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Firmware, Software and Test System

Firmware

Like other board makers, EVGA's BIOS hasn’t changed much compared to the last one we looked at (Z690 generation). Once the system POSTs, you’re presented with four options (Setup, Default, Gamer Mode, and EVGA OC Robot) to access different functionality. After entering the Setup portion of the BIOS, where you can tweak settings, you see informative system information on top. There are headings for different sections below, with the rest of the screen taken up by options for each.

For the most part, there isn’t much digging around in the sub-menus to find the most frequently accessed items, but CPU and memory overclocking are in different sections. Gamer Mode slightly boosts the CPU, while the EVGA OC Robot finds a faster clock speed by raising clocks and playing with voltage during stress testing. Overall, thighs here are easy to read and navigate, with more options than most will ever use.

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BIOS - EVGA Z790 Dark Kingpin — (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

On the software side, EVGA’s Eleet X1 is a multi-functional monitoring and tweaking tool. For example, Eleet can overclock the CPU and Memory and monitor the system voltages, temperatures and fan speeds. Additionally, it offers RGB lighting control and several preset lighting modes, plus the ability to adjust each strip attached to the motherboard headers. The latest version of Eleet X1 (1.0.13.0) is easy to read and helpful. The only thing I feel is missing from the software is fan control.

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EVGA Z790 Dark Kingpin — (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

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Test System Components
CPU	Intel Core i9-13900K
Memory	Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 CL36 (KF560C36BBEAK2-32)
	GSkill Trident Z DDR5-5600 CL36 (F5-5600U3636C16GX2-TZ5RK)
GPU	Asus TUF RTX 3070
Cooling	Coolermaster MasterLiquid PL360 Flux
PSU	EVGA Supernova 850W P6
Software	Windows 11 64-bit (22H2)
Graphics Driver	Nvidia GeForce Driver 522.25
Sound	Integrated HD audio
Network	Integrated Networking (GbE or 2.5 GbE)

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Motherboard Testbed Components — (Image credit: EVGA)

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Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
Procyon	Version 2.1.459 64
	Office Suite (Office 365), Video Editing (Premiere Pro 22.6.2.2), Photo Editing (Photoshop 23.5.1, Lightroom Classic 11.5)
3DMark	Version 2.22.7359 64
	Firestrike Extreme and Time Spy Default Presets
Cinebench R23	Version RBBENCHMARK330542
	Open GL Benchmark - Single and Multi-threaded
Blender	Version 3.3.0
	Full benchmark (all 3 tests)
Application Tests and Settings
LAME MP3	Version SSE2_2019
	Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s)
HandBrake CLI	Version: 1.2.2
	Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x264 (light AVX) and x265 (heavy AVX)
Corona 1.4	Version 1.4
	Custom benchmark
7-Zip	Version 21.03-beta
	Integrated benchmark (Command Line)
Game Tests and Settings
Far Cry 6	Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, HD Textures ON
F1 2022	Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, Ultra High (default) Bahrain (Clear/Dry), FPS Counter ON