ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Champion and X79 Professional Review: From a Gamer to Gamers
by Ian Cutress on February 9, 2013 10:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- ASRock
- Fatal1ty
- X79
ASRock X79 Fatal1ty Champion Conclusion
The Champion is a hard product to fathom out. Sitting at $360 at the time of review, it is within striking distance of the ASUS Rampage IV Formula ($370), a motherboard that crosses the boundary between gaming and overclocking. The Champion is designed (and endorsed) by users specifically for gaming, and so we would expect the Champion to deal a better hand on that front.
Going by PCIe configuration, the Champion wins – the odd combination of five full length PCIe slots allows users of triple-slot GPUs to use up to three onboard without PCIe risers, whereby the Formula will have to resort with two. The Champion also wins on memory configuration, having access to all eight memory slots, whereas the Formula has only four (although anecdotal evidence would suggest that those gamers that use more than four tend to go big and high end anyway).
Looking through the specifications, the Champion gets the nod over the Formula in onboard SATA 6 Gbps ports (6 vs. 4), USB 3.0 ports (12 vs. 6), network ports (2 vs. 1), and IEEE1394 connectivity. The Formula takes the upper hand on NIC branding (Intel vs. Broadcom), and fan headers (8 vs. 6). While the Champion gets a Creative Core3D audio chip, the Formula also gets improved audio via the SupremeFX III (an actively enhanced ALC898). In terms of Software and BIOS, we would have to give that to the Formula, on the basis of the automatic overclock settings, depth of fan control, memory compatibility and ease of use which the Champion does not have.
In terms of our performance testing, the Champion is 10% down on the Formula in multithreaded benchmarks at stock, due to no implementation of MultiCore Turbo, although this point is moot given that both systems are likely to see an overclock. For overclocking, our Champion sample had a rough time with our processor, as it required 1.525 volts in the BIOS (1.520 volts at load) just to hit 4.7 GHz, which gave 90C at load.
| ASRock X79 Fatal1ty Champion | ASUS Rampage IV Formula | |
| Price | Link | Link to Newegg |
| Size | ATX | ATX |
| CPU Interface | LGA-2011 | LGA2011 |
| Chipset | Intel X79 | Intel X79 |
| Memory Slots |
Eight DDR3 DIMM slots Supporting up to 64GB ECC+non-ECC Up to Quad Channel, 1066-2500 MHz |
Four DDR3 DIMM slots Supporting up to 32 GB Up to Quad Channel DDR3, 1066-2400 MHz |
| Onboard LAN | 2 x Broadcom BCM57781 | Intel |
| Onboard Audio | Creative Sound Core3D | SupremeFX III |
| Expansion Slots |
5 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots - 1/5: x16/16 - 1/3/5: x16/8/16 - 1/4/7: x16/8/8 - 1/3/5/7: x16/8/8/8 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 |
2 x PCIe 3.0 x16/x8 2 x PCIe 3.0 x8 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| Onboard SATA |
2 x SATA 6 Gbps (Chipset) 4 x SATA 6 Gbps (Marvell SE9230) 4 x SATA 3 Gbps (Chipset) |
2 x SATA 6 Gbps (Chipset) 2 x SATA 6 Gbps (ASMedia) 4 x SATA 3 Gbps (Chipset) |
| USB |
12 x USB 3.0 (Controller) 7 x USB 2.0 (Chipset) 1 x USB 2.0 Fatal1ty Mouse Port |
6 x USB 3.0 (ASMedia) 12 x USB 2.0 (Chipset) |
| Onboard |
6 x SATA 6 Gbps 4 x SATA 3 Gbps 2 x USB 3.0 Headers 3 x USB 2.0 Headers 1 x COM Port Header 1 x HDMI_SPDIF Header 1 x IEEE1394 Header 7 x V-Probe Connectors 6 x Fan Headers Power/Reset Buttons Two-Digit Debug LED Post Status Checker LEDs |
4 x SATA 6 Gbps 4 x SATA 3 Gbps 1 x USB 3.0 Header 3 x USB 2.0 Headers 8 x Fan Headers 1 x SPDIF Output Header 1 x SlowMode switch 8 x Measurement Points Power/Reset Buttons LN2 Mode Switch Go Button |
| Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX Power Connector 1 x 8-pin CPU Power Connector 1 x 4-pin Molex Power Connector |
1 x 24-Pin ATX Power Connector 1 x 8-Pin CPU 12V Power Connector 1 x 4-Pin Molex PCIe Power Connector |
| Fan Headers |
2 x CPU (4-pin, 3-pin) 3 x CHA (4-pin, 2x3-pin) 1 x PWR (3-pin) |
2 x CPU (4-pin) 3 x Chassis (4-pin) 3 x Optional (4-pin) |
| IO Panel |
8 x USB 3.0 Ports (TI Controllers) 2 x USB 2.0 Ports 2 x Broadcom BCM57781 GbE NICs 2 x eSATA 6 Gbps (Marvell 9172) 1 x Keyboard PS/2 Port 1 x ClearCMOS Button 1 x IEEE1394 Port Optical SPDIF Output Audio Jacks |
4 x USB 3.0 (ASMedia) 6 x USB 2.0 1 x Gigabit Ethernet (Intel) 2 x eSATA 6 Gbps (ASMedia) 1 x PS/2 Combination Port 1 x Clear CMOS Button 1 x ROG Connect Button Optical SPDIF Output Audio Jacks |
| Warranty Period | 3 Years | 3 Years with ASUS Premium Service |
| Product Page | Link | Link |
The battle between the Champion and the Formula is more of a direct face off than the Professional and the Gene, primarily by virtue of board size. It is a tough decision – almost all that the Formula has, the Champion has more, but the execution is better on the Formula. XFast is a core feature of any ASRock product, but this has competition with the fan controls, features like USB BIOS Flashback and automatic overclock settings on the Formula. Not to mention the ROG board also offers ASUS Premium Service as part of the warranty package.
