Our testing methods
All tests were run three times, and their results were averaged, using the following test systems.

Today we'll be testing the KV8 Pro's performance against a handful of Socket 754 boards. Each major Athlon 64 chipset is represented, too.

By default, the KV8 Pro actually runs with a 204MHz CPU bus, putting our Athlon 64 3200+ 40MHz above stock. Abit claims that the board is totally stable with this minor overclock, and I'm inclined to agree. However, since overclocking can void processor warranties, I'd prefer to see the KV8 Pro default to a 200MHz CPU bus. Even if the board is completely stable at 204MHz, running system components out of spec should be something that users opt into, not something that's forced upon them.

To keep all of our test systems running the Athlon 64 3200+ processor in-spec, I tested the KV8 Pro with a 200MHz CPU bus for our standard benchmarks. We went well beyond 204MHz in our overclocking tests, though.

We used the following versions of our test applications:

• SiSoft Sandra Standard 2003
• ZD Media Business Winstone 2002 1.0.1
• TCD Labs HD Tach v2.61
• Futuremark 3DMark03 Patch 340
• Quake III Arena v1.31
• Unreal Tournament 2003 demo
• RightMark Audio Analyzer 5.3
• RightMark 3D Sound 1.01
• NTttcp
• Cinebench 2003
• Sphinx 3.3

The test systems' Windows desktop was set at 1024x768 in 32-bit color at a 75Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests. Most of the 3D gaming tests used the high detail image quality settings, with the exception that the resolution was set to 640x480 in 32-bit color.

All the tests and methods we employed are publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.