| BIOS Frequency and Voltage settings (for overclocking) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | Asus P9X79 | Biostar TPower X79 | |
| Base Clock | 90-300 MHz (1 MHz) | 80-300 MHz (0.1 MHz) | 80-300 MHz (0.1 MHz) |
| CPU Multiplier | 12x to 60x (1x) | 12x to 57x (1x) | 1x to 59x (1x) |
| DRAM Data Rates | 800-2400 (266.6 MHz) | 800-2666 (266.6 MHz) | 800-2400 (266.6 MHz) |
| CPU Vcore | 0.60-1.70 V (5 mV) | 0.80-1.70 V (5 mV) | 1.00-1.52 V (10 mV) Up to +0.54 V Offset |
| CPU VCCSA | 0.60-1.70 V (5 mV) | 0.80-1.70 V (5 mV) | 0.88-1.82 V (20 mV) |
| VTT Voltage | 0.95-1.49 V (7 mV) | 1.05-1.70 V (6.25 mV) | -0.20 to +0.50 V (10 mV) |
| X79 PCH Voltage | 0.73-1.91 V (13 mV) | 1.10-1.70 V (6.25 mV) | 1.09-1.50 V (12 mV) |
| DRAM Voltage | 1.21-1.81 V (13 mV) | 1.20-1.99 V (5 mV) | 1.15-2.08 V (12.5 mV) |
| CAS Latency | 4-15 Cycles | 3-15 Cycles | 3-15 Cycles |
| tRCD | 4-15 Cycles | 4-15 Cycles | 3-15 Cycles |
| tRP | 4-15 Cycles | 4-15 Cycles | 3-15 Cycles |
| tRAS | 9-63 Cycles | 4-40 Cycles | 9-63 Cycles |
The TPower X79's fixed and offset Vcore settings can be used simultaneously, boosting its theoretical maximum to 2.06 volts.
| BIOS Frequency and Voltage settings (for overclocking) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ECS X79R-AX Black Deluxe | Intel DX79TO | MSI X79A- GD45 8D | |
| Base Clock | 50-250 MHz (1 MHz) | 90-147 MHz (225 kHz) | 90-200 MHz (1 MHz) |
| CPU Multiplier | 12x to 65x (1x) | 12x to 57x (1x) | 12x to 60x (1x) |
| DRAM Data Rates | 1066-2400 (266.6 MHz) | 800-2400 (266.6 MHz) | 800-2400 (266.6 MHz) |
| CPU Vcore | -0.30 to +0.70V (10 mV) | 1.00-1.92V (5 mV) | 0.80-1.80V (5mV) |
| CPU VCCSA | -0.30 to +0.60V (10 mV) | 0.85-1.80V (5 mV) | 0.85-1.80V (5mV) |
| VTT Voltage | -0.20 to +0.50V (10 mV) | 1.05-1.80V (12.5 mV) | 0.85-1.69V (10mV) |
| X79 PCH Voltage | -0.20 to +0.30V (10 mV) | 1.10-1.50V (12.5 mV) | 0.90-1.90V (10 mV) |
| DRAM Voltage | -0.30 to +0.50V (10 mV) | 1.20-1.93V (12.5 mV) | 1.05-2.45V (15 mV) |
| CAS Latency | 3-15 Cycles | 5-16 Cycles | 5-15 Cycles |
| tRCD | 3-31 Cycles | 5-16 Cycles | 4-15 Cycles |
| tRP | 3-15 Cycles | 5-16 Cycles | 4-15 Cycles |
| tRAS | 9-63 Cycles | 15-75 Cycles | 10-40 Cycles |
Though several of this round-up’s motherboards offer base clock increments of less than 1 MHz, the best overclockers weren’t among them. ASRock’s X79 Extreme4 and MSI’s X79A-GD45 both reach 4.70 GHz. Neither could push our processor to 4747 MHz (which would have been required for 47 x 101 MHz), and the lack of more granular base clock settings results in a tie.

