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How We Test
Each motherboard is explicitly set to 100 MHz BCLK with a fixed 35x multiplier for all performance benchmarks. Power consumption and heat generation are tested with one 140mm fan on the liquid cooling array set to 100% while all others are disabled. Speed Step and energy saving features are enabled where possible. Windows' default "Performance" power option preset is used for every test except idle power consumption, which uses "Balanced."
Test System Configuration
| CPU Cooler | Waterblock - EK Supremacy Evo (Insert 2, Jet 3)Radiator - EK CE280 and PE360Fans - EK F3-140ER (2) and EK F4-120ER (3)Pump - D5 PWM G2Reservoir - EK XRES 140 Revo (200 mL)Tubing - 13/10 DuraClear |
| Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
| Power | Antec HCP-1200: ATX12V v2.3, EPS12V, 80 PLUS Gold |
| Software | |
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit |
| Graphics | Crimson 16.10.1 WHQL |
Comparison Products
Benchmark Suite
| Benchmark Settings | |
| Synthetic Benchmarks & Settings | |
| PCMark 8 | Version 2.7.613Home, Creative, Work, Storage, Applications (Adobe & Microsoft) |
| 3DMark 13 | Version 4.47.597.0Skydiver, Firestrike, Firestrike Extreme Default Presets |
| SiSoftware Sandra | Version 2016.03.22.21CPU Arithmetic, Multimedia, Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth |
| DiskSPD | 4k Random Read, 4k Random Write128k Sequential Read, 128k Sequential Write |
| Cinebench R15 | Build RC83328DEMOOpenGL Benchmark |
| CompuBench | Version 1.5.8Face Detection, Optical Flow, Ocean Surface, Ray Tracing |
| Application Tests & Settings | |
| LAME MP3 | Version 3.98.3Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.9.9Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19 GB 4k mkv to x265 mp4 |
| Blender | Version 2.68aBMW 27 CPU Render Benchmark, BMW 27 GPU Render Benchmark |
| 7-Zip | Version 16.02THG-Workload (7.6 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=9" |
| Adobe After Effects CC | Release 2015.3.0, Version 13.8.0.144PCMark driven routine |
| Adobe Photoshop CC | Release 2015.5.0. 20160603.r.88 x64PCMark driven routine (light and heavy) |
| Adobe InDesign CC | Release 2015.4, Build 11.4.0.90 x64PCMark driven routine |
| Adobe Illustrator | Release 2015.3.0, Version 20.0.0 (64-bit)PCMark driven routine |
| Game Tests & Settings | |
| Ashes of Singularity | Version 1.31.21360, DirectX 12, GPU-FocusedHigh PresetCrazy Preset |
| F1 2015 | 2015 Season, Abu Dhabi Track, RainMedium PresetUltra High Preset |
| Metro Last Light Redux | Version 3.00 64-bitHigh QualityVery High Quality |
| The Talos Principle | Version 267252, 64-Bit, DirectX11High Preset, Max Render 1920x1080Ultra Preset, Max Render 1920x1080 |
We're looking for oddities in the bench scores. Boring benchmarks are good benchmarks for motherboards. Dramatic score leads result from motherboards cheating with hidden clock boosts, and a board that lags behind is usually because of a configuration conflict.
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