Testing:
The test system listed in the "Configuration" section was used for the execution of all benchmarks, which include tests from these five packages:
»
Lavalys Everest Ultimate Edition 4.20
»
PassMark Performance Test v6.1
»
HD Tune 2.53
»
FutureMark 3DMark06
» Track Mania Nations Forever Benchmark
» Call of Juarez DirectX 10 Benchmark
These tests will provide an overview of the system's performance by focusing on components like the memory, processor, hard drive, and graphics. For comparison purposes all tests will be executed with the processor and memory in their stock configurations, as well as with them running at the maximum overclock achieved. This provides test results with the processor at 2800MHz and the memory at 800MHz, as well as with the processor at 3290MHz and the memory at 940MHz. For 3DMark06 and the two 3D game tests, the onboard graphics were tested at stock and overclocked speeds, as well as with a 512MB Sapphire Toxic HD3870 PCI Express graphics card installed at stock speed.
The first two charts are related to tests executed in the Everest Ultimate Edition suite. While memory tests are generally all that Everest is used for, this time around I ran a few of the CPU tests as well. Four sets of results are provided in the chart below in order to gauge the performance of system memory in terms of read speed (in MB/s), memory write speed (in MB/s), memory copy speed (in MB/s), and memory latency (in ns). Higher values are better for the first three values, while lower values are desirable for latency.
Memory performance is obviously a strong point of this motherboard, as the results shown above are rather impressive. When this memory kit was reviewed on a Intel P35 based motherboard it was overclocked to 1242MHz and it put up a read speed value of 8754MB/s. With the memory at only 940MHz and the same timings, it puts up a read speed value of 9153MB/s. There is no telling how fast this system would have performed if I was actually able to get the 1066MHz memory option working.
The processor related tests from Everest Ultimate Edition are all shown below. While my experience with these tests is too limited to say if any of them are especially good, what we can see is that the overclock really provides a boost to performance.
