Test Methodology
Comparison Configurations |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | ||||
| Firmware Version | F6C |
E7C73IMS.123 |
1302 |
|
| Price | £750 |
£260 |
£430 |
|
| Chipset | Intel Z490 |
AMD X570 |
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| CPU | Intel Core i9-10900K |
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X |
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| CPU Cores / Threads | 10 / 20 |
12 / 24 |
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| CPU Base Clock / Turbo | 3.7GHz / 5.2GHz |
2.9GHz / 4.3GHz |
||
| CPU TDP | 125W |
105W |
||
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z DDR4-3200 Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-4800 (OC) |
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| Memory Speed | DDR4-2933 |
DDR4-3200 |
||
| Memory Timings | 14-14-14-34-2T |
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| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FE (445.87) |
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| Primary Storage Device | Corsair MP600 1TB PCIe 4.0 |
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| Secondary Storage Device | Corsair MP600 2TB PCIe 4.0 |
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| CPU cooling | Noctua NH-D15S single fan |
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| Power Supply | be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 (1,000W) |
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| Operating System | Windows 10 v1909 (64-bit) |
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Benchmark Suite |
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CPU Benchmarks |
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| HEXUS PiFast | Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places | ||||||||||
| Cinebench Release 20 | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses all cores | ||||||||||
| Blender 2.82 | Running the Classroom benchmark | ||||||||||
Storage Benchmarks |
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| CrystalDiskMark | Free-to-use benchmark testing sequential storage performance. | ||||||||||
Memory Benchmarks |
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| AIDA64 | Benchmark that accurately depicts memory bandwidth and latency | ||||||||||
System Benchmarks |
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| 3DMark Time Spy | DX12 graphics benchmark run using the Time Spy test | ||||||||||
| PCMark 10 | System test using the standard preset | ||||||||||
| Civilization VI: Gathering Storm | AI benchmark run at FHD to determine CPU involvement | ||||||||||
Gaming Benchmarks |
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| Civilization VI: Gathering Storm | 1,920x1,080 ultra settings | ||||||||||
| Far Cry New Dawn | 1,920x1,080 ultra settings | ||||||||||
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 1,920x1,080 highest settings | ||||||||||
Miscellaneous Benchmarks |
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| Power Consumption | To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record system-wide mains power draw when idle, when rendering via Blender and while playing SOTTR | ||||||||||
Notes
BIOSes have been a thorny issue for Z490 boards. The latest one for this board is F6C. When set to Auto it successfully runs the Core i9-10900K at a peak 5.3GHz on up to two cores. This is true even if the temperature escalates above 70°C, which is the boosting cut-off point for Intel's own Thermal Velocity Boost technology.
The Auto preset also forces the board into running all of the cores at 4.9GHz, which is the maximum permissible speed under TVB. Again, this speed is activated irrespective of temperature. Aorus is effectively taking the maximum single- and multi-core speeds mandated by Intel and running at those frequencies all of the time.
An upshot is high power consumption and voltage; you will see this later on.