Testing Methodology
Comparison Motherboard Configurations |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Aorus Z370 Gaming |
Asus ROG Strix Z370-F Gaming |
Asus ROG Strix Z270-F Gaming |
|
| Reviewed Price | £270 |
£190 |
£150 |
|
| Firmware Version | F4a |
0410 |
0603 |
|
| Chipset | Z370 |
Z270 |
||
| CPU | Intel Core i7-8700K |
Intel Core i7-7700K |
||
| CPU Cores / Threads | 6 / 12 |
4 / 8 |
||
| CPU Base Clock / Turbo | 4.8GHz / 4.8GHz |
3.7GHz / 4.7GHz |
4.2GHz / 4.5GHz |
|
| CPU Cache | 12MB |
8MB |
||
| CPU TDP | 95W |
91W |
||
| Memory | G.Skill 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3,200 |
|||
| Memory Speed | DDR4-3200 |
DDR4-2666 |
DDR4-2400 |
|
| Memory Timings | 16-16-18-36-2T |
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| Graphics | EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW |
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| Graphics Driver | GeForce 376.19 |
|||
| Storage Device(s) | SK hynix Canvas SC300 512GB
Samsung 950 Pro 256GB M.2 256GB |
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| Power Supply | be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 (1,000W) |
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| Operating System | Windows 10 Home AE (64-bit) |
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CPU Benchmarks |
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|---|---|---|---|
| HEXUS PiFast | Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places. | ||
| Cinebench R15 | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses all cores. | ||
| Handbrake 0.10.5 | Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores. | ||
Storage Benchmarks |
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| CrystalDiskMark | Popular free-to-use storage benchmark, used to gauge read and write performance via M.2 (256GB Samsung 950 Pro NVMe), SATA (512GB SK hynix Canvas SC300) and USB 3.1 (512GB SK hynix Canvas SC300). | ||
Memory Benchmarks |
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| AIDA64 v5.80.4283 | Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency | ||
Gaming Benchmarks |
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| 3DMark Time Spy | Graphics test run using the Time Spy default test | ||
| Deus Ex: Mankind Divided | 2,560x1,440, ultra settings | ||
| Hitman | 2,560x1,440, ultra settings | ||
Miscellaneous Benchmarks |
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| Power Consumption | Noted at idle, while running the HandBrake video-transcoding test and when playing ROTTR. | ||
Notes
We often compare the same chipset-based boards against one another at stock speeds. This doesn't tell us a great deal other than they are working as advertised. Running stock numbers showed the Aorus to be within a per cent or two of the Asus' performance - nothing unexpected there.
Changing things up a bit, we chose to benchmark the Aorus at speeds that we believe will be used by enthusiasts who jump on the Coffee Lake bandwagon. To that end, we overclocked the Core i7-8700K to an all-core 4.8GHz using 1.25V, up from 1.1V default. We also increased the memory speed from DDR4-2666 to DDR4-3200 and voltage to 1.35V, up from 1.2V.
The following graphs show the Aorus performance at these elevated speeds thus more accurately reflecting what you will probably do if you had the same hardware to play with.
