How We Test
I decided to ditch the DDR3-1600 modules from Mushkin due to the requests by the commenters on my previous articles, and searched the labs for an appropriate alternative. Fortunately, Thomas had finished looking at a 2800MHz kit from Klevv in his DDR3 vs. DDR4 article, and he had access to the 2666MHz variant. Two 8GB kits now fully populate my test system.
The main downside to this addition is that these kits also emit an aura of their own. In order to implement the diodes, they have a taller heat spreader than standard DIMMs, and those force me to reverse the orientation of my CPU cooler. This isn't too big of a deal, but it did prove to be an airflow challenge when overclocking this specimen.
To keep these Vishera cores cool, a Sunbeamtech cooler is utilized to provide maximum air-cooling capacity across all of my AMD test platforms. Zalman's ZM-STG1 paste is used as the thermal compound for this test platform.
It might not be the latest generation, but the Radeon HD 7970 has enough performance to play the latest games at decent settings. It's heavy and it draws a lot of power, which makes it a good candidate for testing the power subsystem of my test samples.
Even with these power-hungry components, this 500W, 80 Plus Gold-certified power supply has no problem keeping the system going with constant power while running the standard test suite and individual stress tests. However, these components will draw a little more than 500W of power when running both Prime95 and FurMark. Note to self: When conducting a 100 percent stress test, get more power!
The Mushkin Chronos SSD is still running strong in this AMD test system, so I will continue to use that disc. We are still finalizing our Windows 10 test image across our reviewing teams, so I am still using my same hard disk image from my previous review. However, I did implement two game benchmarks to please the crowd and provide some reference points to compare against previous writers' suites.
Test System Configuration
| Test System Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
| Software | |
| Graphics | AMD |
| Chipset | AMD 970 & SB950 |
Benchmark Settings
| Synthetic Benchmarks And Settings | |
|---|---|
| PCMark 8 | Version: 1.0 Work, Home, and Creative Benchmarks |
| SiSoftware Sandra | Version 2014.02.20.10 CPU Arithmetic, Multimedia, Cryptography File System Bandwidth Memory Bandwidth |
| 3D Tests And Settings | |
| 3DMark 11 | Basic Edition, Version 1.0.5.0, Default Preset |
| 3DMark 13 | Version 1.1 Test Set 1: Firestrike, 1920x1080, Default Preset Test Set 2: Firestrike Extreme, 2560x1440 Default Preset |
| Application Tests And Settings | |
| TotalCode Studio 2.5 | Version: 2.5.0.10677 MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, Two-Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.9.9 Video from Canon Eos 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile) |
| iTunes | Version 11.0.4.4 Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format |
| LAME MP3 | Version 3.98.3 Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| Adobe After Effects | Version 12.0.0.404 Create Video which includes 3 Streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneosly |
| Adobe Photoshop CC | Version 14.0 Test 1: CPU, Test 2: OpenCL Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Adobe Premiere CS6 | Version 6.0.0.0 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality |
| ABBYY FineReader 10 | Version 10.0.102.95 Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| Adobe Acrobat XI | Version 11.0.0 Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption |
| Blender | Version 2.68a Helicopter 2.6.1 Scene Render DirectX 11, Low Detail, 1920x1080, No AA, No Tesselation |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 | Version 5.0.39.0 Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.30THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
| WinRAR | Version 5.00THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
| WinZIP | Version 18.0 Test 1: OpenCL, Test 2: CPU THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
| Game Tests And Settings | |
| Fallout 4 | v 1.4.132.0.0 Ultra Preset |
| Battlefield 4 | Latest Update as of 4/1/2016 Ultra Preset |
One final note about my configuration: I ran all of these benchmarks in DDR3-2133MHz mode. I did this intentionally, to show how much of a performance increase we will see in the synthetics, while demonstrating that this doesn't play out as well in the applications.
Comparison Motherboards
ASRock 990FX Killer
MSI 990FXA Gaming
Otherwise, this board appears to be quite robust in the range of ports and slots it provides. PCIe 2.0 vs. 3.0 is not yet an issue, and may not be for some time. You said it supports SLI? That's rare for the 970, so could be a big deal for some.
Remember, Asus themselves had stated that these technology advancements see a tricking down over generations and revisions in their product lines.
I got my sabertooth 990fx in 2011. It's almost off it's 5 year warranty. Time machine is right, this board makes absolutely no sense.
1. Is that an ultra M2 slot on that motherboard? I didn't know 970 and 990FX supported ultra M2.
2. Is it really worth it to buy 970 / 990FX at this point when AMD is very close to releasing a new line of CPUs that will use a new socket?
More like 5 years.
I thought it would be worth mentioning, That particular board has a notorious overheating problem with the Northbridge. As such I eventually had to buy an active cooler which added close to $20 extra.
It is operating at a very nice temp now, so I'm not sure what's wrong with the chipset heatsink. Its not cheap aluminum, it has a bit of heft to it; almost feels like Acetal. Temp issues were resolved immediately after replacing with an Evercool chipset cooler with a 60 mm fan.
Regardless, if you read up reviews on the Killer board you will certainly find the many complaints about the overheating Northbridge. Mine got hot enough to boil water @ 100C. So for the value portion, I think you could add the additional cost of a decent Northbrige cooler.
Had the ASUS board been available when I purchased the 990FX board, I likely would have gone with that. I may pick one up anyway, I like it.