september 30 2010

overclock3d reviewed the ASUS Crosshair IV Extreme

Conclusion:

This mobo had a HTT peak of 350MHz and the Lucid Hydra chip performance proved to be very competitive. The 870A Fuzion however reached a HTT of 400MHz, so that motherboard might be a better choice.

Overclocking:

A Phenom II 1090T Black Edition was OCed @ 4.03GHz. ....More

september 30 2010

hardwaresecrets reviewed the ASRock 870iCafe

Conclusion:

This mobo is an entry-level motherboard, targeted to users that want to have a full ATX board. It's equipped with six SATA3 connectors, only one PCI Express x16 slot and no USB 3.0 ports. The ASRock 870 Extreme3 costs about the same and this board has a second PCIe x16 slot, USB3, an eSATA600 connector and even a FireWire port.

Overclocking:

There are no overclocking results in this review, there is a dedicated page for the five-phase voltage regulator circuit and a page with some BIOS screenshots and a summary of the OC options. ....More

september 30 2010

xbitlabs reviewed the Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3

This mobo has been cleverly designed and has nearly all the functionality of a full-size mainboard. It supports quad-core CPUs and offers advanced BIOS options.

Overclocking:

An Intel Core i3-540 CPU was OCed from its default 3.07GHz clock speed to 4.4 GHz. ....More

september 29 2010

bcchardware reviewed the ASRock 890FX Deluxe4

This mobo has Firewire, front and rear USB3 as well as rear eSATA3 and a Nice layout.

Overclocking:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE was OCed @ 3.61GHz @230MHz BCLK.

Compared To:

ASRock H55, X58, EVGA X58. In most benches this board was compared to its own OC results. ....More

september 25 2010

kitguru reviewed the ASRock 890GX Extreme4

Conclusion:

This is a high-quality motherboard that performed well. Excellent for overclocking with easy to use options for novices, experienced overclockers will have lots of tweakable options. This mobo supports SATA 3.0 , USB3 and eSATA 3.0. Core unlocking is also possible.

Overclocking:

Aan AMD Athlon II X4 635 CPU was OCed to 3.48GHz. ....More

september 25 2010

tweaktown reviewed the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD9

Conclusion: With the H70 the reviewers were not able to get very much out of an Intel Core i7 980X, but there is probably plenty of headroom in this mobo. It's recommended, not only for its design, but also for the potential performance.

Overclocking: A Core i7 980X was OCed @ 4.368GHz. ....More

september 24 2010

pro-clockers reviewed the ASUS M4A88TD-M EVO-USB3

Conclusion: For those that want to build a LAN gaming rig or a HTPC, but are also looking for that extra performance gain, will be happy to know the board does overclock very well. Features like Core Unlocker and TurboV are also included. There's the lack of a second PCIe 16x slot. If you are looking for stability, ample video options and great looks, you might consider this budget motherboard.

Benchmarks:

Cinebench, HD Tune PRO, Lavalys Everest Ultimate, PC mark vantage, Sisoft Sandra, STALKER: Call of Pripyat, SuperPi, x264 HD. ....More

september 20 2010

bjorn3d reviewed the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7

Conclusion:

The reviewers were not happy to see that this mobo only has 16 Phase Power, while the older first revision had a total of 24 Phase Power.

The actual performance of the motherboard was great. While in some tests the UD7 dominated, in others the ASUS boards came out on top. Its real performance is its high overclockability.

For those that don't need extra cooling, the GA-X58A-UD5 mainboard might be a good choice, and for people that need decent overclocking features, and still have the USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 features, the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R would be a perfect solution. Again the GA-X58A-UD7 is a very good motherboard that provides versatility and performance.

Overclocking:

An Intle Core i7 930 running @ 3.8GHz and the vCore @1.232V. ....More

september 17 2010

pcper reviewed the MSI 890FXA-GD70

Conclusion:

There was an issue with the audio out, it would sometimes report that it was unplugged, this had to be fixed in software. Overclocking hit a surprisingly 318 MHz BCLK. Chip selection and features MSI implemented on the board are above average. MSI designed a very good board, at a good price point.

Overclocking:

With 'bus overclocking' the HTT bus was OCed @ an impressive 318 MHz. OC Genie overclocked the HTT to 230 MHz, and as a result an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T was OCed @ 3.68 GHz, the vCore @ 1.336v. ....More

september 17 2010

tweaktown reviewed the MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition

In this test identical GPUs are combined, A-Mode for AMD GPUs and N-Mode for NVIDIA GPUs. These are the more stable and usable modes by both MSI and Lucid.

For the ATI A-Mode test the reviewer used 2 ASUS EAH5870 V2 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Edition graphics cards. These are factory overclocked to 868MHz with a GDDR5 memory speed of 4800MHz. ....More

september 16 2010

overclockers reviewed the ASUS P7F7-E WS Supercomputer

Conclusion:

This mobo has extra RAM slots, enough space for multi-GPU setups, and a full software toolset set this motherboard apart from many mainboards in the same price range. It performs well and does everything you want it to do. The reviewer gave it an Overclockers Approved award.

