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
Rightmark Audio Analyzer 6.2.5
In part due to reader requests, we are pleased to include Rightmark Audio Analyzer results in our benchmark suite. The premise behind Rightmark:AA is to test the input and output of the audio system to determine noise levels, range, harmonic distortion, stereo crosstalk and so forth. Rightmark:AA should indicate how well the sound system is built and isolated from electrical interference (either internally or externally). For this test we connect the Line Out to the Line In using a short six inch 3.5mm to 3.5mm high-quality jack, turn the OS volume to 100%, and run the Rightmark default test suite at 48 kHz, 96 kHz and 192 kHz. We look specifically at the Dynamic Range of the audio codec used on board, as well as the Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise.
The Creative Sound Core3D chip in the Champion does a great job in our THD+N test across all frequency ranges, -75 dB(A) relating to a distortion of less than 0.02%. The ALC898 in the Professional performs much like the other ALC898s in other motherboards.
It should be noted that we had to disable THX Studio Pro on the Champion to perform the tests, due to extreme cross channel leakage of the audio signals.
USB 3.0 Backup
For this benchmark, we run CrystalDiskMark to determine the ideal sequential read and write speeds for the USB port using our 240 GB OCZ Vertex3 SSD with a SATA 6 Gbps to USB 3.0 converter. Then we transfer a set size of files from the SSD to the USB drive using DiskBench, which monitors the time taken to transfer. The files transferred are a 1.52 GB set of 2867 files across 320 folders – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are the videos used in the WinRAR test.
ASRock’s XFast software always gives them the best USB 2.0 scores in comparison to the rest of the spectrum. Even without XFast though, the ASRock copy times are still very competitive.
For both the Champion and the Professional, ASRock are using Texas Instruments USB 3.0 controllers (no native USB 3.0 on the X79 platform). We normally do not come across these, but rather Etron or ASMedia. It is clear to see why – the TI controllers are not the best performing, and are 60% slower than native USB 3.0 implementations in our copy test. XFast is a saving grace, getting our copy tests back in the ball park.
DPC Latency
Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests, such as audio, will be further down the line. So if the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled. If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time, resulting in an empty audio buffer – this leads to characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. Having a bigger buffer and correctly implemented system drivers obviously helps in this regard. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is processing DPCs from driver invocation – the lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds and taken as the peak latency while cycling through a series of short HD videos - under 500 microseconds usually gets the green light, but the lower the better.
ASRock typically do rather well in our DPC Latency testing, and the X79 combo tested today are no different, coming in under 200 microseconds with ease.
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lukarak - Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - link
Citroen C4 by Loeb? Sporty as hell :D :DMithan - Sunday, February 10, 2013 - link
A waste of money, like all these "performance" series boards designed to get an extra $100 out of you for a 3% increase in speed.Sorry, but I will always buy a board in the $140-160 range, and take that extra money and dump it into a better video card.
CeriseCogburn - Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - link
This board appears to be not worth it, as it falls short too much, too often.Others do not.
A poor boys budget means never getting something great, and that's okay to suffer in the underclass.
althaz - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
Where is the Day[9] CPU heatsink or the Tastosis keyboard/mouse combo? Or the JP calendar?ypsylon - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
For starters I couldn't force myself to buy any motherboard with black&red theme. Bleeeh. Red as a color make me sick. Anyway that is only personal distaste. But that is not the only thing which is wrong with those boards. 1. 8 USB3 ports. Adding so many to the back panel is nothing short of idiotic. A lot of supposedly compatible hardware of USB2 fame doesn't work when connected to USB3. Every motherboard -equipped with USB3- I tested/owned displayed same stubbornness with one device or another. Some USB2 devices just refused to work outright on USB3. Period. 2. Board which cost 350$+ and doesn't have Intel NIC = joke. 3. Professional have better balanced I/O panel, but it is also stripped down when compared to "Champion". There is nothing "Professional" about supposed professional board. 4. Endorsement by a bloke which for most modern PC users means absolutely nothing is also nothing short of laughable. I think AsRock would do better releasing "Justin Biber" board. Then maybe some brainless teens will buy it only because it is JB board. 5. Both boards also share same problem with top 16 PCI-Ex slot (of course it is not native only to those 2 products, but must be pointed out). Can't remove memory sticks without removing VGA, large dual tower coolers also can be an issue. Think before releasing product. If you desperately want quad-SLI/CF setup release XL-ATX board. On such board there is enough space for everything.Oh and these red slots/ports, bleeeh. Did I mention that earlier? :P
lukarak - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
You do know that you can insert DIMMs with just one latch moveable. Especially on these, where there is only one moveable to begin with.Endorsement by a bloke is no more or less idiotic than every other marketing thing. From Republic of Gamers, Lanparty series boards with UV cable sleeves and a chasis carrying strap and so on. It all adds to the price of an otherwise fine board, but that's their calculation.
You also have USB 2.0 ports on the back side, for that occasional peripheral that doesn't work. Plus six of them on headers which you can, imagine the surprise, route to the back side as well.
Peanutsrevenge - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
The designs are always far too aggressive and garish for my tastes, which is annoying as often the products are just what I'm after - spec wise.Gamer stuff does NOT have to be all aggressive and such, opponents will only see the equipment of LAN gamers, which is a tiny percentage of us.
For the majority of us, the system sits at home and plays multiple roles and even requires the WAF in very very rare cases (usually Mum Acceptance Factor).
sking.tech - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
I've never purchased a fatal1ty product because often they are too expensive and show no real performance gains vs a lot less expensive competitors. Now that I know it's based on some has-been gamer. Even less likely to ever buy a product with this brand on it. This Article - greatly appreciated.Bonesdad - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
What drives me nuts is how they try to make him look like a tough guy...like he's some badass keyboard bangin, mouse clickin gangsta.maximumGPU - Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - link
Hahah