To start, we want to thank the many manufacturers who have donated kit for our test beds in order to make this review, along with many others, possible.

Thank you to OCZ for providing us with 1250W Gold Power Supplies.
Thank you to G.Skill for providing us with memory kits.
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU and 16GB 2400C10 memory.
Thank you to ASUS for providing us with the AMD GPUs and some IO Testing kit.
Thank you to ECS for providing us with the NVIDIA GPUs.
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with the Corsair H80i CLC.
Thank you to Rosewill for providing us with the 500W Platinum Power Supply for mITX testing, BlackHawk Ultra, and 1600W Hercules PSU for extreme dual CPU + quad GPU testing, and RK-9100 keyboards.

Also many thanks go to the manufacturers who over the years have provided review samples which contribute to this review.  For this Intel update we would particularly like to thank Gigabyte for loaning the Haswell and Nehalem CPUs!

Testing Methodology

In order to keep the testing fair, we set strict rules in place for each of these setups.  For every new chipset, the SSD was formatted and a fresh installation of the OS was applied.  The chipset drivers for the motherboard were installed, along with NVIDIA drivers then AMD drivers.  The games were preinstalled on a second partition, but relinked to ensure they worked properly. The games were then tested as follows:

Metro 2033: Benchmark Mode, two runs of four scenes of Frontline at 1440p, max settings.  First run of four is discarded, average of second run is taken (minus outliers).
Dirt3: Benchmark Mode, four runs of the first scene with 8 cars at 1440p, max settings.  Average is taken.
Civilization V: One five minute run of the benchmark mode accessible at the command line, at 1440p and max settings.  Results produced are total frames in sets of 60 seconds, average taken.
Sleeping Dogs: Using the Adrenaline benchmark software, four scenes at 1440p in Ultra settings.  Average is taken.

If the platform was being used for the next CPU (e.g. Maximus V Formula, moving from FX-8150 to FX-8350), no need to reinstall.  If the platform is changed for the next test, a full reinstall and setup takes place.

How to Read This Review

Due to the large number of different variables in our review, it is hard to accurately label each data point with all the information about that setup.  It also stands to reason that just putting the CPU model is also a bad idea when the same CPU could be in two different motherboards with different GPU lane allocations.  There is also the memory aspect to consider, as well as if a motherboard uses MCT at stock.  Here is a set of labels correlating to configurations you will see in this review:

CPU[+] [CP] (PCIe version – lane allocation to GPUs [PLX])

e.g. A10-5800K (2 – x16/x16): A10-5800K with two GPUs in PCIe 2.0 mode

- First is the name of the CPU, then an optional + identifier for MCT enabled motherboards. 
 - CP indicates we are dealing with a Bulldozer derived CPU and using the Core Parking updates. 
 - Inside the circular brackets is the PCIe version of the lanes we are dealing with, along with the lane allocation to each GPU. 
 - The final flag is if a PLX chip is involved in lane allocation.

This one of the more complex configurations:

i7-3770K+ (3 – x8/x8/x8/x8 PLX)

Which means an i7-3770K (with MCT) powering four GPUs in PCIe 3.0 via a PLX chip

Common Configuration Points

All the system setups below have the following consistent configurations points:

- A fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
- Either an Intel Stock CPU Cooler, a Corsair H80i CLC or Thermalright TRUE Copper
- OCZ 1250W Gold ZX Series PSU or Corsair AX1200i PSU for SP
- Rosewill 1600W Hercules for DP systems
- Up to 4x ASUS AMD HD 7970 GPUs, using Catalyst 13.1
- Up to 2x ECS NVIDIA GTX 580 GPUs, using GeForce WHQL 310.90
- SSD Boot Drives, OCZ Vertex 3 128 GB
- LG GH22NS50 Optical Drives
- Open Test Beds, either a DimasTech V2.5 EasyHard or a CoolerMaster Test Lab

CPU and Motherboard Configurations

Those listed as ‘Part 2’ are new for this update.

