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 ASUS X99-A II 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 | NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB |
CPU Cooling |
XSPC Raystorm Koolance CPU-360i 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 NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB 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 NVIDIA 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 NVIDIA 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.
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 just skip to the conclusion
I just skip to the conclusion to see if ‘CMOS battery placement’ is listed as a strength or a weakness. That’s pretty much all I need to know about a motherboard.
Same here although, I can
Same here although, I can count no of times I changed CMOS battery on fingers of my hand. Still I look for CMOS battery placement on any motherboard.
Windows only is major
Windows only is major weakness to me.
Do I notice a new (at least
Do I notice a new (at least to me) type of release lever for the pcie 16 slots? How is this one activated?
If a MB maker anywhere has designed a release lever that does not require losing the skin on your hand to remove a graphics card, I would love to know about it.
I had an old motherboard with
I had an old motherboard with an AGP retention mechanism that was essentially 2 zip ties that stood up along either side of the video card, molded into the plastic slot if I remember correctly, and then a little plastic “8” went over both to cinch down the pcb.
newish, of a sorts. It the
newish, of a sorts. It the same standard push-down release (triangular in shape) at the lower end of the PCIe slot with an embedded LED for RGB "glowy" support. Thus, the clear color of the plastic tab 🙂