How we test
Comparison systems |
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|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | ASUS Rampage GENE III (£206.41*) | ASUS P6X58D Premium Deluxe (£239.90*) |
| Motherboard BIOS | 0404 (25/06/2010) | 0808 (20/04/2010) |
| Chipset driver | Intel Inf 9.1.1.1025 and RST 9.6 | Intel Inf 9.1.1.1025 and RST 9.6 |
| Processor | Intel Core i7 980X (3.33GHz, 12MB L3 cache, hexa-core) | Intel Core i7 980X (3.33GHz, 12MB L3 cache, hexa-core) |
| Memory | Kingston 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 | Kingston 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 |
| Memory timings | 9-9-9-24-1T @ 1,600MHz | 9-9-9-24-1T @ 1,600MHz |
| Graphics | Sapphire
Radeon HD 5850 |
Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 |
| Graphics driver | Catalyst 10.6 | Catalyst 10.6 |
| Disk drive | Corsair V128 SSD 128GB | Corsair V128 SSD 128GB |
| Optical drive | Pioneer DVD ReWriter DVR-216D | Pioneer DVD ReWriter DVR-216D |
| Chassis | Corsair Obsidian Series 700D | Corsair Obsidian Series 700D |
| Power supply | Corsair HX1000W | Corsair HX1000W |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit |
CPU and memory benchmarks |
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| HEXUS.PiFast |
Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places. | |
| wPrime 2.0.3 | A number-crunching benchmark that stresses all available CPU cores/threads. | |
| CINEBENCH 11.5 | Using CINEBENCH's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible. Run using high-performance mode. | |
| Geekbench 2.1.6 | A cross-platform benchmark used to measure memory and processor performance. Run using high-performance mode. | |
| SiSoft Memory Bandwidth | Used to measure system memory bandwidth. | |
| SiSoft Memory Latency | Used to measure system memory latency. | |
GPU benchmarks |
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| Aliens vs. Predator | DX11, 1,680x1,050, 2xAA, 8xAF, very high quality. | |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | DX9, 1,680x1,050, 4xAA, ultra quality, FRAPS-recorded benchmark. | |
Storage benchmarks |
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| HDTach |
USB 2.0/3.0 read speed, SSD average read speed | |
General benchmarks |
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| Power consumption | To provide best- and worst-case scenarios, we record mains power draw when idle and while running the 12-core Prime 95 | |
| *price correct at the time of writing, July 6, 2010 | ||
We're comparing the mATX board's performance against a premium board from ASUS' full-ATX stable, the P6X58D Premium, used in our graphics and Intel-based CPU benchmarking. We don't expect to see much of a difference as the core components are all the same, but it will tell us if ASUS has sacrificed performance when designing a smaller board.