Part 1 A6-3650 + Gigabyte A75-UD4H + 16GB DDR3-1866 8-10-10
Part 1 A8-3850 + ASRock A75 Extreme6 + 16GB DDR3 1866 8-10-10
Part 1 A8-5600K + Gigabyte F2A85-UP4 + 16GB DDR3-2133 9-10-10
Part 1 A10-5800K + Gigabyte F2A85-UP4 + 16GB DDR3-2133 9-10-10
Part 1 X2-555 BE + ASUS Crosshair V Formula + 16GB DDR3 1600 8-8-8
Part 1 X4-960T + ASUS Crosshair V Formula + 16GB DDR3-1600 8-8-8
Part 1 X6-1100T + ASUS Crosshair V Formula + 16GB DDR3-1600 8-8-8
Part 1 FX-8150 + ASUS Crosshair V Formula + 16GB DDR3-2133 10-12-11
Part 1 FX-8350 + ASUS Crosshair V Formula + 16GB DDR3-2133 9-11-10
Part 1 FX-8150 + ASUS Crosshair V Formula + 16GB DDR3-2133 10-12-11 + CP
Part 1 FX-8350 + ASUS Crosshair V Formula + 16GB DDR3-2133 9-11-10 + CP
Part 1 E6400 + MSI i975X Platinum + 4GB DDR2-666 5-6-6
Part 1 E6700 + ASUS P965 Commando + 4GB DDR2-666 4-5-5
Part 1 Xeon X5690 + EVGA SR-2 + 6GB DDR3 1333 6-7-7
Part 1 2x Xeon X5690 + EVGA SR-2
Part 1 Celeron G465 + ASUS Maximus V Formula + 16GB DDR3-2133 9-11-11
Part 1 i5-2500K + ASUS Maximus V Formula + 16GB DDR3-2133 9-11-11
Part 1 i7-2600K + ASUS Maximus V Formula + 16GB DDR3-2133 9-11-11
Part 1 i3-3225 + ASUS Maximus V Formula + 16GB DDR3-2400 10-12-12
Part 1 i7-3770K + Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 + 16GB DDR3-2133 9-11-11
Part 1 i7-3770K + ASUS Maximus V Formula + 16GB DDR3-2400 9-11-11
Part 1 i7-3930K + ASUS Rampage IV Extreme + 16GB DDR3-2133 10-12-12
Part 1 i7-3960X + ASRock X79 Professional + 16GB DDR3-2133 10-12-12
Part 1b E6400 + ASUS P965 Commando + 4GB DDR2-666 4-5-5
Part 1b E6550 + ASUS P965 Commando + 4GB DDR2-666 5-6-6
Part 1b Q9400 + ASUS P965 Commando + 4GB DDR2-666 5-6-6
Part 1b i7-4770K + Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H + 16GB DDR3-2400 10-12-12
Part 1b i7-4770K + ASUS Z87-Pro + 16GB DDR3-2400 10-12-12
Part 1b i7-4770K + MSI Z87A-GD65 Gaming + 16GB DDR3-2400 10-12-12
Part 2 A6-5200 + ASRock IMB-A180-H + 8GB DDR3-1333 9-9-10
Part 2 Fusion E-350 + Zotac Fusion-A-E + 8GB DDR3-1066 7-7-7
Part 2 i7-4770K + MSI Z87 XPower + 16GB DDR3-2400 10-12-12
Part 2 4x E5-4650L + SuperMicro + 128GB DDR3 1600 11-11-11
Part 2 2x E5-2690 + Gigabyte GA-7PESH1 + 32GB DDR3-1600 11-11-11
Part 2 Celeron 847 + ECS NM70-I2 + 8GB DDR3-1333 9-9-9
Part 2 i7-920 + Gigabyte X58-UD9 + 6GB DDR3-1866 7-8-7
Part 2 i7-950 + Gigabyte X58-UD9 + 6GB DDR3-1866 7-8-7
Part 2 i7-990X + Gigabyte X58-UD9 + 6GB DDR3-1866 7-8-7
Part 2 i7-920 + ASRock X58 Extreme3 + 6GB DDR3-1866 7-8-7
Part 2 i7-950 + ASRock X58 Extreme3 + 6GB DDR3-1866 7-8-7
Part 2 i7-990X + ASRock X58 Extreme3 + 6GB DDR3-1866 7-8-7
Part 2 i5-4430 + Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H + DDR3-2400 10-12-12
Part 2 i7-4670K + Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H + DDR3-2400 10-12-12
Part 2 Xeon E3-1280 v3 + Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H + DDR3-2400 10-12-12
Part 2 Xeon E3-1285 v3 + Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H + DDR3-2400 10-12-12
Part 2 Via L2007 + ECS VX900-I + 8GB DDR3-1066 7-7-7

Our first port of call with all our testing is CPU throughput analysis, using our regular motherboard review benchmarks.

