ASRock 775Dual-915GL

Conclusion:

Looking over the results from the 775Dual-915GL as well as the MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum, Tyan Tomcat i915G S5120, and ASRock 775Dual-880Pro, the results speak for themselves heavily. When the ASRock motherboards were running the various games we used for benchmarking, it became quite apparent that ASRock AGI Express is definitely lacking when it comes to handling 3D graphics with an immersion of graphical effects. The frame-rate difference was definitely noticeable with AGI Express and its PCI Express slot running at x4 speeds compared to the MSI and Tyan parts that ran at x16. Investigating AGI Express further, it is plain and simple that the 775Dual-915GL is not the motherboard for gamers. The ability to run AGP 8x and PCI Express x16/4 on the same motherboard certainly makes it a tempting purchase for those on a penny-pinching budget when it comes time to make your next PC upgrade, but of course this AGI Express ability comes at a definite cut in performance for stunning graphics. Moving on past the graphics numbers, the 775Dual-915GL was very competitive with the additional i915-based motherboards used in testing. The VIA PT800 Pro Chipset on the other hand often had shortcomings with significantly lower performance in many of the Linux motherboard benchmarks. On a positive note, the ASRock i915GL had no compatibility issues under Linux with the 2.6 kernel in all of our testing. For those looking on the server side of things, Intel's onboard GMA900 should be able to adequately provide the needs for most desktop tasks. ASRock's 775Dual-915GL is presently selling for approximately $60 USD, which is significantly less than most similarly equipped LGA-775 motherboards on the market. At this time the motherboard may look appealing to the budget minded consumer but in Q2 of 2006 Intel is expected to release the i946 series Chipset (with ICH-7 Southbridge) as a follow-up to the i915 Chipset that targets entry-level consumers with DDR2 and Pentium D support. The ingenuity of this ASRock motherboard certainly deserves an applaud to their R&D team and the segment of the market this motherboard would best fit is the budget minded casual computer user.