Testing Configuration and Benchmarks Used
To access how the GA-X58-UD5 stacks up in the enthusiast category for X58 motherboards, we threw it in the ring against MSI’s X58 Platinum as well as its little brother, the GA-X58-UD3R. All three of these boards have very comparable specs and features, so we expect our benchmark results to be similar as well.Our test bench consisted of the following components:
- CPU: Intel i7-920 (running at 2.83GHz, 135×20)
- Video Card: EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ Superclocked Edition
- RAM: OCZ 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600
- PSU: PC Power & Cooling 750W 80 PLUS
- HD: Western Digital 160GB SATA
- Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
One item our readers might notice in the screenshot above is the variation in core speed and multiplier from typical stock settings with the i7-920. The i7-920 stock speeds are set at 20x for the CPU multiplier and 133MHz for the bus speed. Our CPU-Z readings actually have the multiplier set at 21x, which is weird because the BIOS only allows the multiplier to be increased to 20x. Since the multiplier is set to 21x, it also affects the stock settings of the bus speed too, which is now at 135MHz. Overall, all these changes moves the CPU speed from its stock setting of 2.66GHz to 2.83GHz.
The DRAM 1080MHz speeds are slightly over usual default speeds of 1066MHz. The timings are also a bit tighter at 7-7-7-19 1T.
Our 64-bit test bench for Core i7 processors includes 6GB of RAM, a GeForce 9800GTX+ graphics card, and a Western Digital 160GB SATA hard drive for storage. This configuration is based off a typical mid-range users system.
Benchmarks used:
- SiSoft Sandra 2009 SP1
- CineBench 10
- LAME 3.97a MP3 Encoder
- Handbrake DVD compression
- 3DMark Vantage
- Crysis Warhead
- Far Cry 2
- PCMark Vantage
- HDTach 3.0.1.0 – SATA, eSATA, USB
