Testing methodology
Comparison Configurations |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD |
Intel |
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A10-7850K |
Core i5-4440 |
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| Motherboard | MSI A88XM-E35 |
Gigabyte G1.Sniper A88X |
MSI A88X-G45 Gaming |
Gigabyte Z87-D3HP |
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| BIOS | 30.3 |
A9 |
1.0 |
F5 |
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| Chipset Driver | AMD Catalyst 13.12 |
Intel Inf 9.4.0.1027 and IMEI 9 |
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| DDR3 Memory | AMD Gamer Series 16GB (2x8GB) |
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| Memory Timings | 10-11-11-28-2T @ 2,133MHz |
9-10-9-27-2T @ 1,866MHz |
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| Integrated Graphics | Radeon R7 |
HD 4600 |
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| IGP driver | AMD Catalyst 13.30 RC3 |
Intel 15.33.8.64.3379 |
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| Disk Drive | Samsung 840 Pro 250GB |
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| Power Supply | Corsair AX760i |
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| Operating System | Windows 8.1 64-bit |
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CPU and Memory Benchmarks |
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| HEXUS PiFast |
Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places | |||||
| CineBench R15 | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses all cores | |||||
| wPrime 2.1.0 | Another number-crunching benchmark that stresses all available CPU cores/threads | |||||
Multimedia Benchmarks |
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| LuxMark 2.0 | An OpenCL rendering benchmark | |||||
| MuseMage 1.9.6 | An OpenCL image-manipulation benchmark (64-bit) | |||||
| HandBrake 0.9.9.1 | Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores (64-bit) | |||||
System Benchmarks |
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| PCMark 8 v2.0 | System-wide examination that uses the Home preset, run with OpenCL acceleration | |||||
| 3DMark | DX11, run at the Firestrike default test | |||||
| SiSoft Sandra 2014 | Aggregate score that takes a composite of 12 system-wide benchmarks | |||||
IO Benchmarks |
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| AS SSD | Sequential read and write speeds for SATA drive | |||||
| AS SSD | Sequential read and write speeds for USB 3.0 | |||||
Gaming Benchmarks |
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| BioShock Infinite | DX9, 1,280x720 and 1,920x1,080 medium quality | |||||
| GRID 2 | DX9, 1,280x720 and 1,920x1,080 high quality | |||||
| Total War: Rome II | DX9, 1,280x720 and 1,920x1,080 medium quality | |||||
Miscellaneous Benchmarks |
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| Power Consumption | While idling and when running wPrime and GRID 2 | |||||
Notes
Three FM2+ boards up against one another, all featuring the range-topping A10-7850K APU. Do remember the E35 is substantially cheaper than the compared duo. It's also worth including a price-comparable Intel chip, represented here by the reviewed Core i5-4440.
Overclocking
We spent a short while overclocking it by using the following parameters: CPU voltage 1.35V, GPU voltage 1.6V, DDR3 voltage 1.65V.
Overclocking Comparison |
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|---|---|---|---|
Max CPU |
Max GPU |
Max Mem |
|
| MSI A88XM-E35 | 4,200 |
960 |
2,448 |
| MSI A88X-G45 Gaming | 4,300 |
1,000 |
2,472 |
| Gigabyte G1.Sniper | 4,250 |
1,020 |
2,448 |
The board had no problem in operating DDR3 2,400MHz memory without issue. Running any faster requires manipulating the base clock.
