SANDRA CPU Math & Multmedia
This benchmark software can actually reveal some of the refinements that we can’t visibly see when it comes to CPU tuning. A platform’s fine CPU tuning heavily influence the scores. CPU thermal monitoring was disabled as well. Let’s see how it does against the DX79SI and X79 based Assassin 2.
The point spread is pretty close. It may not look like much but think back to our Intel Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E article and you’ll see these are smoking scores compared to previous generation processors.
7Zip (Data Compression)
This program has a built in benchmark that measures the system’s zipping capability. Frequencies and memory timings which are usually tuned in the BIOS affect the benchmark. For example, a Core i7-975/X58 system scores about 22,000 in the test. Have a look at the Core i7-3960X/ASUS P9X79 Deluxe in action.
I know most of you won’t be overclocking your system to do any hardcore compressing. But, you at least get an idea here at just how nimble the P9X79 Deluxe is at both stock and overclocked frequencies. Again, the BIOS tweaks are evident with the Deluxe leading by a bit.
GraySky H.264 Benchmark 4.0
This a very easy benchmark to set up that tests your CPU (and system) transcoding abilities. Below are the average frame rates from each pass.
This benchmark loves the cores and Hyperthreads. All of the platforms are close with most of the difference coming from BIOS tuning. ASUS has always offered more aggressive CPU Turbo which seems to help just a bit more here.
Unigine Heaven 2.5 Demo
Moving to some 3D graphical testing, Unigine has a DX11 setting that can make any video card work hard even in SLI. Two different test settings were selected to see how well each system handles the intensive benchmark.
The frame rate averages were very close. The video cards are obviously maximizing their PCIE butts off. Any one of these boards would make a formidable platform for multiple graphics cards.
Metro 2033 – DirectX 11 Max Settings
Metro 2033 is one of the toughest DirectX11 games for any gaming system to handle. It’ll bring just about every current NVIDIA and AMD video card to its knees especially at 1080p or higher resolutions. This time multi-sampling AA was tested at normal and the max 4x setting.
I’m happy to see the latest NVIDIA drivers give these cards some teeth. The group was close at max 4x settings again due to the maxed out PCIE cards. At slightly lesser settings, the Deluxe seems to have just a little more frequency to feed the SLI cards. We’ll take what we can get!
Batman: Arkham City
Now that the game world is well on the path to DX11 righteousness, I thought it prudent to test at least one excellent new title, Batman Arkham City. Again, medium 16XAA and maxed out settings were used to see if there are any gaming performance differences between the boards.
Well, I wasn’t expecting much of a difference. All three platforms make excellent use of the GTX 560 TI SLI performance. If you’re using other cards in SLI or CrossfireX, you can expect them to do just as well.
RightMarkAudio –Â Good or Bad Audio?
RMAA is a handy tool for revealing the quality of most any audio card or integrated audio processor. It was the Realtek ALC898 audio processor integrated in to the Deluxe that were putting to the test. Let’s take a look at the 24/192Hz results.
Wow! Typically, we don’t see results this good. Two things helped produce this result: Implementation and audio software. ASUS obviously implemented the Realtek ALC898 audio codec (chip) in such a way so that there’s little noise. The software tuning also unlocks some of the audio processor’s potential.
What this means is that you can expect relatively lively audio response for games and some clarity for media or music. I have some Klipsch 5.1 speakers and a high end 150 ohm headset that didn’t really help locate any obtrusive noise. They definitely caught plenty of various frequencies when jamming to some music.
Now that we’ve got the majority of benchmarks with a quick check up of the audio quality, let’s have a look at a few other things that set these boards apart and then take it home!