ASRock 890FX Deluxe: Comprehensive Motherboard Review & Investigation of Thuban Performance Scaling
by Rajinder Gill on August 31, 2010 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- ASRock
- AMD
- Motherboards
- 890FX
|
Testbed Setup Overclocking / Benchmark Testbed |
|
| Processors | Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2GHz 6MB L3 Cache |
| CPU Voltage | Various |
| Cooling | Scythe Mugen II |
| Power Supply | Corsair HX620W |
| Memory | CorsairXMS3 CM4GX3M2A1600C7 2x2GB Kit |
| Memory Settings | Various |
| Video Cards | Radeon HD5870 |
| Video Drivers | Catalyst 10.7 |
| Hard Drive | OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD |
| Optical Drives | Plextor PX-B900A, Toshiba SD-H802A |
| Case | Open Test Bed |
| Operating System | Windows 7 64 bit |
| . | |
We are splitting today’s test into two parts. In part one; we take a look at the impact of Thuban’s CPU-NB (or IMC, integrated Memory Controller) on performance, courtesy of our retail 1090T and the ASRock 890FX Deluxe 4. In part two we’re pitting the ASRock 890FX Deluxe 4 against ASUS’ M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 through our usual but slightly revised and condensed benchmark suit.
For the latter, we would like to ask readers ahead for an understanding that this is our first evaluation of the 890FX-based board and we are in the middle of devising a proper testing suit for this platform. Once we have more experience with products based on this chipset, we will have a thorough comparison of power consumption and onboard controllers, including multi-GPU performance.
To make up for this deficit, we decided to spend some time on investigating the new CPU-NB of Thuban. It is a well-known secret that Phenom architecture benefits from faster CPU-NB. The bottlenecks are manifold, but we hypothesize a few.
- The CPU-NB’s frequency is directly responsible for the transaction of data between CPU and memory. Lower CPU-NB frequency thus tends to waste memory bandwidth.
- The CPU-NB’s frequency is also the CPU’s L3 cache frequency. Even when memory access doesn’t come into equation, slow L3 impacts the overall CPU performance.
- The CPU-NB is what controls the memory (it’s another name is “IMC” after all). A higher quality IMC tends to be more flexible when it comes to DIMM frequency and timings. Whether overclocked or not, previous generation Phenoms didn’t like high speed memory, even though the same modules were perfectly able on Intel platforms.
Assuming the above, it is easy to imagine the performance impact CPU-NB plays on this architecture. Any of the above can present a performance bottleneck. Prior to E0 revision silicon (Thuban is E0 stepping), Phenom II’s CPU-NB’s quality was frankly abysmal, and outside extreme conditions (i.e. sub-zero) there just wasn’t enough room to improve performance by manipulating CPU-NB.
However, we now see a dramatically different characteristic of the CPU-NB in E0 silicon Thuban CPUs. Previously unthinkable frequencies under air-cooling are now a possibility, and it handles high frequency DIMMs much better as well. So we think it is a perfect time to start examining the impact of the CPU-NB in AMD’s “Star” architecture.
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HangFire - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - link
It is good to see a USB 3.0 performance test in there. I would like to see another or more, especially something simultaneous- for example, run backup on one port (say, USB 3.0) and stream video from a webcam in another (probably USB 2.0). This test makes a lot of sense in that a user would engage in Social Media while running a backup in the background.It would also tell us if the system can maintain a steady webcam image while doing other work, something we would expect a 6-core system to do (if not hobbled by poor USB implementation). The test could be repeated for a port on each USB 2.0 controller on the M/B to make sure each USB port set is as able as the rest.
Kane Y. Jeong - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - link
I appreciate your constructive comment. I will keep it in mind.Stuka87 - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - link
Really a great review. I almost wish I would have held out building a new system until these 890's came out with USB3 and such (I built last Janurary). But I have no real complaints about my 790GX.Ratman6161 - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - link
Asrock has Asus as it's parent company and I thought that Asrock was supposed to be the low priced/budget branch of Asus. By taking Asrock upscale, isn't Asus just competing against itself?mino - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - link
Not anymore. ASUS spun off it OEM arm (Pegatron) last year.And even when they had the same parent company, the design teams were separate since ASRock inception 7yrs ago.
blacksun1234 - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - link
ASRock works well on the budget M/B market and try to offer more with lower price for high-end market. If you would like to get "Valued product" at mainstream segment, ASRock is a good choice.mapesdhs - Thursday, November 25, 2010 - link
Very true! I've ended up buying several Asrock P55 Deluxe boards because this
performs so well (i7 870 @ 4.1GHz), costs very little (less than 70 UKP) and it
has excellent slot spacing (as with this review board, I really like the 3-slot
spacing between the 1st and 2nd PCIe slots; I use the 3rd slot for a SAS RAID
card. At least ASUS has done the same thing aswell). See:
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/Asrock_P55_Deluxe.j...
I'm a tad out of touch with AMD boards atm, but if I was buying an X58, I'd go
with Asrock's Extreme6; it won't give the best overclocks, but the slot spacing
again wins it for me. And if I was looking for an AMD board, again I like the
890FX-Deluxe's slot spacing *and* the fact that it does have a 3rd PCIe slot
(I notice the ASUS board doesn't). Oh for a board like this with onboard SAS...
Ian.
PCR - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - link
Don't you mean M4A89GTD PRO/USB3? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...Kane Y. Jeong - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - link
Yes, thank you. Will fix it ASAP.poohbear - Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - link
Kane Jeong why didnt you mention in this article how AMD's AHCI driver doesnt support trim even w/ the newest 890FX chipset? Its supposed to be an enthusiast chipset but doesnt even provide a working AHCI driver?? For everyone that owns an SSD, we're completely left in the dark w/ any AMD chipset and SSD combo. Its august 2010, latest 890FX chipset, and on an SSD AMD doesnt even support TRIM w/ their latest drivers. This is unacceptable!!!! You guys need to address this in ANY AMD chipset review, what enthusiast wants a system that doesnt provide SSDs w/ TRIM support??? We're all stuck using MS default AHCI drivers lest we lose TRIM support, its pathetic and way overdue for AMD to provide a working AHCI driver. Please mention this in your reviews cause the vast majority of enthusiasts have SSDs, and an enthusiast chipset geared towards us without TRIM support is a joke.