AZZA 815TM

This motherboard from Azza is based on the Intel 815 chipset. So we tested it

in both the categories–entry level and high end. With only two PCI slots, it

has a MicroATX form factor that makes it fit nicely inside a compact cabinet.

The motherboard supports up to 1 GB of RAM in its two DIMM slots. As far as the

features go, the board wasn’t too good in either of the categories. In fact,

it had the lowest feature score in the high-end category. Remarkably, however,

the setup score was the highest in terms of the ease of installation (jumperless,

motherboard layout, etc.) and quality of manuals. It has only two onboard USB

ports, good enough for an entry-level board.

Going on to performance, it was third in its class in the entry-level

category. The score for Business Winstone 99, which measures performance in

office productivity applications, was average. Its performance in 3D Mark 2000

and VideoMark 2000, however, were amongst the better in the group, with its

score in VideoMark being quite close to the best in the category. Further, with

18.05 average fps in Quake III Arena and a Directsound CPU utilization of only

5.6 percent, it would do fairly well in games too.

However, when it came to running high-end applications, the motherboard could

not do well. The scores for benchmarks that use extensive graphics and

calculations like Indy 3D and High-end Winstone, placed it at the lower end of

the category. The same was the case with the other benchmarks, VideoMark 2000

and 3D Winbench 2000. At higher color depths, the frame rates dropped for Quake

III Arena. However, the board performed well when it came to encoding Wav files

using EJay MP3, the time taken being lesser than all but two other motherboards.

All in all, the motherboard was not such a great performer in the higher end.

It is priced at Rs 5,192 with a two-year warranty. It also comes bundled with

Mandrake Linux, Star Office 5.2 and Virtual Drive Full Personal Edition. Makes

for a good entry-level board.