The Champion technically gets more ‘stuff’ for your money, whereas the Formula will give you a better user experience. How much that is worth is up to what you really want from an X79 product if your budget is near $360.
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dgz - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
Thresh is making big bucks in other areas. Their latest company provides quality product for big business.KoolAidMan1 - Sunday, February 10, 2013 - link
Warcraft 3 was bigger than Quake 3 ever was, and this is before we eve get into the massive DOTA scene. DOTA in China right now is bigger than Brood War, SC2, CS 1.6, and League Of Legends combined, and any of those individual games dwarf Quake 3 in popularity.Grubby hasn't won anything in Starcraft 2 so far, but he's been placing higher with almost every new tournament he competes in and he is a very well liked and respected player. His name on a product would easily help to sell it.
dgz - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
While WC3 was indeed big, it was all dota after 2004-2005. You guys know it's true.Quake 3 community never consisted millions of players but it remained the ultimate duel shooter for how many years now? How many people drive F1 again?
dawp - Sunday, February 10, 2013 - link
[qouote]The Fatal1ty branded boards were ‘designed by Abit, but game-tested and approved by Fatal1ty’ up until socket 775 and FM2.[/quote]don't you mean AM2 there since FM2 wasn't around when Abit was?
TeXWiller - Sunday, February 10, 2013 - link
and ECC support. One might be able to forge workstations out of these.yzkbug - Sunday, February 10, 2013 - link
Is this you, Johnathan 'Fatal1ty" Wendel?JeBarr - Sunday, February 10, 2013 - link
Like many high end gaming boards, these two cram on the extra features that almost no gamer would ever use.Does anyone think that Johnny Wendel would use even half of the USB 3.0 and Sata III 6.0GB/s ports?
I don't.
Would even the most competitive gamer and power-user require such an amount of extra features for their at-home system?
Probably not.
I can see the need for extra PCIe x16 slots, for obvious reasons.....but legacy PCI slots on the Pro model is just ridiculous. Give me an extra PCIe 2.0 x1 or x4 slot instead. Get with the times, geez.
And how about these high end gaming boards with creative audio chip on-board? Right, because everyone knows it's such a great idea to have an audio amplifier mixed in with all the traces. I mean, seriously, just get rid of the extra unused PCI slots and put PCIe slots instead so I can add my own sound card....geez.
Tech-Curious - Sunday, February 10, 2013 - link
Yeah, I would expect a motherboard aimed particularly at gamers to be stripped down on features, with extremely high-quality components supplying the features that are important.The review sorta makes that very point, when it compares the Fatal1ty mobos to their Asus analogues -- quality over quantity of features.
That said, motherboards in general seem to be over-featured, and there is a segment of the market that would (understandably) balk at paying high-premium prices for a motherboard without all possible bells and whistles. But perhaps those two points only tend to suggest that motherboards are a bad fit for a pro-racer-style marketing campaign: motherboards don't tend to contribute all that much to the overall performance of a computer system, beyond a relatively low threshold of quality. Whatever difference motherboards do make tends to be overwhelmed by the performance attributes of other components, and so motherboard manufacturers feel compelled to add features to motherboards to differentiate their products from their competitors'.
Don't get me wrong: the motherboards reviewed in this article are high-end, performance-oriented parts, but they fit that description in large part because they use a socket-2011 chipset (and therefore they must be paired with a top-of-the-line CPU). That in itself is a bit of a head scratcher, IMO, because there's no compelling evidence to suggest that the LGA-2011 CPUs are noticeably better than the i7 3770k in a gaming context. Where the 2011 platform shines is in heavy-duty high-threaded workloads.
The long and the short of it is that ASRock's branding an LGA 2011 motherboard around a pro gamer is a little like a car company branding a luxury sedan around Jeff Gordon.
dgz - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
Who the hell is this Jeff Gordon guy? Never heard of him. Quite a few F1 and rally guys are used to promote regular cars.JlHADJOE - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
Which regular cars? Almost every car I know that has a racing driver's name on it has been pretty sporty.Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce Niki Lauda
Ford Mustang McLaren
Caterham JPE (Jonathan Palmer Edition)
Acura/Honda NSX Zanardi Edition
McLaren Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss
Subaru Imprezas in Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Peter Solberg editions
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6.5 Tommi Makinen Edition