Testing
Testing motherboards is not an easy task. No matter what types of test are done the CPU’s performance does come into play. Testing IO is basically only testing the ability of the PCH. Thus what separates motherboards these days is their ability to provide functionality you need (read over clocking potential, RAID, multi GPU setup etc). But as the saying goes; when in Rome do as Romans do; we’ll put up some numbers to prove that we did spend time testing the board to dissect the ‘quantum’ difference between it and its peers!
System Specs
| Motherboard | MSI P67A-GD65
MSI P67A-C43 Asus P8P67 Asus Sabertooth P67 |
| Processor | Core i7 2600K |
| Video | HIS 6950 2GB |
| Memory | G.Skill Sniper 2X4GB (1600MHzl CL9; 1.25V) |
| Hard Disk | Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB (Both systems) |
| Power | Corsair HX 620 |
| OS | Windows 7 (Service Pack 1) |
Test Suite
| Synthetic | Sandra 2011X 264 Benchmark (HD V3)
Cinebench 3D Mark 11 - Physics Test |
| Real World | 7-ZipFar Cry 2
Crysis Warhead |
| I/O Performance | SATA - HD TunreUSB - Crystal Mark 3 |
LEGEND
| S67 | Asus Sabertooth P67 |
| P67 | Asus P8P67 |
| C43 | MSI P67A-C43 |
| GD 65 | MSI P67A-GD65 |
All benchmark indices are rounded off to the nearest 0.
Synthetics
Sandra
Sandra is a very competent stress testing and benchmarking suite.
You’ll need an electron microscope to discern between these products. The reliance of these benchmarks on CPU subsystem is great enough to negate differences produced by motherboard component choice
X264 HD V3 & Cinebench R11.5
This benchmark measures the encoding performance of the processor. It offers a standardized benchmark as the clip as well as the encoder used is uniform.
Cinebench is based on Maxon’s Cinema 4D. It is used to compare graphics as well as processor performance.
Non significant differences are apparent in these tests, but they can be attributed test run anomalies. They are not significant enough to pick apples from oranges!
3D Mark 11 –Physics Test & Games
This is the latest incarnation of one of the oldest graphics benchmarking suites. The latest incarnation supports DirectX 11. It has a physics test that emulates physics on the processor.
Games
The base line for all tests is a Core i7-950 processor running at its default speed (100%)
Far Cry 2
| Far Cry 2 | 1680x1050 |
| Benchmark | Inbuilt 'Ranch Small' CPU |
| Rendering Path | DX9 - Medium |
Crysis -Warhead
| Crysis Warhead | 1680x1050 |
| Benchmark | Customized |
| Rendering Path | DX9; Physics Set to Enthusiast |
All the contenders cross the line at the same point. We’ll have to wait for higher speed cameras to point out the winner!
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