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.

Sleeping Dogs: 1080p Max, 1x GTX 770

Sleeping Dogs, 1080p Max
  NVIDIA AMD
Average Frame Rates



Minimum Frame Rates



Company of Heroes 2

The final gaming benchmark is another humdinger. Company of Heroes 2 also can bring a top end GPU to its knees, even at very basic benchmark settings. To get an average 30 FPS using a normal GPU is a challenge, let alone a minimum frame rate of 30 FPS. For this benchmark I use modified versions of Ryan’s batch files at 1920x1080 on Medium.  COH2 is a little odd in that it does not scale with more GPUs, and thus only single GPU results are given.

Company Of Heroes 2: 1080p Max, 1x GTX 770

Company of Heroes 2, 1080p Max
  NVIDIA AMD
Average Frame Rates



Minimum Frame Rates



Gaming Benchmarks: F1 2013, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider GIGABYTE G1.Sniper Z87 Conclusion
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  • darthscsi - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link

    I continue to wish MBs would put a pair of RCA ports for the front speakers rather than mess of 3.5mm connectors for 7.1. Optimize for the common (and most important) case.
  • Flunk - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link

    I don't think RCA are common at all.
  • WithoutWeakness - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link

    RCA isn't nearly as common as 3.5mm in a desktop environment and if someone is planning on running out to a receiver they should probably be using the optical or digital output anyway. Adding RCA outputs on top of those 2 options is unnecessary.
  • Samus - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link

    I actually agree with darthscsi. The market for this board is obvious, and with the attention given to audio performance, RCA would make a lot more sense than 7.1 3.5mm analog connections, especially when taking into account the swap-able OP-AMP is only for 2 channel stereo.

    Many T-AMP's from M-AUDIO, Dayton, Tripath, and so on, have RCA inputs that you annoyingly need to use a 3.5mm to RCA cable to connect. At a low level, 3.5mm is inferior to RCA at noise suppression while supporting shorter distance runs and less durability.

    http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-DTA-100a-Class-...
  • MadMan007 - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link

    If you really care about audio you'll only use the onboard audio as a digital transport with an external DAC.
  • Sancus - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link

    What would you use RCA for? If you have a serious audio setup, you'll have a separate receiver/amplifier and you definitely don't want to be using the DAC in the motherboard in that case, you'll either want digital out to the receiver directly, or digital out a separate, high-end DAC.

    If you have a standard self-amplified desktop speaker setup, you'll have 3.5mm inputs, not RCA.
  • Samus - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link

    The whole point of this motherboards fancy Creative chip is that it has a superior DAC to most sub-$500 receivers. If you have a $3500 Denon, that's a different story...
  • Frolictoo - Sunday, March 2, 2014 - link

    Consider trying out the MAYA44 XTe sound card. You may be pleasantly surprised by the many options offered. The Xte is a professional level sound card and there are many reviews on it.
  • blackmagnum - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link

    Listening to music on an onboard sound device is like playing a game using an onboard video card: while possible, it's not enjoyable.
  • baal80 - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link

    Really? I've been using onboard sound since my last Sound Blaster Pro and I really don't see the point in buying a discrete sound card (for casual gaming/using). To each his own, I guess!

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