Three-Way X99 LGA 2011-v3 ATX Motherboard Shootout

Features
By published

Buyers of Intel's X99 platform, which supports Intel's Haswell-E and new DDR4 memory, were probably prepared to pay a premium for mid-market boards. Are any of these $240 to $300 models worthy of Intel’s latest CPUs?

Results: Power, Heat And Efficiency

ASRock’s X99 Extreme4 has the lowest power consumption at both zero and full load conditions. MSI’s power consumption looks a little high, though it does pull along a couple of extra controllers.

The X99 Extreme4 also demonstrates the lowest thermal readings, so there’s a chance that its superior energy savings could be due to below-spec voltage. We’re happy with slightly less voltage when it doesn’t hurt stability.

Average performance gains of less than 1% are tied to average power savings of just over 5%, giving the X99 Extreme4 a 6.2% lead in efficiency.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.