Serial ATA performance
The Serial ATA disk controller is one of the most important components of a modern core logic chipset, so we threw each platform a selection of I/O-intensive storage tests.

IOMeter
We'll begin our storage tests with IOMeter, which subjects our systems to increasing multi-user loads. Testing was restricted to IOMeter's workstation and database test patterns, since those are more appropriate for desktop systems than the file or web server test patterns.

The 690G's transaction rate is flat until the number of concurrent I/O requests ventures beyond 32, while the GeForce 6150 SE's performance starts to scale upward right off the bat.

IOMeter response times don't favor the 690G, and there's a notable difference in the performance of the GeForce 6150 SE and the AMD 690G between eight and 64 outstanding I/O requests.

Even with quicker response times and higher transaction rates, the GeForce 6150 SE doesn't really consume more CPU cycles than the 690G.