Testing methodology
Comparison systems |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H | Gigabyte Z77-D3H | MSI Z77A-GD55 | ||||
| Motherboard BIOS | F8 | F10 | V1.30 | ||||
| Chipset driver | Intel Inf 9.3.0.1020 and IMEI 8.0.1399 | ||||||
| Processor | Intel Core i7-3770K | ||||||
| Memory | G.Skill 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 | ||||||
| Memory timings | 9-9-9-24-2T @ 1,600MHz | ||||||
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB and Intel HD 4000 Graphics | ||||||
| Graphics driver | ForceWare 301.10 and Intel 8.15.10.2696 | ||||||
| Disk drive | Corsair V128 SSD | ||||||
| Optical drive | Sony AD-7263S | ||||||
| Chassis | Corsair Graphite 600T | ||||||
| Power supply | Corsair AX750 | ||||||
| Operating system | Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit | ||||||
CPU and memory benchmarks |
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| AIDA64 v2.30.1900 |
Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency | ||||||
| MediaEspresso 6.5 |
Encodes 720p episode (55m) into BlackBerry Bold-friendly 480x360 version in mp4 | ||||||
| PCMark 7 |
An all-encompassing test to evaluate system performance | ||||||
| HEXUS.PiFast |
Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places | ||||||
| wPrime 2.0.8 | Another number-crunching benchmark that stresses all available CPU cores/threads | ||||||
| CINEBENCH 11.5 | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses all cores | ||||||
GPU benchmarks |
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| 3DMark 11 b1.1 | DX11, run with the performance preset | ||||||
| 3DMark Vantage b1.2 | DX10, run at the default performance preset | ||||||
| Just Cause 2 | DX10, 1,280x720 low/medium and 1,920x1,080 high settings | ||||||
| Batman: Arkham City | DX11, 1,920x1,080 with very high quality settings | ||||||
General benchmarks |
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| Storage performance | USB 3.0 read and write speed, SSD average read and write speed | ||||||
| Power consumption | While idling and when running wPrime and 3DMark Vantage | ||||||
Notes
We're testing the Gigabyte GA-Z77-UD5H in two ways. First off, we're looking at its stock-clocked performance against two other Z77 chipset-based boards. We expect the numbers to match up well to those previously reported for the cheaper MSI and Gigabyte offerings. Secondly, we're also showing numbers for the board running a mid-level overclock. We've increased the base speed of the CPU by 500MHz, as shown on the previous BIOS page, and increased the core clock of the iGPU from 1,150MHz to 1,400MHz. In both cases the CPU and iGPU voltage has been increased by 10 per cent. This mild overclock puts a slightly greater strain on the board's ability to run smoothly.