ECS KA3 MVP Extreme

Memory Performance:

The ECS KA3 MVP has a slightly higher latency and hence a significant drop in unbuffered memory bandwidth, loosing almost by a 1/8th to the ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe WiFi Edition. Despite the fact the memory controller and memory is the same in both experiments, the inability for the latest-available BIOS revision to adjust the CAS latency is affecting the outcome. It has been noticed around the web that there is a beta ECS KA3 MVP BIOS that does contain the latency adjustment, so hopefully that the updated BIOS will be publicly available soon.

Disk Performance:

The SATA read tests were conducted with a 74GB Western Digital Raptor using HD Tach 3.0.1.0's 8MB zone test. The USB 2.0 tests were done using an ATA133 160GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 hard drive (model number: 6L160PO) using the same 8MB zone test enclosed in an Icy Box USB 2.0 hard drive caddy. We recorded the average read speeds in all cases.

ATI has managed to get the SATA and USB 2.0 performance of its SB600 southbridge on a par with the latest NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI chipset, and even CPU usage much lower than previously with the SB450. This has been a thorn in the side of ATI for some time, and it's nice to know the company has bought its performance in line with the current industry standard.