Test Setup:

• CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9900
• CPUr: Intel Core i3 530
• Memory: CSX Diablo 2GB DDR3 2000MHz
• PSU: NZXT HALE90 850W
• Video Card: ATI Radeon HD5550

....More

september 9 2010

fudzilla reviewed the ASRock 890GX Extreme3

Conclusion:

This review also focuses on the MSI 890GXM-G65. The ASRock as well as the MSI board performed well. Although MSI's board is a bit faster and also more efficient in idle power usage, the ASRock is the better choice. Not only is it a full ATX board, it also has Firewire support and a better accessory pack. Overclockers will like ASRock's better VRM design. ASRock offers the better package and if you're looking for a new board which offers onboard graphics this will be the right choice.

The ASRock board being a a full ATX mobo has more overclocking options the the MSI. The legacy VGA port could perhaps be replaced by a DVI to VGA. If you want a cheaper mobo you could go for the ASRock 880G Extreme3 board with a 880G Chipset, which clocks 140MHz slower at 560MHz but has the same feature set and is app. 10% cheaper.

Overclocking:

The ASRock board does have all features, the reviewers reached 3.85GHz for a Phenom II X6 1090T @ 1.4375VCore, but it lacks the possibility the see SPD values in the memory configuration of the BIOS. The board only remembers the last settings. ....More

september 7 2010

expreview reviewed the ASUS Rampage III Gene

Conclusion:

This mobo has support for SATA3, USB3, ROG Connect, Probelt voltage measuring funcitions and SLI/CrossfireX. The board also delivers uncompromising overclocking potential, and the manufacturer used top-class materials.

Overclocking:

A Core i7-920 was overclocked @ 4.2GHz, the vCore was set to 1.248V.

Benchmarks:

Fritz Chess Benchmark, 3D Mark Vantage, Cinebench, Crysis: Warhead, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, PC mark vantage, Winrar, wPrime. ....More

september 6 2010

overclock3d reviewed the BIOSTAR TPower i55

Conclusion:

This board is well built and is compatible with almost any hardware you could choose to throw at it. The cooling solution used keeps everything at a decent low temperature. The room around the CPU is enough for nearly almost any cooler.

Although synthetic testing leaves the I55 lagging behind, this board won't win extreme speed prizes, won't break overclocking records but in normal use those differences are negligible. The price/performance ratio of this mobo was very good and the reviewers gave it a Value For Money award.

Overclocking:

The BCLK topped out @ 207MHz, the reviewers got an Intel Core i7 870 stable @ 3.6GHz. Even the 3.6GHz required quite a bit of voltage. ....More

september 4 2010

ocinside reviewed the Sapphire IPC-AM3DD785G

Conclusion:

This board is a good choice for a Home Theatre PC or a NetTop and can even be overclocked a little, but don't expect to much from that.

The features of this mobo are of course limited because of the Mini ITX form factor, but nevertheless it has Gigabit LAN, 5.1 surround sound, digital out over HDMI or the internal SPDIF connector, 10 USB ports, 4 SATA II ports with RAID support and video outputs for VGA, DVI-D or HDMI. This board offers horrible overclocking options, like clearing the CMOS after every failed overclock. Still it has a good performance and a low power consumption, but it would be desirable, if Sapphire would update the BIOS with more settings.

IGP Graphics:

Unfortunately in spite of current 3DMark patches and DLL updates it was not possible to run the HD 4200 internal graphics stable with the Phenom II X3 710 used in the test, because of that benchmark values could only be measured with a discrete video card.

The X3 710 has a 95W TDP desingn, according to Sapphire CPUs up to 65 Watts are supported without restrictions, whereby according to the CPU support list processors up to 125W and/or 95W TDP are applicable with improvement of the cooling.

Overclocking:

It was possible to overclock this mobo up to 262 MHz BCLK, it was necessary to set the Clear CMOS Jumper after a failed overclock. It was not possible to lower the BCLK below 200 MHz, so underclocking the processor is not possible. ....More

september 3 2010

tweaktown reviewed the MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition

Conclusion: This mobo is a very solid platform. If you want to build a gaming machine or do some productivity work, this board is the right choice. Unfortunately the reviewers didn't test the Fuzion functionality. The HDD performance is a little behind the current SB850 and stock memory performance is right behind the current 890FX.

Overclocking:

A Phenom II X6 1090T was OCed @ 3.92GHz (245x16). Although the tools were there and easy to use, the board was picky about settings and voltages, Cool and Quiet had to be turned off and the voltages were pushed higher than the reviewers would normally do.

Benchmarks:

Temperature, Power Consumption, HyperPi, Lightwave 3D, AutoGK, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Call of Duty Modern Warfare, 3D Mark Vantage, Cinebench, Far Cry 2, Lavalys Everest Ultimate, PC mark vantage, Sisoft Sandra. In the gaming benches an AMD Radeon HD5870 1GB was used. ....More

september 2 2010

anandtech reviewed the ASRock 890FX Deluxe4

Conclusion:

The M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 consistently pulled out better scores, the difference was small, but it was there nonetheless. The reviewers suspect that the expertise of the ASUS engineers in BIOS tuning is at work here, either for faster memory access or better Turbo Core implementation. The ASUS M4A89GTD PRO-USB3 costs less, but the difference largely comes down to the board's selection of components. This mobo is based on the 890FX chipset, more expensive than the 890GX used by ASUS, and It has one more USB3 controller than the ASUS board. The 890FX Deluxe 4 an all-round workhorse, it does what it is supposed to do and does it very well. The reviewers lost their first deluxe4 during testing, but got a replacement from ASRock.

Overclocking:

An AMD Phenom II X6 1090T CPU was OCed @ 4.10 GHz vCore @ 1.42V using an air-cooler. ....More

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