphones. On a standard test with RightMark Audio Analyzer it wasn’t possible to start test at all because calibration to level test required was impossible.
RightMark Audio Analyzer 5.1 Analog
| | General performance | Notes |
| Terratec SoundSystem DMX 6Fire 2496 (dedicated sound card) | Excellent | Very good analog outputs |
| Philips Acoustic Edge (dedicated sound card) | Good | One of the best sound cards when using digital output |
| CMI9739A (integrated DFI Kt400A) | Average | Listening experience was better that test results |
| CMI9739A (integrated Epox PDA2+/DFI Infinity 875) | Average | Listening experience was worse that test results |
| Soundmax AD1985 (integrated) | Good
| Probably best integrated audio device. |
| VIA Envy24PT (integrated) | Good
| Excellent features |
| Realtek ALC650 (integrated) | No result
| Produces noise when it should repeat something as good as possible |
Tests are driven by using analog output and input (16-bit 44KHz).
RightMark Audio Analyzer 5.1 Digital
| | General performance | Notes |
| CMI9739A (integrated DFI Infinity 875) | Excellent | Digital output is very solid but input could be better |
| VIA Envy24PT (integrated Albatron K8X800 ProII) | Excellent | Solid performance |
| Philips Acoustic Edge (dedicated sound card) | Excellent | Record holder |
| Realtek ALC650 (integrated) | No result | No digital output |
Tests are driven by using digital output and input (16-bit 48KHz).
It is a pity that there wasn’t usable digital output because it would have probably much better than analog lineout. I recommend this audio solution to true masochists and deaf people. Purchasing add-on sound card is a must for persons who want to listen music or play games.
LAN
 
Intel RC82540EM & nForce3 SPP/RTL8201
Shuttle AN50R has two network controllers, which is nice and welcomed surprise. Gigabit Intel RC82540EM and a little slower nForce3 150 chipset's integrated MAC are good and working solution.
100 Mbps network
| | Transfer rate | CPU load |
| Nvidia MCP 10/100 (AMD) | 9692kB/sec | 10-20% |
| RTL8101L 10/100 (AMD) | 9692kB/sec | 30-40% |
| VIA VT6103 10/100 (AMD) | 9692kB/sec | 20-30% |
| 3Com 3C940 10/100/1000 (AMD) | 9692kB/sec | 30-40% |
| 3Com 3C940 10/100/1000 (P4) | 9692kB/sec | 4-10% |
| BroadCom BCM5705 10/100/1000 (P4) | 9692kB/sec | 4-10% |
| Intel 82547EI ET LAN (CSA)(P4) | 9692 kB/sec | 2-15 % |
| Intel RC82540EM (AMD) | 9692 kB/sec | 5-12% |
| nForce3 SPP (AMD) | 9692 kB/sec | 40-50% |
Gigabit network
| | Transfer rate | CPU load |
| 3Com 3C940 10/100/1000 (Albatron K8X800 Pro II) | 19MB/sec | 70% |
| 3Com 3C940 10/100/1000 (Epox 8HDA3+) | 19MB/sec | 35-40% |
| Intel RC82540EM (Shuttle AN50R) | 17MB/sec | 30-40% |
Maximum transfer rate was tested using SiSoft Sandra 2003 and CPU load test was performed by transferring big file from machine to machine at the same time as I manually monitored CPU load. Transfer rate is limited by another system which I use on 100Mbps tests.
Nearly all AMD-systems suffer from high CPU utilization on these tests. Intel RC82540EM however managed to keep CPU utilization very low on 100Mbps LAN compared to other AMD test systems. NForce 3 150 integrated LAN succeeded on other end and was the worst. On a gigabit LAN Intels over power diminished to 3Coms level.
Dual LAN is always a nice feature to have and this time Shuttle earns our respects about the fact that Intel Network controller is used on AMD motherboard.
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