Asus X99-A Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. Asus X99-A: Packaging and Bundle3. Asus X99-A: Board Layout and Features4. Asus X99 UEFI & Software5. Testing Methodology6. Tests: System-related7. Tests: Processor-related8. Tests: Gaming-related9. Tests: Motherboard-related10. Overclocking: Frequencies11. Overclocking: General Performance12. Overclocking: 3GHz Memory Performance13. Technical: Power Consumption14. Closing Thoughts15. View All Pages

We will be outlining the Asus X99-A motherboard's performance with the Core i7 5820K CPU at its stock frequency (3.6GHz due to forced turbo). Overclocked performance will be outlined later in the review.

By default, the Asus X99-A motherboard applies multi-core turbo (MCT) and forces the 5820K to a constant 3.6GHz when XMP is enabled. This will be displayed as the ‘stock’ setting.

A CPU VCore of around 1.056V is applied for the stock MCT configuration with our 5820K. This is a low level that is easy enough to cool even for relatively low cost CPU heatsinks.

We repeated testing with the X99-A for this full review. Previous data that we gathered with the motherboard was captured using older graphics drivers. We expect our test system's newer GPU drivers to improve performance in GPU-related tests. The BIOS version was also updated and may have a small affect on the performance of computational benchmarks.

X99 Motherboard Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 5820K Retail (3.6GHz forced turbo).
• Memory: 16GB (4x4GB) ADATA XPG Z1 2400MHz 16-16-16-39 DDR4 @ 1.20V.
• Graphics Card: Asus R9 280X Matrix Platinum 3GB.
• System Drive: 500GB Samsung 840.
• CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i.
• Case: NZXT Phantom 630.
• Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum 1000W.
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional with SP1 64-bit.

Compared X99 Motherboards:

• Gigabyte X99-UD4 (BIOS F9c).
• MSI X99S MPower (BIOS v22.3)

Software:

• Asus X99-A BIOS v1004.
• Catalyst 14.9 VGA drivers.

Tests:

• 3DMark 1.3.708 – Fire Strike (System)
• SiSoft Sandra 2014 SP2 – Processor arithmetic, memory bandwidth (System)
• Cinebench R15 – All-core CPU benchmark (CPU)
• WinRAR 5.10 – Built-in benchmark (CPU)
• HandBrake 0.9.9 – Convert 4.36GB 720P MKV to MP4 (CPU)
• ATTO – SATA 6Gbps, USB 3.0, M.2 transfer rates (Motherboard)
• RightMark Audio Analyzer – General audio performance test (Motherboard)
• Bioshock Infinite – 1920 x 1080, ultra quality (Gaming)
• Metro: Last Light – 1920 x 1080, high quality (Gaming)
• Tomb Raider – 1920 x 1080, ultimate quality (Gaming)

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