CPUs, GPUs, Motherboards, and Memory CPU Benchmarks
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  • BOMBOVA - Saturday, October 26, 2013 - link

    This article, prompted me to pull my P6T Asus mb out and replace it with a MSI 7666 which holds the 1366 I7 chip, i put in a 960 over my 920 , and clocked it up to 3.8x so far, and with my Nvidia 470 gpu, n raid 0 2x120 Gbyte ssd's things are rocking along, really good, it seems compared to the high end stuff presented here. , i had to install a cheap Syba controller card, on the Marvell chip set, set to 32 kbits, over 64 kbs, better data storage efficiency over speed, n a 4 channel usb 3.0 card, and it is good to go. , since i bought good , near new , used, i am in it for say half, price. and it works for me, i had a tough go, with microsoft critical patch updates. flooded on oct. 8th, n 15th. so my system restore points, crashed, , i am now set on NO automatic downloads, and all is good, " this is like a 3 day experience " i don't want to go through again, , enjoyed the article, and comments. good comments, thanks guys and girls. and am looking for the DD$4 stuff n Haswell super processor of 14, or early 15, now on to doing work with my computer :) , Cheers, all , have fun with candies, next, and have a good Xmas, buy yourselves something nice. lets keep america working, rtg. Vancouver Canada
  • WHISP - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link

    Your review is talking about recommendations based on # of GPU's but seems to make the assumption GPU = graphics card. I have a GTX 690 and am looking to possibly upgrade my cpu/mobo, what would your recommendation be keeping in mind in the future I may buy another gtx690 to boost performance? What CPU PLX or non PLX combo do I need to satisfy two 690's in sli?
  • Gastec - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link

    You don't need PLX with dual-SLI, you don't even need a second GTX 690 :P I myself would never ever consider spending so much money on a video card, but I guess you play on multiple 30'' monitors with the maximum available resolution. Each with it's own. If you insist, then get the Intel i7-4960X, a socket 2011 X79 Asus motherboard with a PLX chip on it and 3 Nvidia GTX Titan. That would surely give you at least 150 FPS in any game except those that are specifically designed not to give more than what the designers want, like Crysis.
  • Gastec - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link

    I'm on a i7-860 since 2010 and HT was also a decision factor for buying it. But over the years I don't think HT has helped me that much with what I did and do on the PC. So now, after reading this article -which is very helpful- I think a i5-4670(K) with it's $100 lower price difference will suffice. Unless...upcoming games like The Elder Scrolls Online(that I want to play) will make use of HT, but I don't think so. Does anyone know of any game that makes good use of Hyper-Threading, or at least 4 cores?
  • BlackOmega - Friday, November 8, 2013 - link

    Goddammit. 6 years I spent without upgrading my rig, now I come back to anandtech and I can't understand one a single one of those benchmarks.

    Hell, WHERE ARE THE CPU CLOCK SPEEDS? How the hell Intel and AMD expect me to understand this gibberish the use to name their processors, I want to compare IPC on every bench I see, I want to see em every test how the ghz of one CPU compares to another. I'm not going to read those benchs with a cpu dictionary trying to interpret every name on this list, nor have I a good enough memory to remember what CPU have more cache ou clock speed than the other as described in the first page.

    6 years I stood away from the hardware scene, now I came back and I can't understand anything.

    /frustrated
  • BlackOmega - Friday, November 8, 2013 - link

    ps: AMD and Intel naming scheme suck, give us back clock speed.
  • oranos - Tuesday, November 26, 2013 - link

    2500k best value gaming processor of all time :)

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