Testing Configuration and Benchmarks Used
To verify that the motherboard works as advertised, the board was run through our standard benchmark suite. In most cases, the results are presented for the motherboard under review as well as a different similar-class motherboard for performance comparison purposes. The benchmark tests used should give you a good understanding of the board’s capabilities for both office and gaming use so that you, the reader, can make a more informed purchasing decision.
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Test System Setup |
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CPU |
Intel Core i7-4770K (3.5GHz, 35 x 100MHz Base Clock) |
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Motherboards |
GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 5 GIGABYTE Z87X-OC Force MSI Z87 XPower |
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Memory |
Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 modules (1600MHz, 9-10-9-27-1T) |
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Hard Drive |
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD Intel 520 240GB SSD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA III HD |
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Sound Card |
Onboard sound |
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Video Card |
NVIDIA GTX 570 1.25GB |
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CPU Cooling |
Corsair Hydro Series™ H100i Extreme Performance CPU Cooler |
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Video Drivers |
NVIDIA 320.18 |
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Power Supply |
Corsair HX750 |
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Operating System |
Windows 7 Ultimate x64 |
Test Setup Explanation
The 64-bit Windows 7 based test bench used for Intel Z87 LGA1150 board testing includes an Intel Core i7-4770K CPU, 16GB of DDR3-1866 memory, an NVIDIA GTX 570 1.25GB video card, and an Intel 520 240GB or a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD drive (the two SSD drives were found to perform the same in testing). Using the selected components gives us the ability to demonstrate the motherboard's capabilities rather than that of the components themselves.
Benchmark Tests used for evaluation:
- SoftPerfect Research NetWorx Speed Test
- LanBench v1.1.0
- ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.47
- SiSoft Sandra 2012
- LinX Intel Linpack Benchmark v0.6.4
- Handbrake video transcoder v0.9.8
- Maxon Cinebench 11.5
- FutureMark PCMark 7
Hey guys, thanks for the
Hey guys, thanks for the great reviews. They are really helpful, much appreciated.
I’m relatively new to pc gaming but I am addicted. It is vastly superior to consoles and I will never go back. I started with a gaming laptop in 2011 and I am ready to upgrade to a monster Desktop.
I have been researching all year and I know CES is around the corner and I will wait until after for some news BUT I’m tired of waiting. I am planning on placing an order month.
I want to build a MONEY IS NO OBJECT gaming rig based on the Z87 platform with the Nvidia 780 Ti classified card. I was hopeing for a 6GB card but again I’m tired of waiting.
The trouble I’m having is deciding on the motherboard.
What is the BEST motherboard out there for gaming.
Features I would like:
Good on board audio
Upgraded NIC on board for low latency (I’m a BF4 fenatic)
Good overclocking
Maximus extreme, Formula, Gigabyte Sniper or Msi Gaming???
Thank you.
The Sniper may offer you the
The Sniper may offer you the best mix of features since it has the upgradable OP-AMP so you can customize the audio experience and the integrated Killer NIC allowing for network traffic tweaking. However, any of the board's mentioned would give you a good gaming experience.
Make sure to pair the board with a good CPU and a strong PSU as well.
Good luck…
Morry,
This is a fantastic
Morry,
This is a fantastic review Morry! Objective and extraordinarily detailed. As with Ryan, Josh and and Allyn, I have an immense amount of respect for your journalistic integrity, professionalism and the top-tier reviews you publish. You’re handwork does not go unnoticed. I just wanted to articulate my appreciate for your devotion to PCper and it’s audience. not only you but the top-tier reviews you publish.
Question:
I’ve been eyeing parts and so far I’m rather interested in the feature set of the ROG Hero motherboard. What do you think of Asus’s “entry-level” ROG board? Would you suggest anything else at the ~$200 price level? So far I haven’t found anything with such a rich feature set and great software suite.
– Stewart Graham