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.
| Test System Setup | |
| CPU | Intel X99-based systems Intel Core i7-5960X (3.0GHz, 30 x 100MHz Base Clock) Intel Z97-based system Intel Core i7-4770K (3.5GHz, 35 x 100MHz Base Clock) |
| Motherboards | Intel X99-based systems EVGA X99 Classified ASUS X99-Deluxe Intel Z97-based system ASUS Maximus VII Formula |
| Memory | Intel X99-based systems Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 modules (2133MHz, 15-17-17-35-2T, 1.225V) Intel Z97-based system Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 modules (1600MHz, 9-10-9-27-1T, 1.525V) |
| Hard Drive | Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA III HD |
| Sound Card | On-board sound |
| Video Card | ASUS Poseidon GTX 780 3GB |
| CPU Cooling | Corsair Hydro Series™ H100i Extreme Performance CPU Cooler |
| Video Drivers | NVIDIA 335.23 |
| Power Supply | Corsair HX750 |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate x64 |
Test Setup Explanation
The 64-bit Windows 7 based test bench used for Intel X99 LGA2011-V3 board testing includes an Intel Core i7-5960X CPU, 32GB of DDR4-2666 memory, an ASUS Poseidon GTX 780 3GB video card, and a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD drive. For the Z97-based board testing, an Intel Core i7-4770K CPU, 16GB of DDR3-2400 memory, an ASUS Poseidon GTX 780 3GB video card, and a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD drive were used in the test system. 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 2014 SP3
- LinX Intel Linpack Benchmark v0.6.5 with Intel Linpack version 11.1.3
- Maxon Cinebench R15
My favorite product of all
My favorite product of all time is a bit different. I love the EVBot I got to push my Classified cards to the max… or whatever classified products I happen to be holding.
Nice write-up. My only gripe
Nice write-up. My only gripe is with EVGA going with angled connectors at the edge of the boar. This is clearly meant to be setup as a benching system or a very top-end full size ATX or EATX case with plenty of room.
The lack of a cmos jumper
The lack of a cmos jumper shouldn’t be listed as a weakness, considering there is a cmos reset button on the motherboard backplane.
CMOS reset button just clears
CMOS reset button just clears current CMOS settings but retains profile information and any internally configured settings. The reset jumper physically shorts the CMOS to reset it to factory defaults, including profile information, time, and internally configured settings (like memory and cpu-dependent settings that are not user configurable). That is why it is listed as a weakness.
Unfortunately, it seems to be the norm with x99 boards rather than the exception. You can remove the CMOS battery for the same effect most of the time, but I have seen boards retain profile and time settings even after removing the CMOS battery for elongated periods (> 20-30m)…
Weakness indeed. I tried
Weakness indeed. I tried every possible way to reset Cmos but it just doesnt work.