Results: Cinebench R11.5, Power Consumption, and Overclocking
We should see some small differences in power consumption between the boards, as they do implement different features. The actual TDP differences between the 970, 990X, and 990FX chipsets are going to be minimal at best.
At idle things are pretty well bunched together, but what is most impressive is that the Crosshair V is only 3 watts higher than the more barebones oriented M5A97.
At load we see a little bit of separation, but it is minimal at best with 9 watts being the largest difference observed.
In terms of overclocking all of these boards provide nearly identical results. All three of the Asus boards were able to get to 325 MHz HTT speed, and all three were able to push the X6 1090T to 3.9 GHz with a small voltage increase. The Crosshair V did have a slightly higher top end, but this is not surprising given its slightly more robust power delivery.
When automatic overclocking was enabled with all boards, they consistently hit about the same spot. The CPU was clocked around 3.7 GHz with a 232 MHz HTT. Multiple reboots and retries across all three boards resulted in the same level of overclock. There were a couple MHz difference between runs, but the 232 MHz area was consistent across all three boards.
You may want to check the
You may want to check the UEFI photo at the end of the article. It appears to have the wrong manufacturer.
You are absolutely correct.
You are absolutely correct. That is the new MSI ClickBIOS II. I’m not sure what I was thinking. I will get that swapped out here shortly.
seems biased to me
the board
seems biased to me
the board does not perform much greater then the m5a99x on some or most tests you perfromed it was the same speed
sure you get dual pcie x16 but this is the only benefit i can see
if your not interested in dual x16 then by looking at your benchmarks nobody would buy it
Gold award just because its the so called “top of the line”
did you get paid for this
Nope, not biased. I wasn’t
Nope, not biased. I wasn’t paid for it either. Pretty much all AM3+ boards perform the same, as they all are based around the SB850/SB950 southbridge, which controls the majority of all I/O functions. Also, since the memory controller and northbridge is integrated into the CPU, this further lessens the effect of motherboard performance.
What we are essentially looking at in terms of differences in these boards is slightly better overclocking potential on the Crosshair V. With the V you also get the improved sound due to the THX and Supreme FX II implementations, improved networking due to the Intel controller vs. the cheaper Realtek solutions, full 2 x 16X functionality (which does make a difference in multi-GPU solutions with top end cards), the extra SATA 6G controllers that the previous boards do not have, ROG connect, and a more granular control of the board from a voltage standpoint due to all of the other bell’s and whistle’s that Asus implemented.
There is no denying that the M5A99X is a very solid and well fleshed out board, but the Crosshair V takes that to a whole ‘nother level. Better cooling, 6 USBB 3.0 connections, pro-belt for voltage monitoring… I could go on and on. It is a significant upgrade overall from the 990X board. So yes, I do believe that it deserved the Gold award. It has packed all of these features into one board, for a decent price (it is cheaper than the Intel based ROG implementations), and all of it works flawlessly and matches the performance of less featured and more focused motherboards.
I bought this board with the
I bought this board with the fx 6100 ozc series 3 120gb solid state, 16gb vengeance ram 1tb segate a blueray drive and regular dvd drive with 2 XFX 6950 gpus in crossfire and a h80 water cooler in the Coolermaster scout. I put MSI afterburner on and also use AMD overdrive. I was taught by this com how to overclock the cpu and the gpus in 2 weeks. I have 4.899 for my 6 cores stable and with MSI Kombuster I get 403 fps. I just started learning and I think thats pretty good. I would have to say its the boards ease of use that made that possible. I’m having tons of fun with this. Next is learning to overclock the ram. Please keep up the great work and tell everyone there that frozen Grand Rapids MI listens to your pod casting.
Sounds like a really good
Sounds like a really good overclock! I wonder if you can unlock those other cores though? I haven’t heard much about doing that, but it was certainly possible in the older Phenom IIs. Still, 6 cores at 4.9 GHz is gonna give you a pretty good experience.
As for memory overclocking… I would just do the max amount on those particular dimms. If it is 1600 MHz, then just go for that. If you can get to 1866 MHz, which is the top supported speed, then that would work too. Good luck!
Well, you have realy good PC.
Well, you have realy good PC. What was the total cost of the project? Is your power supply 1200 wats? Do you think SDD was smart choise?
My Link
I have a cooler master pro
I have a cooler master pro gold 80+ 1000 watt. I like the snappiness of the ssd though. I’ve had no probs with it yet and hope not to. But the computer in a whole has taught me I need to get back into school. Some things are learned better in the environment of others around you knowing and learning about the same things, I don’t know anyone I can ask questions so I will probably stop trying to mess around with the clocks before I fry this thing. Some people only get to make their dream machine once. I don’t want to kill it to fast. Oh the whole project after rebates costs 1200, but I don’t know now with the hard drive prices still going up. I got mine for 54 bucks for the 1tb, now maybe 125-150 for the same drive.
Mr. Josh, I’ve been tweeking
Mr. Josh, I’ve been tweeking out the com some more. I bought a sound card for it, slid it in between the 2 graphics cards and hooked it up. The sound card runs fine, SoundBlaster X-FI Titanium Fatality Champion Series. But it looks as though having it plugged in is affecting the crossfire setup with the 2 XFX 6970s. I pulled them and reseated them, and reseated the crossfire bridges. I got my crossfire back but the gpu1 still doesn’t do what it used too. I have the M5A97 EVO for my board. Should I take out the sound card? It will only fit on the board in between the 2 cards. Will I have to keep one gpu in the desk drawer and pop it in the com when its time to play or lose the sound card? Your thoughts please, this is pissin me off but I am a real newb. Thanks for the time to read this.
Never mind I figured out what
Never mind I figured out what I had to do, make sure everything was seated right. LOL
hello i just got the asus
hello i just got the asus m5a97 evo and when i reformat my hhd i lost the auto tuning in the bios how can fix it
Ϝirst of all ӏ would like to
Ϝirst of all ӏ would like to sɑy fantastic blog! I Һad a quick question ѡhich I’d lіke to ask
if you Ԁо not mind. I was intеrested to knoա ɦow уou center yoursеlf аnd cleaг yοur thougҺts befоrе writing.
I’ve had trouble clearing mʏ mind in ɡetting my thoughts out.
I do enjoy writing Һowever it jսst seems lіke
tɦе first 10 to 15 minutes aгe usuɑlly wasted јust
trying to figure οut how tߋ begіn. Аny ideas οr hints?
Cheers!
I cannot get this board to
I cannot get this board to accept any of the video cards I have. Any suggestions as to video cards. Thanks