As usual we are planning to compare the motherboards
speeds in two different modes: in nominal mode and during overclocking CPU and
memory. The first mode is interesting because it shows how well the motherboards
work in their default settings. It is a known fact that most users do not refine
their systems, they just simply choose the optimal BIOS settings and do nothing
else. That is the reason why we run a round of tests that doesn’t almost
intervene in any default settings of the motherboard. For comparison purposes,
we also included the results of the previously reviewed motherboards:
·
ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional
·
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 and ASRock Z77 Extreme6
·
ASRock Z77 Extreme9
·
ASRock Z77 OC Formula
·
Asus Maximus V Formula
·
Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
·
Asus P8Z77-V LX
·
Asus P8Z77-V Premium
·
Asus Sabertooth Z77
·
ECS Z77H2-A2X (v1.0)
·
Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3
·
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H and GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB WIFI
·
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 TH and Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5
TH
·
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7
·
Intel DZ77BH-55K
·
Intel DZ77GA-70K and Intel DZ77RE-75K
·
MSI Z77 MPOWER
·
MSI Z77A-GD65.
The result on the
chart is arranged following the descending order. The ASRock Z77 Extreme3 motherboard
result is highlighted with a darker color for your convenience.
Nominal
mode
We used Cinebench 11.5. All tests were run
5 times and the average result of the 5 was put in the frequency chart.
We
used Cinebench 11.5
We used Fritz Chess Benchmark utility from
time to time and it proved to be very satisfactory. It created repeated
results, performance inside it was measured perfectly, depending on the number
of calculating threads added.
Fritz
Chess Benchmark utility
A small video in x264 HD Benchmark 4.0 is
encoded in two tests and then the entire process is repeated 4 times. The
average results of the second test are displayed on the following diagram:
x264
HD Benchmark 4.0 is encoded
We measured the performance in Adobe
Photoshop using our own benchmark, which was made from Retouch Artists
Photoshop Speed Test that has been creatively refined. It includes typical
editing of 4 10-megapixel images from a digital photo camera.
Adobe
Photoshop
In storage test a 1-GB file is compressed,
using LZMA2 algorithms, while other compression settings remain at defaults.
Storage
test
Like in the data compression test, the
faster 16 million of Pi digits are calculated, the better it is. This is the
only benchmark where the number of microprocessor cores doesn’t really a matter,
because it creates single-threaded load.
Data
compression test
As we don’t overclock graphics in our motherboard
reviews, the next diagram shows only CPU tests from the 3DMark11 - Physics
Score. This score is observed in a special physics test that emulates the
behavior of a complex gaming system working with many projects:
CPU
test from 3DMark11 – Physics Score
We use FC2 Benchmark Tool to go over Ranch
Small map in 1920x1080 resolution with high image quality settings in DirectX
10.
FC2
Benchmark Tool
Resident Evil 5 game also has a built-in
performance test. Its distinctive feature is that it can really take advantage
of multi-core processor architecture. The tests were run in DirectX 10 in
1920x1080 resolution with high image quality settings. 5 test runs in average
was taken for further analysis:
Resident
Evil 5 game
Batman: Arkham City game also responds
sensitively to any changes in the CPU clock frequency, but it uses DirectX 11.
We ran game’s integrated benchmark 5 times with high image quality settings and
then take the average of the 5 for the diagrams.
Batman:
Arkham City game
In the nominal mode, ASRock Z77 Extreme3
doesn’t set any performance records, and proves to have no performance drops.
This is quite expected, because we know very well that related mainboards working
in the same testing conditions demonstrate the same performance.
Overclocking
mode
When overclocking the memory and
microprocessor, the different motherboards obtained different results, we
summarized them in the following table for your convenient viewing:
Overclocking
memory and microprocessor
Cinebench
11.5
Fritz
Chess
x26
HD
Adobe
Photoshop CS5
7-Zip
9.20
SuperPi
16M
3DMark
11, Physics Score
FarCry
2
Resident
Evil 5
Batman:
AC
We didn’t see any serious changes in the
overall picture of the tests in overclocked mode. ASRock Z77 Extreme3 performed
just as we had expected, different but not much from the other motherboard
models which achieved similar overclocking results.
