Our testing methods
Today we'll be comparing the A8R-MVP's performance with that of DFI's LANParty UT RDX200 CD-DR and Asus's A8N32-SLI.

All tests were run at least twice, and their results were averaged, using the following test systems.

Processor AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 2.4GHz
System busHyperTransport 16-bit/1GHz
Motherboard Asus A8R-MVP Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe DFI LANParty UT RDS200 CF-DR
BIOS revision04021009RDXDC23
North bridgeATI Radeon Xpress 200 CrossFireNVIDIA nForce4 SPP 100ATI Radeon Xpress 200 CrossFire
South bridgeULi M1575NVIDIA nForce4 SLIATI SB450
Chipset driversULi 1.0.5.2aForceWare 6.82CATALYST 6.1
Memory size2GB (2 DIMMs)2GB (2 DIMMs)2GB (2 DIMMs)
Memory type  Corsair CMX1024-3500LLPRO DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
CAS latency (CL)222
RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)333
RAS precharge (tRP)222
Cycle time (tRAS)666
Command rate1T1T1T
Hard drives Western Digital Raptor WD360GD 37GB SATA
AudioM1575/AD1986AnForce4 SLI/ALC850SB450/ALC882
Audio driver5.10.1.4151Realtek 3.82Realtek HD 1.30
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX with ForceWare 81.98 drivers
OS Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS updatesService Pack 2, DirectX 9.0c

Thanks to Corsair for providing us with memory for our testing. 2GB of RAM seems to be the new standard for most folks, and Corsair hooked us up with some of its 1GB DIMMs for testing.

Our test systems were powered by OCZ PowerStream power supply units. The PowerStream was one of our Editor's Choice winners in our latest PSU round-up.

We used the following versions of our test applications:

The test systems' Windows desktop was set at 1280x1024 in 32-bit color at an 85Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests. Most of the 3D gaming tests used the Medium 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.