How We Test
Test System Components
As before, this motherboard was set up on an open-bed test case. All components were the same as those used in recent write-ups.
Drivers & Settings
Graphics | Nvidia 347.25 |
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Stock and 4.2GHz overclock settings will be used to generate comparative data. I found only one anomaly, which was repeatable, otherwise the numbers were unremarkable. As usual, I used a Kill-A-Watt meter to read power usage at the wall. With the system off, the UPS on its own draws about 6 watts. I realize I may not have been perfectly clear what this means; for all boards, subtract 6W to get actual consumption of the test systems (although if you plan to use a UPS yourself, the added 6W may tell you what to expect).
Benchmark Suite
PCMark 8 | Version: 2.3.293, Work, Home, and Creative Benchmarks |
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SiSoftware Sandra | Version: 2015.01.21.15, Memory Bandwidth |
Crystal DiskMark 3.03 | Sequential Read |
Unigine Heaven 4.0 | Version 4.0, Built-in Benchmark DirectX 9, Low Detail, 1280x720, 2xAA, No TessellationDirectX 11, High Quality, 1280x70, 0xAA |
Also as before, I ran only the sequential test in CrystalDiskMark, because I was interested in testing the chipset SATA and USB3.0 throughputs, not the attached drives. Similarly, I only looked for bandwidth differences in the RAM.
Comparison Motherboards
For comparison purposes, the results obtained will be examined against those from the original three-board mini-ITX review I wrote, and that you may read here.