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 motherboards 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 | |
| Motherboards | Intel X99-based systems GIGABYTE X99P-SLI ASUS X99-E WS ASUS X99-A Intel Z170-based systems ASUS Z170-A Intel Z97-based system ASUS Z97-Pro |
| CPU | Intel X99-based systems Intel Core i7-5960X (3.0GHz CPU and Ring Bus, 30 x 100MHz Base Clock) Intel Z170-based system Intel Core i7-6700K (4.0GHz CPU and Ring Bus, 40 x 100MHz Base Clock) Intel Z97-based system Intel Core i7-4770K (3.5GHz CPU and Ring Bus, 35 x 100MHz Base Clock) |
| Memory | Intel X99-based systems Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 modules (2133MHz, 15-17-17-35-1T, 1.225V) Intel Z170-based system Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 modules (1600MHz, 16-18-18-35-1T, 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 | Intel 730 240GB SSD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA III HD |
| Sound Card | On-board sound |
| Video Card | ASUS Poseidon GTX 780 3GB NVIDIA GTX 570 1.25GB |
| CPU Cooling | XSPC 750 EX240 kit with Koolance CPU-360 block XSPC Raystorm D5 Photon RX480 V3 WaterCooling Kit Corsair Hydro Series™ H100i Extreme Performance CPU Cooler |
| Video Drivers | NVIDIA 353.62 |
| Power Supply | Corsair HX750 |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro x64 |
Test Setup Explanation
The 64-bit Windows 10 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 or an NVIDIA GTX 570 1.25GB video card, and an Intel 730 240GB SSD drive. For Intel Z170 LGA1151 board testing, an Intel Core i7-6700K processor, 16GB of DDR4-2666 memory, an ASUS Poseidon GTX 780 3GB video card, and an Intel 730 240GB SSD drive were used in the test system. 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 an Intel 730 240GB 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.
NOTE: For ASUS X99-E WS and GIGABYTE X99P-SLI motherboard testing, a Corsair Hydro Series™ H100i Extreme Performance CPU Cooler or an XSPC 750 EX240 kit with a Koolance CPU-360 block and an NVIDIA GTX 570 video card were used for most board testing. However, the ASUS Poseidon GTX 780 video card was used for the PCMark 8 benchmark tests only to ensure equivalent results with the other test systems because of the impact of the system GPU on these specific benchmark test results.
Benchmark Tests used for evaluation:
- SoftPerfect Research NetWorx Speed Test v5.41
- LanBench v1.1.0
- ATTO Disk Benchmark v3.05
- SiSoft Sandra 2015 SP2b (v2015.07.21.42)
- Intel Linpack Benchmark v11.3.0.004
- Maxon Cinebench R15
- PCMark 8 v2.4.304
I picked up one of these
I picked up one of these boards a few weeks ago for a workstation I was building for the office. Very satisfied! Originally intended to use a X99 Sabertooth from ASUS but that board killed itself after setting the XMP profile.
X99P-SLI is great! I did notice however that the packaging apparently had been printed without mention of the Thunderbolt 3 or the 128GB RAM support (which we are taking advantage of). Call it a pleasant surprise.
That’s pretty dumb, with
That’s pretty dumb, with their ultra high failure rates, combined with their bottom of the industry product support, their products have no business, in the workplace. Asus, Supermicro, or GTFO.
Do these new x99 boards
Do these new x99 boards feature DMI 3.0 like the z170 boards?
The current batch do not
The current batch do not support DMI 3.0, not sure if refresh boards with Broadwell-E support will add it or not though…
How hard is it to make PCIE 3
How hard is it to make PCIE 3 16X so we dont need to sandwich cards
And yes i know 8x virtually no difference but in some cases it is.
nop, we have no expansion
nop, we have no expansion cards that uses more than what a gen3 8x can provide
I don’t get why there is a
I don’t get why there is a DisplayPort connector on the back when none of the LGA2011-3 CPUs have video.
I’ve been thinking about going to an X99 system for a few months now, but a majority of the customers reviews sound like they’re too much trouble. BIOS failures, no M.2 boot support, USB hubs flaking out. I think at this point I’ll wait for X290 and Skylake-E next summer.
The DP connector is an input,
The DP connector is an input, so that you can have video output over the Thunderbolt connector.
That’s cool. I have high
That’s cool. I have high hopes for Thunderbolt 3 after reading all its specifications. Time will tell if it becomes a success in the hands of manufacturers and consumers.
Dear Readers of the PCper
Dear Readers of the PCper forums
I dont know if it is the wright stanec by PCper not to validat the clames by gigabyte! Taking there clames on fath, dose not inform! PCper we need real evidence that the PCIe port is actually as strong as the clames layed out in your artical.
I propose a scientific approch, namely the use of a single mesurement of “Josh Walrath” Until such time as the single unit of measurement has been used i call that the clames be revoked!
Yours sinisterly,
In the name of Science, Truth, Justice
Not sure what is more
Not sure what is more lacking;your poor syntax or your worse spelling?