Testing Methodology
Comparison Intel Motherboard Configurations |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | |||||
| Firmware Version | 0802 |
E7B10IMS |
F5 |
0805 |
1101 |
| Chipset | X299 |
Z390 |
Z370 |
||
| CPU | Intel Core i9-7980XE |
Intel Core i9-9900K |
Intel Core i7-8700K |
||
| CPU Cores / Threads | 18 / 36 |
8 / 16 |
6 / 12 |
||
| CPU Base Clock / Turbo | 2.6GHz / 4.2GHz |
3.6GHz / 5.0GHz |
3.7GHz / 4.7GHz |
||
| CPU TDP | 165W |
95W |
95W |
||
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 |
||||
| Memory Speed | DDR4-2666 |
||||
| Memory Timings | 16-17-17-36-2T |
||||
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition |
||||
| Primary Storage Device | SK hynix Canvas SC300 (512GB) |
||||
| Secondary Storage Device | WD Black NVMe M.2 (1TB) |
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| Power Supply | be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 (1,000W) |
||||
| Operating System | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
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Comparison AMD Motherboard Configurations |
||
|---|---|---|
| Model | ||
| Firmware Version | 7B92v11 |
T2b |
| Chipset | X399 |
X470 |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X |
| CPU Cores / Threads | 16 / 32 |
8 / 16 |
| CPU Base Clock / Turbo | 3.0GHz / 4.2GHz |
3.7GHz / 4.3GHz |
| CPU TDP | 250W |
105W |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 |
|
| Memory Speed | DDR4-2933 |
|
| Memory Timings | 16-17-17-36-2T |
|
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition |
|
| Primary Storage Device | SK hynix Canvas SC300 (512GB) |
|
| Secondary Storage Device | WD Black NVMe M.2 (1TB) |
|
| Power Supply | be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 (1,000W) |
|
| Operating System | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
|
Benchmark Suite |
|
|---|---|
| CPU Benchmarks | |
| 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 1.0 | Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores |
| Storage Benchmarks | |
| CrystalDiskMark | Popular free-to-use storage benchmark, used to gauge read and write performance via M.2 (1TB WD Black NVMe), SATA (512GB SK hynix Canvas SC300) and USB 3.1 (512GB SK hynix Canvas SC300) |
| Memory Benchmarks | |
| AIDA64 | Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency |
| Gaming Benchmarks | |
| 3DMark Time Spy | DX12 graphics benchmark run using the Time Spy test |
| F1 2017 | 1,920x1,080, ultra settings |
| Middle-earth: Shadow of War | 1,920x1,080, ultra settings |
| Miscellaneous Benchmarks | |
| Power Consumption | Noted at idle, while running the HandBrake video-transcoding test and when playing Middle-earth: Shadow of War |
Notes
There is usually little reason to comment in this section, but with the tested 0805 BIOS, the Asus board does not behave as expected.
The MSI and Gigabyte boards, used as comparisons, run at an all-core 4.7GHz and turbo to 5GHz correctly. The Asus, on the other hand, begins running at that 4.7GHz all-core but drops to 4.1GHz after a few minutes. There is no good reason for this because under-load temperature doesn't exceed 55C.
One can get around this by activating XMP memory settings and also running Multicore Enhancement in the BIOS. Doing so, though, increases the all-core speed to 4.8GHz, thus placing the board higher than either of the aforementioned two.
The only way around this is to input the per-core speeds manually, as shown on the previous page's first BIOS screenshot. We shouldn't have to do this; auto ought to work per Intel's specifications, so bear this in mind when setting up your own processor. The following results represent an apples-to-apples comparison, with an all-core 4.7GHz and turbo at 5GHz.
