Test Methodology
Comparison Motherboard Configurations |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel | AMD | |
Core i7-4770K |
Core i7-3770K |
A10-5800K |
|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Z87-D3HP |
Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H |
Gigabyte F2-A85X-UP4 |
| BIOS | F4 |
F14 |
F4 |
| Chipset Driver | Intel Inf 9.4.0.101 and IMEI 9 |
AMD 13.6 |
|
| DDR3 Memory | G.Skill 8GB (2 x 4GB) |
||
| Memory Timings | 11-11-11-30-2T @ 2,133MHz |
||
| Integrated Graphics | HD 4600 |
HD 4000 |
HD 7660D |
| Discrete Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB (ForceWare 320.18) |
||
| Disk Drive | Samsung 840 Pro 250GB |
||
| Optical Drive | Sony AD-7263S |
||
| Chassis | Corsair Graphite 600T |
||
| Power Supply | Corsair AX750 |
||
| Operating System | Windows 8 64-bit |
||
CPU-centric Benchmarks |
|||
| HEXUS PiFast |
Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places | ||
| CineBench | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses all cores | ||
| PCMark 7 |
An all-encompassing test to evaluate system performance | ||
Discrete GPU Benchmarks |
|||
| 3DMark | DX11, Fire Strike benchmark | ||
| BioShock Infinite | DX11, 1,920x1,080 ultra quality | ||
| DiRT Showdown | DX11, 1,920x1,080 ultra quality | ||
Storage Benchmarks |
|||
| SATA | AS SSD sequential read and write tests | ||
| USB 3.0 | AS SSD sequential read and write tests | ||
Miscellaneous Benchmarks |
|||
| Boot to Windows 8 | Time taken from a cold boot to usable Windows desktop | Power Consumption | While idling and when running CineBench and DiRT Showdown on the IGP |
Testing notes
It's difficult to compare the absolute performance of a motherboard based on a brand-new chipset because we have no real comparison data to go with. Yet it still makes sense to see what kind of numbers the D3HP posts when using the best chip of a particular generation. Thus we've also included a Gigabyte Z77 motherboard with an Intel Core i7-3770K and Gigabyte FM2 with the current range-topping A10-5800K CPU.
Comparing the best of each family also lets you know if it's worth upgrading your computer to the Intel fourth generation Core and Z87 chipset combination. We've tested the trio of boards on Windows 8 64-bit.
All chips use integrated graphics but we'll focus on gaming results with the just-announced GeForce GTX 780 in the main PCIe x16 slot of the respective boards.
