Results: HD Tach USB 3.0, 3D Mark Vantage, and Cinebench 11.59
HD Tach USB 3.0

Currently the NEC USB 3.0 controller is the only product being used on motherboards for USB 3.0 duty.  We expect to see some native USB 3.0 controllers this summer from AMD, but interestingly enough those were developed in conjunction with NEC/Renesas.  Still, there are quite a few different firmware revisions out there for these chips, and they could exhibit very different implementations between boards.

MSI 890FXA-GD65 Motherboard Review: The Hardcore Minimalist - Motherboards 35

MSI 890FXA-GD65 Motherboard Review: The Hardcore Minimalist - Motherboards 36

MSI 890FXA-GD65 Motherboard Review: The Hardcore Minimalist - Motherboards 37

MSI 890FXA-GD65 Motherboard Review: The Hardcore Minimalist - Motherboards 38

The 890FXA-G65 is again among the high end when it comes to performance.  All of these boards feature the same NEC USB 3.0 chip, albeit likely a few different revisions thrown in there.

3D Mark Vantage

To make sure that the core logic PCI-E connection is working effectively with the video card, we include the 3D Mark Vantage test.  We do not expect to see much variation here, but if there is then we know that something terribly wrong is going on.

MSI 890FXA-GD65 Motherboard Review: The Hardcore Minimalist - Motherboards 39

MSI 890FXA-GD65 Motherboard Review: The Hardcore Minimalist - Motherboards 40

MSI 890FXA-GD65 Motherboard Review: The Hardcore Minimalist - Motherboards 41

MSI 890FXA-GD65 Motherboard Review: The Hardcore Minimalist - Motherboards 42

That was not very exciting.  But it is a good sign that everything is working as it should when it comes to the graphics subsystem performance on these boards.

Cinebench 11.5

This particular benchmark is quite revealing in ways due to its reliance not only on CPU speed and core count, but also overall memory performance.  While the 890FXA-GD65 was measurably slower than the rest of the group in the memory stream numbers, this is perhaps a better real-world indication of overall memory performance.

MSI 890FXA-GD65 Motherboard Review: The Hardcore Minimalist - Motherboards 43

All results were essentially the same here, with no significant variation.


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