Test Setup Time to find out if all that *bling* is worth the ROG name. The 890FX chipset is being tested against two 790FX boards and the 890GX board. This will give us a good idea of what to expect for those interested in upgrading their current AMD systems.
As the previous generation boards were tested with the 965 BE I opted to go for that CPU again and see if the Crosshair IV could unlock a bit more performance.
The obligatory sum up on the test setup :
The AMD 965 BE CPU was run at stock speeds : 3400Mhz with 2000Mhz NB speeds.
Operating system is Windows 7 Professional 64bit, Videocard driver for the GTX 285 is the WHQL 179.45 64bit version
Benchmark Results
Let's start off with SuperPi and WPrime.
A very close race between the previous flagship the 790FX, represented by the MSI GD70 and the Gigabyte 790FXTA-UD5. The 890FX takes the win, by a minimal margin as these tests are really over and done with... The 890GX chipset is however no match clock for clock. Not surprisingly of course as some 890GX boards retails at around 100 euro's. The 890FX boards will be yours around 180 euro's and more.
Between the FX chipsets the 890FX pulls it off again. A few seconds count for an enthusiast, for a gamer it might not be worth the upgrade (in case he sticks with the same CPU and RAM) Look at the amazing gap between the 890GX and FX in SuperPi 32mb. The Crosshair IV shaves almost half a minute of the time of the GX board. The WPrime 1024M battle is a close call between the FX and GX chipset. The Crosshair IV is that tiny bit more efficient than the other boards.
Everyone expected the 890FX to be better at 3D. And it doesn't disappoint, grabbing each time a few points more than its rivals. Differences aren't earth shattering compared to the two 790FX boards. But the 890GX chipset again gets a serious trouncing. Interpret these results of course in a lightly manner. This does not imply that gaming on the 890GX platform is painfully slow. It's just a fraction slower at a more affordable price tag.
Cinebench Release 10 from Maxon, continues in the same fashion as the tests before. The 890FX being a tad more efficient than the other boards. Again clock for clock this 890FX is a nice evolution in performance.
With better CPU and ram performance and aided by the 850SB chip the Crosshair claims an overall victory in the PCmark HD test. Setting new standards for each subtest. We already saw a bit better HD performance with the GX Asrock board (also with SB850) and the FX chipset tops it off.
Everest results are really close. It's a neck to neck race for the FX chipsets. The GX board seems to run a lot looser and gets penalised for it during this review.
X264 benchmark was th eonly one that shed a different light on the new 890FX chipset. I reran this twice and always came up with a slower result on test1 for the brand new Crosshair IV.
Max HT was tested by starting from 200 HT clock and slowly upping the HT clock (keeping CPU speeds around 3.4Ghz with a low NB speed). The clock had to be Superpi 32mb, X264, Everest and WPrime stable. If one of these tests failed (usually X264) the HT would be lowered one clock and retested and this repeated until I regained total stability.
Reminding you, all these tests were done on boxed air cooling and with only 2 Corsair GTX2 DIMMs installed. Better cooling usually yields better results. For the first time I was required to up the RAM voltage to get far over the Corsair's rated 1800mhz. Either it was this, use another divider (making previous results invaluable) or loosen timings. So I opted for 1.8Vdimm and HTT went sky-high.
Ram was tested in a similar way. Starting with 200HT clock and the rams at 1600Mhz C6-6-6-1 1T Unganged mode. The Corsair GTX2 rams are AMD rated at 1800Mhz C6-6-6-24 and P55 2250Mhz C8 rated. So you know it's not the rams limiting. CPU and NB speeds were kept low to rule out the CPU. The Crosshair shows the strength of the new 8 series chipsets. High ram clocks are no problem, if you got the rams and IMC to do it. We even topped close near 2000Mhz CL7 Unganged and even 2100CL7 Ganged stable. With this motherboard you can really explore the limits of your CPU's Integrated Memory Controller
The boring part is over let's move on to (what’s supposed to be) the fun stuff....
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Facebook
Gary Key confirmed me the final version will have some small updates. Not tested this bios myself.
image courtesy of ChriSch