Page 4: Testing, Conclusion
<B>Testing</B>:
I decided to only rely on informal testing with this board. Considering what the board targets, its only competition is the older generation boards and no one is going to buy them anymore anyway, so the benchmarking is a moot point now isn't it? I did run the AES benchmark, supplied by VIA at their request. Since this benchmark is given out by VIA, I can only say to not put much faith in it, but it is interesting to see the results.
I decided to use the AES benchmark to test the hardware and software speeds and I tested it against a P4 3.0C GHz. Fair? Well, yes, considering that the P4 can only do this in software. Lower is better of course.
<center>128-bit</center>
<table align="center"><tr><td width="100">CPU</td><td width="100">ECB</td><td width="100">CBC</td><td width="100">CFB</td><td width="100">OFB</td></tr><tr><td>P4</td><td>18.875</td><td>22.625</td><td>22.188</td><td>21.64</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 SW</td><td>89.789</td><td>93.604</td><td>93.154</td><td>92.373</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 HW</td><td>1.022</td><td>2.053</td><td>2.053</td><td>4.026</td></tr></table>
<center>192-bit</center>
<table align="center"><tr><td width="100">CPU</td><td width="100">ECB</td><td width="100">CBC</td><td width="100">CFB</td><td width="100">OFB</td></tr><tr><td>P4</td><td>24.406</td><td>26.593</td><td>26.226</td><td>25.516</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 SW</td><td>107.935</td><td>111.66</td><td>111.771</td><td>111.11</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 HW</td><td>1.472</td><td>2.684</td><td>2.604</td><td>4.256</td></tr></table>
<center>256-bit</center>
<table align="center"><tr><td width="100">CPU</td><td width="100">ECB</td><td width="100">CBC</td><td width="100">CFB</td><td width="100">OFB</td></tr><tr><td>P4</td><td>28.516</td><td>30.75</td><td>30.437</td><td>29.765</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 SW</td><td>126.292</td><td>130.117</td><td>131.218</td><td>130.568</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 HW</td><td>1.702</td><td>3.074</td><td>2.985</td><td>4.276</td></tr></table>
What is shown in this benchmark is the fact that the VIA CPU is terrible in software calculations. It is on par with a Duron 700, about. The hardware AES codec does beat any software implementation of course. Hardware is always faster.
In other testing, I tested DivX and XviD playback. Both are fine, MPEG2 codecs are great considering the board has a hardware MPEG2 decoder on it. Hardware instead of software again. Popping in a DVD movie is also fine. The 5.1 channel audio is fine, better than most onboard audio solutions. In fact, it is quite similar to the 7.1 DSP I reviewed a bit ago. The PCMCIA card slot works as expected, just like a laptop. No quarrels there. The CF card works as expected as well. The onboard network is also fine.
One thing I have noticed with the board is the fact that most of the ports are just ports, no hardware to back them. This means that the CPU has to do the work for them. In the case of the network, you'll see your CPU usage jump to pretty high levels on large transfers. Considering the board is crammed enough, I can see why they stripped some hardware from it. On the plus side, you can make up for it by installing a PCI card, or a PCMCIA card (or even a CF network card!). What the board is design to do, it does fine.
<B>Conclusion</B>:
The board costs around $200. I suggest picking this up if you don't currently have the older series of boards. If you want to build a system around the EPIA series of boards, this is the new one I recommend, it is the <i>fastest</i> one to date. If you are too cheap, <a href="http://ase.dealtime.com/dt-app/SE/KW-via epia/FD-0/linkin_id-3002062/NS-1/GS.html">consider cheaper EPIA boards</a>.
<center><img src="http://images.aselabs.com/awards/recommended.jpg" alt="Recommended"></center>
I'd like to thank <a href="http://www.via.com.tw">VIA</a> for making this review possible.
I decided to only rely on informal testing with this board. Considering what the board targets, its only competition is the older generation boards and no one is going to buy them anymore anyway, so the benchmarking is a moot point now isn't it? I did run the AES benchmark, supplied by VIA at their request. Since this benchmark is given out by VIA, I can only say to not put much faith in it, but it is interesting to see the results.
I decided to use the AES benchmark to test the hardware and software speeds and I tested it against a P4 3.0C GHz. Fair? Well, yes, considering that the P4 can only do this in software. Lower is better of course.
<center>128-bit</center>
<table align="center"><tr><td width="100">CPU</td><td width="100">ECB</td><td width="100">CBC</td><td width="100">CFB</td><td width="100">OFB</td></tr><tr><td>P4</td><td>18.875</td><td>22.625</td><td>22.188</td><td>21.64</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 SW</td><td>89.789</td><td>93.604</td><td>93.154</td><td>92.373</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 HW</td><td>1.022</td><td>2.053</td><td>2.053</td><td>4.026</td></tr></table>
<center>192-bit</center>
<table align="center"><tr><td width="100">CPU</td><td width="100">ECB</td><td width="100">CBC</td><td width="100">CFB</td><td width="100">OFB</td></tr><tr><td>P4</td><td>24.406</td><td>26.593</td><td>26.226</td><td>25.516</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 SW</td><td>107.935</td><td>111.66</td><td>111.771</td><td>111.11</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 HW</td><td>1.472</td><td>2.684</td><td>2.604</td><td>4.256</td></tr></table>
<center>256-bit</center>
<table align="center"><tr><td width="100">CPU</td><td width="100">ECB</td><td width="100">CBC</td><td width="100">CFB</td><td width="100">OFB</td></tr><tr><td>P4</td><td>28.516</td><td>30.75</td><td>30.437</td><td>29.765</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 SW</td><td>126.292</td><td>130.117</td><td>131.218</td><td>130.568</td></tr><tr><td>VIA C3 HW</td><td>1.702</td><td>3.074</td><td>2.985</td><td>4.276</td></tr></table>
What is shown in this benchmark is the fact that the VIA CPU is terrible in software calculations. It is on par with a Duron 700, about. The hardware AES codec does beat any software implementation of course. Hardware is always faster.
In other testing, I tested DivX and XviD playback. Both are fine, MPEG2 codecs are great considering the board has a hardware MPEG2 decoder on it. Hardware instead of software again. Popping in a DVD movie is also fine. The 5.1 channel audio is fine, better than most onboard audio solutions. In fact, it is quite similar to the 7.1 DSP I reviewed a bit ago. The PCMCIA card slot works as expected, just like a laptop. No quarrels there. The CF card works as expected as well. The onboard network is also fine.
One thing I have noticed with the board is the fact that most of the ports are just ports, no hardware to back them. This means that the CPU has to do the work for them. In the case of the network, you'll see your CPU usage jump to pretty high levels on large transfers. Considering the board is crammed enough, I can see why they stripped some hardware from it. On the plus side, you can make up for it by installing a PCI card, or a PCMCIA card (or even a CF network card!). What the board is design to do, it does fine.
<B>Conclusion</B>:
The board costs around $200. I suggest picking this up if you don't currently have the older series of boards. If you want to build a system around the EPIA series of boards, this is the new one I recommend, it is the <i>fastest</i> one to date. If you are too cheap, <a href="http://ase.dealtime.com/dt-app/SE/KW-via epia/FD-0/linkin_id-3002062/NS-1/GS.html">consider cheaper EPIA boards</a>.
<center><img src="http://images.aselabs.com/awards/recommended.jpg" alt="Recommended"></center>
I'd like to thank <a href="http://www.via.com.tw">VIA</a> for making this review possible.