The Test Setup
As mentioned earlier, the Hydra tests are going to be included in a separate article. I have a total of 10 cards tested in a variety of configurations, showing differences in scaling from native Crossire, to Hydra, to multi-manufacturer results. I compare this board to the MSI 890FXA-GD70 and the Asus Crosshair IV Formula.
Asus had to re-arrange the power circuitry to be able to fit everything on the board. Solid caps and chokes all the way around.
Because the BIOS code base is nearly identical to the Crosshair IV Formula, do not expect any great shifts in performance with this part. As more and more chipset functionality becomes integrated into CPUs, expect even fewer differences in overall performance from motherboard to motherboard in the future.
The northbridge/power cooler is a massive affair with a built in fan.
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Edition
Phenom X6 1090T Processor
OCZ Platinum 2 x 2GB DDR-3 1600 @ 1333 and 7.7.7.20 timings
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA-6 Drive
Sharkoon USB 3.0 HD Dock w/ Caviar Black 1TB 7200 Drive installed
Lite-On 4X Blu-ray reader
AMD HD 5870 Video Card
Catalyst 10.10e Drivers w/ AMD AHCI Drivers
On the back of the board we actually see some of the power supply chips, which is due to the tight spacing on the front of the board.
Hey I am so grateful I found
Hey I am so grateful I found your web site, I really found you by accident, while I was looking on Google for something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a tremendous post and a all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the fantastic job. Larry Plasencia