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 Core i7-4770K (3.5GHz, 35 x 100MHz Base Clock) |
| Motherboards | ASUS Maximus VII Impact ASUS Maximus VII Formula MSI Z97 XPower GIGABYTE Z97X-Gaming G1-WIFI-BK ASUS Maximus VI Formula |
| Memory | Stock Testing Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 modules (1600MHz, 9-10-9-27-1T, 1.525V) Z97 Overclock Testing Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 modules (2400MHz, 11-13-13-31-1T, 1.65V) |
| Hard Drive | Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD Intel 520 240GB SSD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA III HD |
| Sound Card | On-board sound |
| Video Card | NVIDIA GTX 570 1.25GB 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 includes an Intel Core i7-4770K CPU, 16GB of DDR3-1866 memory, an NVIDIA GTX 570 1.25GB video card or an ASUS Poseidon GTX 780 3GB video card, and a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB or an Intel 520 240GB SSD drive. The differing video cards and SSDs exhibited similar performance across all benchmarks run, having negligible effects on the results numbers reported. 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
- Maxon Cinebench 11.5
First I heard about the Intel
First I heard about the Intel NiC using up CPU threads for networking… Did you use the driver from the DVD or Intel’s site or the first version of the drivers?
Driver from the DVD was used
Driver from the DVD was used for testing…
The cooler is too big. It’s
The cooler is too big. It’s bigger than the board….
Well, after watching the
Well, after watching the latest podcast#328 mentioning this review, I had too see it for myself. Holy Boulder Dam.. that cooler!!! HAHAHAHA Priceless – Sorry, but I can’t help myself. Good review. Tis a really nice board. And yeah, I really enjoy the podcasts guys!
Hmm, i got this motherboard
Hmm, i got this motherboard in a bundle deal.
One thing they have cheaped out on is the fan control. The z97i plus gets pwm controllers and this is stuck with DC chassis fan controllers, albeit one more, which so far seem to be forcing a case fan to run at 100%…
the ai suite is confusing and has dll exceptions.
I had some issue installing a cooler, if you have an itx case which allows tower coolers it’s ideal but for performance low profile coolers you will struggle. Just about got the silverstone aro06 installed.
So, are you supposed to
So, are you supposed to replace the screws on the CPU Power Daughter card heat sinks with longer screws to mount it to a case? Or do you only need to use the two free mounting holes?