ECS gets excluded from this overclocking comparison because its old firmware did not support our newer C2-stepping CPU. Comparing a C1 overclock to a C2 wouldn't yield a fair result, especially since our C1-stepping chip is afflicted with a bug that prevents proper operation above a certain multiplier (and only Asus has been able to work around it). The new CPU is also less capable of supporting a 1.66x chipset-to-CPU multiplier, which puts the boards employing it at a disadvantage.

Every Sandy Bridge-E processor has a frequency window that includes an underclocking floor. ASRock’s 152 MHz base clock, which is achieved using a 1.66x strap, requires the base frequency be underclocked to 91 MHz, which is roughly the lowest setting this CPU supports.
The 1.25x strap is far easier to use, and the top three boards to employ it all reach 134 MHz. This capability is particularly useful to owners of locked processors like the Core i7-3820, since they’re still be able to increase their CPU’s frequency up to 34% beyond its highest multiplier.

Asus does wonderful things with memory overclocking, which is why we often use its products as our reference platform in memory reviews. Intel follows closely behind, though it isn’t able to effectively use its DDR3-2133 setting when all eight slots are filled. Pushing past the possible DDR3-2400 setting would require far-more-aggressive voltage adjustments than we’re comfortable using.
- Can LGA 2011 Be Made More Affordable?
- ASRock X79 Extreme4
- X79 Extreme4 Firmware
- Asus P9X79
- P9X79 Firmware
- Biostar TPower X79
- TPower X79 Firmware
- ECS X79R-AX Black Deluxe
- X79R-AX Deluxe Firmware
- Intel DX79TO
- DX79TO Firmware
- MSI X79A-GD45 (8D)
- X79A-GD45 (8D) Firmware
- Test Settings And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: DiRT 3
- Benchmark Results: Metro 2033
- Benchmark Results: StarCraft II
- Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- Overclocking
- Which X79-Based Motherboard Offers More Value?
Since the boards all have vastly superior profit margins, your statement is misleading. Why is everyone too afraid to reveal the truth about motherboard pricing?
A comparison of the time between the power button being pressed and the installed bootloader starting would be very interesting to me. I was thinking it might be easiest to measure this by having no OS on the boot media and measuring the time to the "please insert boot media" message, but I'm sure you can think of other ways of doing it.
I'm also informed that on some boards the boot time varies dramatically dependent on whether any Overclocking is enabled, as compared to the stock settings - that would also be worth knowing.
not anymore, asrock is no longer affiliated with Asus and is owned by Pegatron Corp.
But I'm wondering why AMD continues the ATI brand on the ASrock motherboard? Seems odd. They had everyone replace the CCC as soon as they rebranded and here we are looking at the ATI logo on the ASrock board.
Also, even though there is so little difference when comparing boards using the same architecture, why no BF3 in the gaming section of the review? I thought this was one of the games mentioned in the 2012 goals for Tom's when reviewing gaming performance?
I settled on the ASRock Extreme4-m. I did have to wait for a new BIOS chip to arrive in order to make use of it though. They overnighted one to me last week and I got my system up and running over the weekend. So far so good. I've been quite happy with it now that it's working. I can't say that I've tried the overclocking features.
With the ASRock Extreme4-m the memory slots and CPU 8-pin power connectors are very close to the radiator. I went with the Intel liquid cooler for my build. It's a 120mm fan and radiator. I placed these in a Silverstone FT03 as exhaust from the top of the case. It's important to pick out RAM that doesn't have any crazy fins or spikes on it. I went with some Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 4x4GB that were on the official support list. There is a 4 to 5 mm gap between the RAM and radiator. it is plenty of room for the 8-pin wires to clear without touching the RAM or radiator. It's tight, but it works. I originally was going to buy GSkill RAM that was $20 cheaper, but there's no way the big red fins on those sticks would have fit.
I don't blame them for skipping BF3. Since the most recent video drivers I've been having all sorts of issues with BF3. It's the only game on my machine to display a "Something went wrong" error and crash the entire system. I'd imagine it's hard to benchmark such an unstable game. My Extreme4-m, i7 3820, and Radeon 7950 system has no trouble with Just Cause 2, GTA IV, Crysis, and others, but BF3 has this remarkable capability to come up with the most ridiculous of error messages and strange behavior. That game still has issues.