IGP Update - Intel DG45ID vs Sony BDU-X10S
by Gary Key on September 23, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Gary's First Looks
Anand and I have been doing regression testing almost non-stop for the past 48 hours with the recently released Intel G45 15.11.2.1554 driver set for Vista 32 and BIOS version 079. We might add that in Intel's infinite wisdom they generally update the 4-series chipset support page a few days before the actual DG45ID support page that was still listing the 1545 driver set as of tonight (page was updated today with the latest driver set).
This particular driver and BIOS combination along with the recently updated versions of Corel WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray and Arcsoft TMT v125 were suppose to address/improver repeater support among other changes. One of the major updates I have been testing is updated EDID information in the latest drivers for several of our HDMI monitors that were having problems ranging from lack of proper resolution recognition to scaling deficiencies. It appears several of our monitors now work properly and we were having great success with repeater support until things began to unravel earlier today. We also noted that deinterlacing is working correctly now.
However, the dreaded HDMI audio out 2-channel only support (G45 supports up to 8-channel out) reared its ugly head again as did the lack of repeater support on one of our main HT configurations after a simple reboot. Both problems seem to come and go on this board at will as well as several others that we will discuss shortly. We are still working through these particular problems and should have an answer early tomorrow. If not, our first IGP article (three total) featuring the G45 chipset will go up as is within the next 24 hours or so (9/23 PM update - Intel is trying to resolve several problems tonight, 9/24 update - Intel has a few answers for us, article up later today).
Another major problem that we have had on this board is compatibility with various SATA based BD capable optical drives. In every case, our Intel DG45ID boards have not properly recognized the Sony BDU-X10S. Granted we have had some problems with our ASUS and LITE-ON drives on this board but those have been random. This board absolutely does not like this particular Sony drive. In each case, we updated the board to BIOS 079 and the Sony drive to firmware version 1.0d . Depending on whether we have AHCI or RAID enabled on the board, the drive needs to be attached to SATA port 3 to ensure the system will POST properly. If we select Native IDE, the drive refuses to work properly when attached to any port with our component selections. This drive works perfectly on the ASUS and Gigabyte G45 boards without a firmware update so we think the incompatibility is with the Intel BIOS.
We also have an LG GGC-H20L Optical drive and a Western Digital SE16 640GB HD attached to SATA ports two and one respectively. I have been testing other combinations since last week on this board and have run into an issue where I cannot get the Intel board to properly recognize the Sony drive with our WD eSATA based drive or with a Hitachi 1TB drive installed as the main OS drive. Our choice of port assignments do not make a difference in these two cases. Hopefully we will have a solution for this problem shortly.
We have not encountered any repeatable S3 resume problems with our Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H board. We did have one particular configuration that would sometimes require a full POST but that was solved by Gigabyte with a new Beta BIOS that also offers additional processor support and improved memory performance in our testing to date. This BIOS is not supported and use at your own risk but we determined it stable enough to utilize in our roundup. You can download F3F here.
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Theunis - Saturday, September 27, 2008 - link
Don't forget Linux and the G45, the Linux users should also have an option other than the eHD from Reel.computerfarmer - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
It is good to hear about new technology, initial issues and how they are worked out.I hope the follow up of this article is sooner than the follow up of "AMD's 790GX/SB750" expected chipset review. The AMD announcement was on August 6, 2008, with an expected review to follow.
On September 10th, Gary Wrote:
"An update, DFI decided to proceed forward with their uATX 790GX board. My retail kit arrived today and I will be testing it shortly. Also, based on your comments and others I will show a 4870x2 vs 4870 CF on this platform and compare it to 790FX. The roundup should be up late next week, G45 is up on Monday with 790GX/780G/GF8300/NF750a comparison results.
Sincerely,
Gary "
Now we are still waiting.
I do like the information you provide, yet the timing could be improved.
p7389 - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
I was waiting. Since a couply of weeks, I am waiting no more. Got a Gigabyte 790GP-DS4H. Yeah, I agree, not too impressed with Anand on this.piesquared - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
I don't think you should hold your breath waiting, it will most likely be hazardous to your health. I think it's quite obvious that AT and Intel were hoping their newest driver would help to make G45 at least put up a showing, since there's no chance of them competing. Now that it's clear that Intel's ITD (integrated text displayer) is an embarassment, I wouldn't expect any impartial review of AMD's chipsets any time soon. http://www.digit-life.com">http://www.digit-life.com has just posted some nice balanced and fair reviews.piesquared - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
Please, please, please wait until Intel get's their hardware and software act together before revealing any reviews! We don't want Intel to look inferior, so please wait for them to catch up! How long has it been now since AT assured a forthcoming review of AMD's IGP's? Must be goin' on 2 months now anyway. I assume that given the problems aluded to in this article regarding Intel's text displayer, that any IGP review will be completely axed at this point. I can't believe you really thought Intel had anything to compete in the first place. Hilarious!psychobriggsy - Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - link
Thanks for the work fighting Intel's chipset crappery.Clearly yet another broken Intel IGP. Another star in their stellar line-up of heroic efforts over the past few years.
I'm sure AnandTech will find a way to spin it positively though.
sdelano - Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - link
I'm really looking forward to this IGP roundup! I was dead set on getting that DFI board you previewed last week until I realized that it wasn't compatible with the case that I have (the PCI / PCI-E slots don't line up right...granted the case is old and and overly slim).This new Gigabyte G45 board will however work perfectly with my case and I am really hoping that the performance turns out to be what I am looking for.
Are you going to be testing any of there boards under Linux? It would be nice to see how driver development is coming along on those fronts, especially since I am planning on setting up a MythTV box with one of these boards.
fzkl - Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - link
Gary,Have you been able to get this motherboard to complete POST with the QX9650 or the 9550 processor? With these processors I get the message that the motherboard does not support the CPU and asks me to check the CPU compatiblity list for the motherboard. It works fine with the 9450 though. This is with the latest BIOS at the website from 9/9/2008.
Thanks.
Anonymous Freak - Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - link
I believe you have your answer.Intel does not list this motherboard as being compatible with any "Extreme" processors. There is one "Extreme" 9550, and one non-Extreme. The non-Extreme 9550 works fine.
James5mith - Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - link
Gary,I just wanted to let you and Anand know that I appreciate your work on the IGP testing, especially in reference to HTPC's. The G45 will probably be my next HTPC platform, unless something horrible is revealed about it in your articles.
Keep up the good work!