When posting images, I will always do so in order: ATI 9100 IGP, Intel 915G, and Intel 865G

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the boards themselves; they all share a similar layout, which is good because Gigabyte did a great job on that. Note that the 915G natively supports four SATA channels, while the rest only have two. Of course, you also give up a parallel ATA chanel in the process.

The only other difference worthy of note is the heatsink on the power-system area of the 9100 Pro IGP board up top. When a Prescott is plugged in, the MOSFETs get VERY hot; certainly enough to burn you if you weren't too careful. Not that this poses a problem, mind you, but there's nothing much else to talk about here, is there? ;)

Glancing at the rear panel, the first thing you'll likely notice is the inclusion of TV-OUT on the ATI board! So far this is the ONLY board with integrated graphics I have seen that includes a TV-OUT. This makes it a perfect candidate to base a Home Theatre PC on.

However, where the 9100 Pro IGP excels in video out capability, the 915G carries a much more robust audio solution. In this case, Gigabyte is utilizing Intel's Azalia High Definition audio in this case, even including coaxial digital inputs and outputs!

Like I said, even though I thank Gigabyte for supplying us with the boards for this review, we're going to be focusing mostly on the graphics capabilities of these chipsets for the time being. So let's move on!

Also note that throughout the remainder of this review, we are going to be including a low end video card in discussions. The Radeon X300 can be found for just around $108 here at Buy.com. This will give us some indication of a $100 upgrade in graphics is worthwhile when building a system.

Next Page: (Specs)

Page 1: Introduction Page 2: Board Layout Page 3: Specs Page 4: Memory & System Performance Page 5: Data Transfer Performance Page 6: 3DMark 03 Page 7: Aquamark 3 Page 8: Real Games; Conclusion