Z97 Mini-ITX Review at $140: ASRock, MSI and GIGABYTE
by Ian Cutress on July 23, 2014 3:00 AM ESTGaming Benchmarks
F1 2013
First up is F1 2013 by Codemasters. I am a big Formula 1 fan in my spare time, and nothing makes me happier than carving up the field in a Caterham, waving to the Red Bulls as I drive by (because I play on easy and take shortcuts). F1 2013 uses the EGO Engine, and like other Codemasters games ends up being very playable on old hardware quite easily. In order to beef up the benchmark a bit, we devised the following scenario for the benchmark mode: one lap of Spa-Francorchamps in the heavy wet, the benchmark follows Jenson Button in the McLaren who starts on the grid in 22nd place, with the field made up of 11 Williams cars, 5 Marussia and 5 Caterham in that order. This puts emphasis on the CPU to handle the AI in the wet, and allows for a good amount of overtaking during the automated benchmark. We test at 1920x1080 on Ultra graphical settings.
Bioshock Infinite
Bioshock Infinite was Zero Punctuation’s Game of the Year for 2013, uses the Unreal Engine 3, and is designed to scale with both cores and graphical prowess. We test the benchmark using the Adrenaline benchmark tool and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
Tomb Raider
The next benchmark in our test is Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider is an AMD optimized game, lauded for its use of TressFX creating dynamic hair to increase the immersion in game. Tomb Raider uses a modified version of the Crystal Engine, and enjoys raw horsepower. We test the benchmark using the Adrenaline benchmark tool and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs is a benchmarking wet dream – a highly complex benchmark that can bring the toughest setup and high resolutions down into single figures. Having an extreme SSAO setting can do that, but at the right settings Sleeping Dogs is highly playable and enjoyable. We run the basic benchmark program laid out in the Adrenaline benchmark tool, and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
Battlefield 4
The EA/DICE series that has taken countless hours of my life away is back for another iteration, using the Frostbite 3 engine. AMD is also piling its resources into BF4 with the new Mantle API for developers, designed to cut the time required for the CPU to dispatch commands to the graphical sub-system. For our test we use the in-game benchmarking tools and record the frame time for the first ~70 seconds of the Tashgar single player mission, which is an on-rails generation of and rendering of objects and textures. We test at 1920x1080 at Ultra settings.
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Gigaplex - Thursday, July 24, 2014 - link
What standard? There are plenty of types of TV broadcast standards.Erukian - Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - link
What do you guys think of the GA-Z97N Gaming 5? It can be found for $133 after rebate currently and seems to have the higher end audio codec that the ASRock uses in addition to swapping out the intel NIC for the Atheros Killer NIC (better?). Other than that the excellent PCB layout looks very similar to the reviewed Z97N-WIFI but with some changes to the IO port and 8-pin CPU power.I'm currently in the market, which is why I'm asking. :)
The_Assimilator - Saturday, July 26, 2014 - link
Intel NIC is best in the business, the "Killer" NIC is yet another marketing gimmick. The Z97N Gaming 5 also loses a SATA port to eSATA. On the flipside, it has decent heatsinks for the power delivery subsystem, which is important for overclocking.austinsguitar - Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - link
see i love these kinds of articles because these are very important products! it's interesting to see how things stack up because this is the biggest market right now. keep up these kinds of articles anand. things have been a little funky here recently....Kmknapp - Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - link
Just built a mini-itx system and love it. Went with the Gigabyte Z97N Gaming 5 board for the audio (Realtek 1150), NIC, and deal at the time. So there are other options in this range incorporating the "improved" audio if you're not into the ASRock.2 comments/questions:
1. On the ASRock board, you mention HDMI passthrough, does this mean you can pass 5.1 or 7.1 audio through HDMI? You apparently can't do this on the Gigabyte board with same controller, and it's frustrating.
2. Open-bed overclocking strikes me as questionable in a review for this form factor due to the tendency to put these into similarly smaller cases where heat can be a real issue. My build was made specifically for gaming and HTPC in my living room, and as such, goes into an enclosed entertainment center as well.
System:
Fractal Design Node 304
Intel i5-4690k (OC to 4.1ghz, ring sync) 4.2+ is OK temp wise, but unstable in stress testing.even at 1.25V
8gb DDR3
Gigabyte GA-Z97N Gaming 5
Corsair H80i w/Cougar Turbo Hyperspiong Silent fans - H80i defaults are LOUD. these make the system all but silent, even under load.
AMD R280 3GB, Sapphire Dual-X
Corsair CX600 600W Power Supply
goinginstyle - Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - link
Can you review the ROG Impact VII please? Just returned the Z97N after a bad OC experience.Bobs_Your_Uncle - Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - link
Great article & I really appreciate the multi-board comparisons as written up here. And of course, Ian, your work is always top shelf!I'm wondering if you're (AT) planning like coverage in the M-ATX form factor, as this is the beast that really intrigues me. M-ATX offers significantly more flexibility & possibilities than the M-ITX platform while maintaining a relatively small footprint.
The M-ITX form factor seems to have a notably larger range of product offerings than M-ATX does (& subsequently more coverage in tech media) & I frankly don't understand the pronounced balance in favor of M-ITX.
homerdog - Thursday, July 24, 2014 - link
I would like to point out that the ASRock board supports DTS Connect for true 5.1 audio in games over the optical output. ASRock is very good about including this feature on their boards. Most mobo manufacturers don't even bother to list this feature even on their few models that support it.surft - Friday, July 25, 2014 - link
Hmm, great revue but I hope this comparison gets updated to include Asus' Z97I-PLUS as well.Madpacket - Friday, July 25, 2014 - link
Looks like AsRock wins this round.